The Traditional Ingredients Judy Joo Always Has In Her Fridge

There's a satisfaction that comes from peeking into the lives of celebrities. For food lovers, that means taking a look inside their refrigerators. One might think chefs prepare the same delectable meals at home that they make on TV or in their restaurants. In reality, many chefs' fridges look just like ours. 

Take Judy Joo for example, who told Food and Wine she likes to keep her fridge stocked with Girl Scout Cookies. Joo is not only an advocate of chilled Thin Mints, she also keeps traditional ingredients for soups in her fridge. Food Network chatted with chefs about the contents of their refrigerators. "I have a bunch of Chinese medicinal herbs (lots of bark and dried roots) ... I like to use in soups," Joo shared. 

Some of the staples likely to be found in Joo's fridge may not be available at everyone's corner store, but that doesn't mean they couldn't still be in everyone's fridge. As Joo pointed out to Love Food, thanks to the internet, anyone can have Korean kimchi delivered to their door within hours.

On the other hand, something like bibimbap, the dish Judy Joo says "perfectly embodies Korean culture" (via Love Food), can be made with ingredients in your local market. So go ahead and stock up.

On her website, Judy Joo shares her exceptional cooking skills on her Cooking Channel show Korean Food Made Simple, which highlights Korean dishes that have inspired Joo throughout her life. The chef, cookbook author, and TV personality manages to deliver on the show's title, showing her audience how to make authentic Korean recipes in their own homes. Fellow Food Network star Sunny Anderson praises Joo for the familiarity and the authenticity of her recipes. "Judy Joo captures the flavors and the heart of Korean food and switches things up just enough to make them accessible and familiar, but not so much that you lose the soul of the recipe," she states in a blurb for Joo's recent cookbook, Judy Joo's Korean Soul Food.