Butter Made by Nature in Jeju — Munsa Gireumjip Bottles Up the Island’s Nature in Butter

This is the age of the small brand. Where does the powerful pull of a small brand — one that captures people’s hearts despite its modest scale — come from? Perhaps from the consistent attitude toward life held by the person leading it. After hearing the story of Song Hyunae, founder of Munsa Gireumjip, who perfectly embodies the attitude of ‘munsasu’* that she herself hopes to emulate, you’ll likely find yourself nodding in agreement.

Interviewer Parc Jinmyoung
Interviewee Song Hyunae (Founder, Munsa Gireumjip)
* A Buddhist term, munsasu (聞思修) refers to the three wisdoms of life: hearing the Buddha’s teachings (聞), reflecting on them in light of one’s own life (思), and cultivating one’s life according to those teachings (修).

Could you briefly introduce Munsa Gireumjip?
We’re Korea’s first licensed vegan butter factory and shop under a food manufacturing permit. We discover and research local Jeju ingredients, and create vegan products responsible for the everyday tastes and aromas of life, based on plant-derived oils. Every product is handmade in Jeju, and through various collaborations, we connect people to a vegan way of living.

What led you to decide to move from Seoul to Jeju?
For twelve years, I worked as co-director in charge of PR at a multi-use cultural space that operated as both a café and a residency. At some point I burned out, and I think that’s when I first decided to leave Seoul. Jeju, a place I’d always loved, was the first thing that came to mind. Above all, since I don’t handle the cold well, the fact that it’s warmer here than in Seoul appealed to me the most.

Settling into life in Jeju must have come with its share of ups and downs.
I don’t think I really struggled, because I had such a strong desire to live differently than I had in Seoul. I began my life in Jeju with the mindset, ‘This is like a foreign country — let’s learn a new language and culture.’ When I came down to Jeju, I told myself not to push too hard or try too hard, and I think that resolve ended up shaping not just my work and relationships, but the way I treat myself. Looking at Jeju from that perspective, I found its distinctive culture and environment endlessly interesting. And very luckily, I’ve met people here who share good energy with me, so I’m living a satisfying life.

What made you decide to open a vegan butter shop?
Living with my cat got me interested in animal rights. Giving up eggs and meat wasn’t that difficult, but cutting out dairy was really hard — especially butter! I had a habit of starting my mornings with bread and butter and a caffè latte. I knew that, just like the women in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ who exist only to produce breast milk, cows are milked day after day to mass-produce dairy — but I couldn’t give up butter. So I started making vegan butter at home. Friends visiting Jeju tasted it and coined the name ‘Vegan Butter Butt’* (butter, but vegan butter), then eagerly helped with branding — designing a logo, shooting product photos, and more. That’s how Munsa Gireumjip was born.
* ‘Butt’ carries a double meaning: the English adverb ‘but,’ and the Korean word ‘beot,’ meaning friend. Together they suggest that every living being on Earth exists in relation to, and affects, every other.

I’m curious how you came up with the name ‘Munsa Gireumjip.’
As I mentioned, munsa is both the attitude toward life I hope to embody and the name of my second cat. Gireumjip means ‘oil house,’ and I added it because I wanted to express the butter shop in a Korean way. Though most people mistake it for a sesame oil shop (laughs).

I heard your Vegan Butter Butt is made with fair-trade organic cashews, organic coconut oil produced without animal exploitation, and Jeju lava seawater.
Munsa Gireumjip’s motto is ‘keep it simple and healthy.’ We aim to take ingredients away rather than add them. Since I have a lot of allergies, I simplified the ingredients so it’s easy to notice what doesn’t agree with your body. Choosing sustainable ingredients that do no harm to people or the planet is really the starting point of our vegan butter. We place great importance on fair compensation and production processes free of labor exploitation. Respecting producers and valuing seasonal ingredients is also a huge source of inspiration when creating new products.
Our recently patented Tiger Butt series uses pesticide-free tiger nuts, bananas, organic matcha, and lava seawater — all sourced from Jeju. Last April, we also made a vegan butter using deodeok (a seasonal root vegetable), collaborating with Deodeokmong, a farm in Yesan, Chungcheongnam-do that has grown deodeok for three generations. We hope to keep expanding our options so that anyone can easily experience a plant-based diet while enjoying delicious butter.

You also developed a vegan gomtang (beef bone soup) meal kit. How did that come about?
Munsa Gireumjip’s vegan butter can be spread on bread, fruit, or crackers, but since it contains so much raw material, it also adds richness to stir-fries and soups. A regular customer of ours, who also runs a vegan bookstore, once made me tteokguk (rice cake soup) using broth from our ‘Cashew Butt Plain,’ made with raw cashews. That tteokguk tasted just like the real thing. That experience led to a collaboration with Olbareun Nongbujang, a collective of Jeju farmers who grow many varieties in small batches, to create the meal kit. It uses all domestically produced ingredients: a savory broth made from Hallasan Yeongsil shiitake mushrooms, along with pine mushrooms, scallions, cheongyang chili peppers, kelp, sun-dried salt, and rice cakes made from organic rice. Making the meal kit taught me the beauty, flavor, and value of seasonal vegetables — and as my culinary horizons expanded, my life became richer too.

Why do you think a vegan diet matters?
I think eating vegan for even one meal a day is perhaps the easiest thing anyone can do in response to the climate crisis. When I was going through burnout, a yoga teacher once told me, ‘Not tormenting yourself is also a form of veganism,’ and that stuck with me. Engaging with a plant-based diet lets you reflect not only on yourself, but on others, animals, and the environment too.

Is there a place you’d recommend to travelers visiting Jeju?
Mild weather, pretty places to stay, exotic beaches — you can enjoy all of it right here in Jeju. I especially love Jeju in August because of the beautiful Geumneung Beach. Just wading into the shallow water and gazing at the pretty color of the sea and the fine sand makes you think, ‘This is what rest feels like.’ After enjoying a swim, doing a round of bonggeuging* for the sea that gave you such a good time makes for an even more sustainable trip. Then, be sure to stop by Munsa Gireumjip and sample all nine kinds of vegan butter! We only sell in person, in order to minimize our environmental impact.
* A blend of the Jeju dialect word ‘bongeuda,’ meaning ‘to pick up,’ and ‘jogging’ — referring to the act of picking up trash while going for a walk.

Please tell us about your future plans.
Reading the description of Pitch by Magazine as a travel commentary magazine that interprets sustainable travel, I was reminded of a passage from one of Banana Yoshimoto’s short stories: “I thought to myself. Let me also fill my bag with sparkling things and set off on a journey. Let me sail across the sea of life, hand in hand with the child within me. The hand on the helm is the heart, and it’s that small child’s eyes that know the truth. Just like that.” (From ‘Unhipiri, the Child Within Me’)
The operating principle of Munsa Gireumjip is ‘finding peace of mind through daily munsasu.’ Someone once told me that the opposite of perfection is comfort. I want to know what I like, even in the smallest things, and keep trying it out. After all, the most precious thing in the journey of life is right here, where I am now.