(Source: Portland Tribune)

For most of the past few decades, Jane Kim went to work, went home, and repeated the next day.

But since fall 2022, Jane Kim has found herself embarking on what she calls “a second life.”

When her son Ed Kim finished medical school and residency, the duo switched from weekly phone calls to weekly dinners at restaurants around Portland.

At the time, Ed Kim thought “everyone’s posting on TikTok and Instagram. What if we tried doing that? What do we have to lose?”

“First, my answer is ‘what is a TikTok?’” Jane Kim said.

Ed and Jane, known as The Korean Mama online, now have nearly 700,000 followers on TikTok, where they post video restaurant reviews and occasional peeks into their lives.

“My taste is pretty simple. It’s like hamburgers, tacos, that kind of stuff — pizza,” Jane Kim said. She loves ketchup and her fans know it, evidenced by the numerous ramekins full of ketchup brought to the table on a recent trip to Prime Tap House in Beaverton.

But Ed Kim has encouraged her to try new kinds of food.

“I’ve seen mom eat basically the same thing over and over again,” Ed Kim said. “We kept going out to eat and I was like, ‘well, let’s try something different. Let’s try something new.’ And so that’s kind of how we started to try new things. And people seem to really like watching Mom’s reaction, reviews of new foods that she’s never tried before.”

Jane Kim’s favorite new food is the seafood boil from Bag O’ Crab.

On Christmas Day 2022, Jane Kim worked a long day at her job and then went out to dinner with her son.

“Everything was closed except for this Chinese restaurant. And we weren’t in the best mood, to be honest,” Ed Kim said. “We were just tired and cranky and it wasn’t that good. But I was like, ‘well, let’s just film it.’ And then we put it up on TikTok.” That was one of their first big videos that gained them thousands of new followers.

Now, Jane Kim is frequently recognized at restaurants. The duo, with Jane Kim in front of the camera and Ed Kim filming and editing, have done ads for Rosetta Stone, Minute Maid, and other companies. They’ve hosted packed meet-and-greets in Portland and in Los Angeles.

On @thekoreanmama, videos often start with Jane Kim’s tagline: “I’m so hungry!”

Ed Kim films parts of their meals, capturing his mom’s expressive reactions, and edits them down. The videos are usually just one or two minutes, with memes and visual effects sprinkled in. “You can learn anything on YouTube now,” Ed Kim said of learning to edit videos.

“Mom is not an actress. She’s not a scripted person,” Ed Kim said. “All I’ve asked Mom is just to be exactly who she is in real life, on camera. But she gets a little self-conscious about her English or certain things she does, and I try to reassure her.”

Over the years, Jane Kim has worked various jobs, but said she didn’t get the practice to reach fluency in English.

“As a housewife and a little bit in running the business, that’s only the simple conversations,” Jane Kim said.

In her restaurant reviews, she rates each food item she tries on a one-to-10 scale, usually with a precise decimal point — though Ed Kim said he often has to ask her multiple times before she settles on a rating (an item she rated recently got a 7/10, then 6.9/10, then 7.1/10).

She said being in front of the camera has gotten easier since they started. “I’m trying my best. And I just want to be natural — not kind of fake,” Jane Kim said.

Though her easy smile and frequent laughter suggest a gregarious personality, her son said Jane Kim was a bit of a hermit before the duo started visiting new restaurants and sharing their outings online.

“TikTok is good too, but I love to stay with my son and share it and have a good time. That is a good thing,” Jane Kim said.

Fans also connect with videos that show their lives outside of being foodies.

Some videos covered Jane Kim’s move into her new home and her selection of appliances — an exciting and emotional experience for Jane Kim, who got to choose home appliances after decades moving from apartment to apartment.

The two also shared a tearful reunion with Brian Oh, Jane Kim’s first son.

Forty years ago, Jane Kim and her first husband divorced. They had a 2-year-old son, who Jane Kim was convinced would have a better life with his father and his more affluent family. She let her ex-husband take her son, believing she would still have contact with the toddler, but she was cut off.

The two finally reconnected in 2023, first with phone calls and then with Jane and Ed Kim flying down to visit Oh in Los Angeles.

Ed Kim said they debated whether or not to share the reunion story.

“But I’m glad that we did, because so many people have reached out to us afterward” sharing similar experiences, Ed Kim said.

Jane Kim moved to the United States from Seoul, South Korea, as an adult. Her parents were wealthy in Korea, but even knowing that she would struggle more in America, she made the move.

Ed and Jane Kim moved to Oregon from Los Angeles more than 30 years ago, when Ed was a toddler. Ed Kim attended Southridge High School, where a health careers class sparked his interest in medicine. The two lived in Beaverton and Tigard throughout Ed Kim’s childhood, but both moved to Southeast Portland in the past few years.

The two try to split their restaurant visits between Portland proper and suburbs.

Being able to support local small business owners — including some other Koreans — “has been really fulfilling for us,” Ed Kim said.

The Korean food truck Doyaji has become a favorite spot. The owners invited Ed and Jane Kim to stop by their truck at the Portland Night Market last year and Jane Kim was hooked.

The food at Doyaji “brings (back) my old memory. This is the taste of what I used to have,” back in Korea, Jane Kim said.

Peter Cho and Sun Young Park, owners of Han Oak and Jeju, have become good friends of the Kims and have “shown a lot of support for Mom,” Ed Kim said.

When Ed and Jane Kim hosted a meet-and-greet at Jeju, people lined up outside and brought cards and gifts.

Jane Kim said she’s been surprised by how much people love her, just for sharing videos of food online.

“I don’t do anything good to people but I just want to share that food I enjoy. That’s all I do. But I’m so happy, I’m so happy people love to watch my TikTok,” Jane Kim said. When meeting fans, she often thinks “Oh my gosh, is it real?”