Just cut right into it.
Fermented and left for a year, pribiotic bacteria multiply, every 20 minutes under the right conditions. But here the cabbage is kept at near freezing temperatures. Stil it is swarming with taste even from far away.
When the kimchi refrigerator opens the children run away. "Shut that now", they say. To the noob this smells rotten but at just the right time and temperature and just the right concentration of salt this kimchi is nature's miracle.
That Funky Kimchi Smell
It was 1993 I came to the Ku's house with their oldest son who was in college at the time. When he opened the door of the house this smell I could not get out of my mind overwhelmed me. He didn't even have to open the refrigerator. But he did it anyway.
In the refrigerator were all the things normal people have, some milk, apples a pad of butter and a jar of something that looked like it came out of my comparative anatomy class. This was my first introduction to kimchi. I didn't want any part of it. I had no problem with Galbi and bulgogi but kimchi I couldn't get.
Chongkak = bachelor kimchi
Five years later I was a bachelor (Chonggak) in Kimchi Land. I decided to spend a year abroad before going to grad school but I stayed in Korea.
Two years later I married the most beautiful Korean girl and she loved me and she loved kimchi. I loved her and I didn't even like kimchi.
We didn't have much money and a lot of the time all we had was kimchi. I knew I had to learn to eat kimchi. At first I used kimchee like pickles and made kimchi sandwiches.
How to eat kimchi
One day I learned kimchi is easier to eat if it is cooked. I was at a Korean barbeques and saw a guy toasting kimchi over the flames. I tried a little mixed with the meat and lettuce and it was ok, but it was still kimchi. I tried in a frying pan with rice and cheese. I tried in ramen broth. It was better but it was still kimchi.
kimchi monster
My mother-in-law bought me a kimchi refrigerator for a wedding present. I couldn't understand it. We were only two people and we had a refrigerator. We didn't need a whole refrigerator just for kimchi. Then in November she filled it up with fresh kimchi. It was more than my weight in kimchi. Everytime we opned it the whole house smelled like fermenting cabbages, hot pepper and oysters, tiny shrimp and garlic. There were so many smells I couldn't get a grasp on it.
At night I would wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares of the kimchi refrigerator changing to a monster and opening up to devour me.
Born again kimchi stomach
At first my stomach did hurt because I was not used to eating spicy fermented food but over time by body got used to that bacteria. It became cultured in me and ot is an important priobiotic to have. More than than I got used to kimchi and today twenty years later I can say that I love kimchi.
김치쌤
I put kimchi in everything from soup to hotdogs. I draw pictures of kimchi. My youtube channel is 김치쌤 which means Kimchi teacher. My students started calling me kimchi teacher when a lunch mom noticed I eat twice the portion of kimchi that the Korean teachers eat. Third graders started calling me 김치쌤 and it caught on around the school.
I still live in Korea and eat kimchi. I started to eat kimchi out of my love and compassion for the Korean people I knew. They opened their heart to me and it was like gold. The least I could do was open my stomach to them.
I'm taking the first step towards a series of cookbooks based on kimchi. No one in the world can do this like I can.
I have been moved by the Hive community lately and believe I can find the support I need. I could write hundreds of books but need to start with one.
Kimchi to the moon
This is Doogie Kkak or 깍두기. You can find more of my cartoon posts 