Alien: Earth actor Sandra Yi Sencindiver tells us the story of her life through food, picking a final meal that includes Danish buns, Korean pancakes and fresh Thai mangosteen
I had a bit of a rocky, colourful upbringing. I’ve had different mothers. I’ve lived in different countries. My adopted parents were an American man and a Korean woman – I haven’t seen her since I was nine and for many years, I didn’t think about her much.
By the time I was 17 I was living in Denmark and I left to go to the United States for a year in high school, staying with my American aunt. We went out for Korean food and they were serving kimbap, which is like the Korean version of maki, and it brought back so many strong memories. Back then they didn’t have Korean food in Denmark so when I saw it, my whole body had this really strong reaction. It brought me back to my very, very early childhood and I started thinking about those first years of my life. It was a dramatic reunion with a classic Korean dish.
Back then my dad was in the military and worked abroad a lot and mum had mental health issues. So on a bad day we’d eat TV dinners and frozen fish sticks but during the good times I remember eating tteok, which is a savoury rice cake that has the most wonderful texture. You can’t get it anywhere in the world except Korea, where they make it by hand. If you try to make it at home it all falls apart. It’s almost impossible.
Alien: Earth star Sandra Yi Sencindiver: I f***ing love oysters. I will travel very far in pursuit of them
Alien: Earth actor Sandra Yi Sencindiver would drink Sancerre for her final meal on Earth
My dad got divorced from my Korean adopted mum when I was eight and married a Danish woman who was very self sufficient. Me and my twin sister came with my dad, first to Greenland, where they had met, and then to Denmark. She wanted her girls to be independent like her so we were all taught how to cook, how to clean, how to sew. Once a week we each got to cook something. The first dish I learned was a Danish meatball.
Back then Denmark wasn’t the major food country it is today – the food was mostly basic: gravy, potatoes, meat and boiled vegetables. But our family would eat Mexican and Chinese food, which was quite exotic at the time. So from as early as I can remember, food has been a huge part of my life.
For my dream last meal I’ve been a bad girl and ordered a lot of food. I want to spread this meal over many hours with lots and lots of dishes arriving from late afternoon into the night. Denmark, and especially Copenhagen, is well known for its pastries and bread. I used to go to this bakery called Hart that was shown on the TV show The Bear and they do this amazing thing called a BMO. It means “bolle med ost” which translates as “bun with cheese”. All the good bakeries have a BMO and it’s wonderful. All the hipster kids spend their money on expensive coffee and BMO. The sourdough BMO from Hart is the best – so I’ll start with one of those with whipped butter.
My absolute favourite food is oysters – I f***ing love them. I will go very far to get a get an oyster and luckily both of my sisters – my twin sister and my little sister, who’s like half Norwegian, half Danish – both love them too. My twin sister came with me to a shoot in Thailand in 2019 and one evening we took a cab to a gorgeous restaurant on a river. We got these tiny little oysters and they were so amazing that I demanded we went back the next day. We got stranded there and had to hitch-hike home, which is obviously not advisable as a woman.
Like I said, I will do many things for oysters. Another time my little sister came to visit when I was filming Foundation in Prague and we went to this fish restaurant in the old town where they served an oyster platter with two of each oyster from around the world. I ate so many oysters that day. She lives in the part of Denmark where Hamlet was from and she goes out in her rubbers and picks oysters herself. She gifted me a shucking knife once and taught me to use it so I could open them myself. I’ll get the sommelier to pick me out a nice bottle of Sancerre to go with those. I don’t drink much but I’ll have a small glass for the occasion.
I want dark, black, firm, sweet cherries that stain your face when you eat them. And I want passion fruit and mangosteen. I love mangosteen
Next I’ll have another starter. This one is a big Korean grandma staple that I discovered the first time my twin sister and I went to Korea in our early twenties. Trekking is a big thing over there and we love it but it’s strenuous and the nature is wild. We hiked all day and we were completely filthy. On the way back the only place we could find to eat was this tiny little restaurant owned by a really old grandma – ‘halmeoni’ in Korean – where maybe five people could sit.
We didn’t really speak the language but we knew how to order pajeon, a Korean pancake you can eat with seafood or vegetables, so we ordered that. They are usually quite small but she brought out this huge pancake and loads of banchan, which are little side dishes. There were about 20 of them, vegetables and fishes and things that were dry and things that were weird. I didn’t know what half of them were but it all tasted amazing. So I’ll have all of that, please.
Next I want some fresh white asparagus. I know they aren’t in season but you will have to find a way. I want it served with rock fish roe, which is juicier than caviar, and a white sauce.
Then we can move on to mains. This was so difficult for me. I was torn between Italian cuisine – we visit Italy almost every year – and Korean. But I think I’ll go with bulgogi: marinated, really tender meat on the grill, all the side dishes, some fresh lettuce and little sesame leaves and a bit of chilli sauce. This is naughty but I’m not going to have normal rice – I’m going to borrow some sticky rice from Thailand. It has to be perfectly cooked, not gooey. It should be almost dry with a texture where it’s just a little bit shiny. I’ll have that with a side of palm cabbage in garlic oyster sauce and a little bit of lemon and chilli.
The next course you’re going to have to import, I’m afraid. It’s from the Taiwanese chain Din Tai Fung but you can only get this dish in Asian countries. It translates from Korean as “vitamin vegetable” – it looks a bit like a cross between water spinach and a tiny bok choy.
Okay, now we’re ready for dessert. We’re gonna have to make a little dessert buffet because I won’t be eating alone: I will have my husband and my two girls with me. There’s nothing more satisfying than watching your children eat, especially when they’re little. Now my girls are big but I still enjoy looking at them trying something interesting for the first time and loving it. In fact, I want to invite my family and friends, my siblings and some of my colleagues to this last supper, too.
In the buffet I want dark, black, firm, sweet cherries that stain your face when you eat them. And I want passion fruit and mangosteen. I love mangosteen but it’s only in season for a very short amount of time. It’s a dark blue, hard fruit with a little green hat. You can twist it and open it and it’s full of these little white segments. I was obsessed with it when we were over in Thailand last spring shooting Alien: Earth.
Then we will have freshly picked strawberries from Denmark. There’s a concept in Denmark where you can go to a strawberry farm and pick your own strawberries and pay for what you plucked. There is one near where my sister lives that we go to when I’m back and you’ll never find firmer, sweeter strawberries. I’m gonna have that with vanilla ice cream, the kind where you can feel the vanilla kernels in your mouth.
I will also make everybody like a chocolate cake made from butter, egg, sugar and just the tiniest bit of flour: creamy in the middle with a crust on top so it’s crunchy and soft at the same time.
And finally we’re going back to Hart in Copenhagen for a cardamom croissant. When you look at it, you’re like, ‘What is this Danish pastry that has been cooked too much?’ It’s very, very dark – it looks like it’s been burnt. But it’s not – it’s caramelised sugar. It has loads of butter in it and a whole layer of sugar on the bottom. And after all of that I’ll have a really, really strong espresso with just a little bit of water.
FX’s Alien: Earth starring Sandra Yi Sencindiver is available to stream on Disney+
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