Food is unarguably part of a culture that is unique in its taste, presentation, and experience. There are different variations of one dish across cultures such as 炸酱面 (zhazhangmian) in Chinese cuisine is a version of the Korean dish 자장면 (jajangmyeon). They both contain thick meat sauce tossed with noodles, but it’s the combinations of certain ingredients that is unique to that culture. Many people know that kimchi 김치 is at the heart of Korean cuisine because kimchi is a staple fermented side dish that pairs wonderfully with many meals consumed in Korean cuisine. There are numerous kimchi recipes, but the one common ingredient they have is napa cabbage. Napa cabbage has fluffy, crinkly, green leaves with a white base or head. It is native to eastern Asia and usually harvested during the mid-summer. According to “Why Kwang Hee ‘Mama’ Park is the Queen of Kimchi” video, Ms. Park has been making and recreating kimchi dishes for around twenty years. Ms. Park was awarded the title “Master of Kimchi” in a kimchi making contest in the early 2000s, and her kimchi career started from there. She believes the best kimchi is made by hand and not using machines. She grows her own napa cabbages in the mountains and picks chili peppers from the mountains as well.
The kimchi process can be broken down into three processes: growing the napa cabbage/other vegetables, preparing the seasoning, and fermentation. Gimjang 김장 is the process Ms. Park referred to as preparing kimchi before fermentation. Salt is used religiously to pickle the napa cabbage and extract the water out of the leaves. Ms. Park prepares a broth that contain ingredients such as onions, anchovies, and kelp. This broth is later used to mix in with the big bowl of seasoning. The seasoning mixture consists of bean powder, salted shrimp, anchovy sauce, sugar, garlic, chili pepper, cabbage, and daikon radish. After the seasoning mixture is prepared, Ms. Park marinates each leaf of the salted napa cabbage well, and the kimchi is store in cool temperatures to allow fermentation to take place.
After watching this video, I learned that making kimchi is a long process and requires many ingredients to create its delicious and irresistible taste. My diet mainly consists of Cantonese cuisine, which is flavorful, yet, bland, so there are not many spicy and pickled dishes that I consume on a regular basis. I have tried store bought kimchi once, and the taste was very sour. I wasn’t a huge fan of it, but after watching Ms. Park showing the kimchi making process, I feel compelled to try it again. One interesting kimchi that Ms. Park created was called “Dandelion kimchi”. Just like the name of the dish, she scavenged for dandelion stems in the mountains and marinated them in her seasoning to create this popular kimchi in her area. I found it interesting because dandelions are common weeds in America, but Ms. Park utilizes the dandelion’s abundance to create a delicious new kimchi dish.
Kimchi makers each curated their own recipes to produce a tasteful side dish that pairs well with meals, but the process itself is quite time consuming. However, I believe its long process is what makes people appreciative of this dish because the scrumptious flavor stands out due to the quality fermentation and seasoning. Kimchi is delicious dish savored by many Koreans, and the wonderful taste of kimchi is being shared to other parts of the world as well. A sample of kimchi is a sample of Korean culture.
Manto, F. [Eater]. (2021, January 16). Why Kwang Hee “Mama” Park is the Queen of Kimchi – First Person. Youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI949vGM4JM&t=45s
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