On my recent visit to a Korean Museum there was a replica of a traditional Korean kitchen. This kitchen was attached to the house, but at about a half-meter lower. They stove had the typical 2 large cast iron pots on the stove. I could imagine a cook using the cast iron pots to make stews, braises and rice. What caught my interest at this visit was that there was a white paste around the mouth of the large iron pots. Above the stove on a shelf there was a bowl which had some water in it. Also above the stove was the Chinese letters for fire, but I noticed they were turned upside down. I was curious why the kitchen had this. I asked my colleague, Jia Choi, a chef and owner of O’ngo Food Communications about why they had this.

Jia explained that the the homes were made of wood, clay and stone and there were problems with fires. The Chinese lettering with the word for fire turned upside down was to prevent fires but keeping the fires below the stove. I asked if the water bowl and the white stuff around the stove was to prevent fires as well and she said no, these have to do with the Kitchen Goddess, Jowang.

Jowang looks over the kitchen which is responsible for meals, therefore the general health and happiness of the household. However, her path to becoming the kitchen goddess was wrought with misfortunes. In her mortal form, Jowang, was the wife of Yeosan. She had the difficult task of supporting her husband and their 7 sons. However, she was a skilled and hard worker and made food, clothing and other crafts to earn a living. One day her husband was sent on a task to sell the seeds of her hard work at market. On the way to the market her husband met an evil woman, Noiljeodae, who seduced him and convinced him to take a second wife. Her husband lost all his money and his evil second wife made him live in a shed away from the house and fed him animal fodder which ruined his mind and body.

His wife eventually found him and tried to take him home but she too was tricked by Noiljeodae. Noiljeodae convinced her to take a bath with her in a pond where she drowned the wife of Yeosan. Noiljeodae then went to the house of Yeosan with her ill husband disguised as his wife. She arrived at the house disguised as the good wife and her 7 sons were happy to greet her. Soon the disguised Yeosan came down with a terrible illness. Noiljeodae, disguised now as a fortune teller, told the 7 sons that only their livers could cure their mother.

The youngest, wisest son did not believe in the fortuneteller and fed her boar’s liver. As she ate it she reveled and gloated in her scheme to kill the sons as she ate them. The sons heard the evil Noiljeodae tell how she seduced their father and killed their mother. When they confronted Noiljeodae, she ran out of the room in shame. In defeat and she hung herself in the outhouse which she now haunts to this day.

The 7 sons found the bones of their mother in the pond and threshed them today with a medicinal wood and then molded her body from clay. Then they made a rice steamer out of bamboo and each son poked 1 hole in the bottom. The rice steamer held the spirit of her mother over the hot bowl so she could warm her bones.

To this day it is believed that an offering of rice cake should be wrapped around the mouth of the cooking bowl in order to keep the spirit of Jowang Halman inside and each day, a clean bowl of water should be left out in offering to her. In return, she keeps the household hearth warm and the family well and healthy.