WARNING: This article includes mouth-watering photos!
Sophia Cho, who hails from Seoul, South Korea, grew up in Winnipeg, and is now studying in Montreal, is in her fourth year of Psychology with a minor in Art History and has a passion for aesthetically pleasing, nutritious and delicious home-cooked meals. A word play on the word “lovely” and her own name “Sophia,” “Sophelyy” is the name of her rising foodie Instagram account that truly captures her lovely personality and impressive cooking skills.
So what makes her instagram stand out from the countless other foodie instagrams? Sophia modestly answers: “It’s really hard to say, but I think I try to show a fusion of western and oriental aspects in the food, as well as in the presentation, in terms of my choice in plates, or certain angles or symmetry in the table setting, and even the colours.” She also cooks everything from home with her own two hands – the photos are not just from restaurants and elsewhere. There’s a certain amount of homeliness, elegance and effort that reflects off her dishes.
When asked about how she got started, Sophia recalls her first year of university: “In my first year, I had a difficult time with stress from school and from living away from home. Like everyone in rez, I would get food from the cafeteria, but that often creates bad eating habits – either eating too much, or too little depending on my emotions that day. My health and my digestive health deteriorated fast. Once I started living off campus, I wanted to cook meals that were healthy, easy-to-make, as well as easily digestible, and I think that determination was what ultimately created Sophelyy.” Sophia, like many of us, had to learn the importance of food the hard way (Remember freshmen 15?), but she has been interested in nutrition and cooking from a young age. “I initially wanted to start a blog, but I thought it would be too time-consuming at the time, so starting my Instagram was almost like a practice run for my future blog.”
Although she only started her instagram recently, she already has avid followers from around the world and continues to gain new followers with every new post. And it’s no wonder. All the time she puts into preparing her food is admirable. She cooks new meals and packs lunches everyday, takes photos of them and carefully chooses her favourites for that week. “I take multiple shots from above, rearrange the lights, and sometimes change the plates if I’m not satisfied with the presentation. But I only do this when I’m eating by myself – since it doesn’t matter whether the food gets cold or not [laughs]. Rarely, when I have friends over for dinner.”
Sophia usually likes to prepare Korean and Japanese food. She says, “They are often low in sodium (she makes it that way) and easily digestible. Overall, the meal is light, hearty and nutritious, which is good for people with a weak stomach like myself!” She, however, does not limit herself to standard recipes: “Often I create my own dish, which is a process of imagining which ingredients would go well together and taste a certain way, and then I will start cooking.” One of her goals is to learn how to cook many other ethnic foods out there: “I would really like to learn more about Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine and all the amazing combinations of spices.”
Once school is finished, Sophia hopes to pursue a career related to nutrition and cooking. She says, “I want to be able to inspire people through food. What I really want is to encourage people who are living alone or students living far from home with these easy-to-make, nutritious, and hopefully tasty foods that they can visually take in or be inspired to make themselves. It is one of the reasons why I started this Instagram – it’s a step towards what I want to do in that field.”
So what is her advice for beginners or the plainly untalented, uncoordinated cooks like myself? “Don’t over think it. Keep cooking and you’ll get better with every meal. Watch a lot of Youtube tutorials.”
While Sophia has promised to invite me to her home for one of her cooking sessions in the future, the rest of you will have to satisfy your hunger by following her Instagram!
Images provided by the interviewee.