Why do Koreans take Kimchi at every meal?

“Kimchee” !!

I heard her Amma calling out to her as I clicked my Canon for one of my earliest cutie pie captures in Korea. It wasn’t tough to guess that her intention was to make her little daughter say cheese in front of the camera in the Korean way.

Kimchi is an inseparable ingredient in the Korean life. It is a traditional Korean pickled dish made of vegetables with varied seasonings. Koreans relish Kimchi with breakfast, lunch, dinner and even at times of drinking as the side dish. The history of Kimchi can be traced back to ancient times. It is said that references to Kimchi can be found in documents from as early as 3000 years ago!

Kimchi is served in a variety of forms and types. The most common and popular manifestation of Kimchi is the spicy cabbage variety, baechu. Kimchi is also combined with other ingredients to make dishes such as kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) and kimchi bokkeumpap (kimchi fried rice). It is so ubiquitous that the Korea Aerospace Research Institute developed space kimchi to accompany the first Korean astronaut to the Russian-manned space ship Soyuz.

Kimchi is very spicy and can also be exceptionally sweet. It is said to contain a high concentration of dietary fiber, while being low in calories. One serving also provides up to eighty percentage of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C and carotene. Most types of Kimchi contain onions, garlic, and peppers, all of which are salutary. The vegetables being made into Kimchi also contribute to the overall nutritional value. Kimchi is rich in vitamin A, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), calcium, and iron, and contains a number of lactic acid bacteria. The magazine Health named Kimchi in its list of top five “World’s Healthiest Foods” for being rich in vitamins, aiding digestion, and even possibly reducing cancer growth!

In spite of the tall claims on its nutrient qualities and its multiple usages in my encounters with my cute little friends in Korea, I couldn’t convert myself into a great fan of Kimchi across the dining table. My lab mate Lee Jong-Sung is a straight forward no nonsense guy, a devout Presbyterian Christian who never forgets to say his prayers before every meal and who finds time to fit in a few passages of the Bible in between his readings of Liepmann and Roshko. Added to that he is a teetotaler, almost a rarity in this part of the world. One day I asked him, as he sat digging into his Bible; why was the Kimchi unavoidable for the Koreans at every meal?

He turned to me, his eyebrows raised and his eyes sparkling in earnestness, and replied….. “Because long ago our Korea was poor, and the people had no nutrient food, then they invented Kimchi, an affordable source of essential nutrients and we eat it today for good health and also to remind ourselves of those days when our forefathers had difficult times!!

I haven’t missed out on my slice of the Kimchi since then J