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Kimchi is a mouth-watering side dish that made the Korean food well-known around the world. It is doing for Korea what Scotch did for Scotland, what pizza did for Italy and what the hamburger did for the United States. In the past few years, the world has given rare reviews to this staple of the Korean diet.

Next to boiled rice, kimchi is the main part of a Korean meal. It is spicy and fiery, yet earthy and cool.

Attesting to its popularity is the fact that modern English dictionaries carry the world “kimchi”, which is defined roughly as “a fermented vegetable pickle seasoned with pungent garlic, hot chili pepper, ginger, fish and various other seafood; it is the national dish of Korea.”

Even though the Chinese and Japanese also eat marinated vegetables, kimchi is exclusively Korean. Unlike the Chinese and Japanese vegetables, kimchi is extremely seasoned with spices and condiments, such as chili pepper, garlic, shrimps, hairtail (Trichiuridae haumela), anchovies, oysters, razor clams and also fresh fruit. The Chinese pickle a long, stalk form of cabbage in rice vinegar and the Japanese make takuan, pickled radish, without using spices or condiments.

In this age of instant food, Koreans can buy ready-made kimchi in cans, vacuum packs or jars, instead of going through the laborious, time-consuming process of making it. There are even kimchi factories that can produce a winter’s supply of kimchi to suit any individual’s palate.

Any trip to Korea would be incomplete without a taste of kimchi, but the unaccustomed foreigner should have plenty of water on hand to douse the fire that will erupt in his throat. To visit Korea without savoring kimchi would be like going to Switzerland without eating cheese or like touring Russia without sampling vodka.

Photo credits:
http://www.markfitzhenry.com/korea/march09.php