Day 86 -- OMG, It's Kimchi!

Yesterday, I stopped at my local natural foods store while I was killing a half hour and browsed the selections.  Though I didn't have anything specific on my shopping list, I did walk out with a jar of kimchi, a Korean condiment that seems to be mentioned on a lot of vegan and vegetarian blogs I read.  My sister, L, is a big fan of kimchi and since I like hot and spicy foods, I decided to give it a try.

Kimchi is to Koreans as catsup might be to Americans.  Actually, they use it more than we use catsup as it is a main ingredient in many dishes.  It's Korea's national dish and they make over 200 different varieties.  Kimchi is made of fermented vegetables with seasonings.  The main ingredients are napa cabbage, radishes, scallions, and sometimes cucumbers.  Kimchi is used for many Korean dishes such as kimchi stew, kimchi pancakes, kimchi soup and kimchi fried rice and most families make their own, a long and arduous process that is known for leaving the house in with a funky smell.

Of course, a nation doesn't have a national dish without it causing a little bit of drama. In 1996, Korea protested Japanese commercial production of "kimchi" arguing that the Japanese-produced product (kimuchi) was different from kimchi (in particular, that it was not fermented). Korea lobbied for an international standard from the Codex Alimentarius, an organization associated with the World Health Organization that defines voluntary standards for food preparation for international trade purposes. In 2001 the Codex Alimentarius published a voluntary standard defining kimchi as "a fermented food that uses salted napa cabbages as its main ingredient mixed with seasonings, and goes through a lactic acid production process at a low temperature."

Due to heavy rainfall shortening the harvesting time for cabbage and other main ingredients for kimchi in 2010, a major spike occurred in the price of kimchi ingredients and kimchi itself. Korean newspapers have labeled this a national tragedy.  In response to the Kimchi price crisis, the South Korean government announced the temporary reduction of tariffs on imported cabbage to coincide with the Kimjang season.  Can you imagine Americans getting this worked up over hots dogs and apple pie?

My first taste of kimchi was interesting.  It's like a spicy sauerkraut/slaw.  My sister recommends that I eat it over warm brown rice.  I'm going to give that a try.  For now, I can add it to my list of new foods I've tasted since Day 1.

ETA:  Kimchi + Brown Rice = YUM!  I think I might be addicted already. With a little bit of spicy-sweet sauce on top, it's to die for!  To bad kimchi is so pricy.  Must find a place that sells it cheap.