When I first arrived in Korea my new employer immediately took me out for dinner. We found a small hole in the wall restaurant and he ordered food for the whole table. After fifteen minutes, waves of dishes started making their way to our table, and soon our entire table was flooded with a variety of small dishes. I scanned the table and I couldn't identify a single dish, a terrifying thought for a fussy eater like myself. After I sampled some of the table's offerings, my boss turned to me and asked "So what do you think of the dog soup?" Shocked and confused I turned to face him only to be met with smiles and chuckles.
I will be the first to admit that my knowledge on food, even of the western variety, is fairly limited. And when I arrived in Korea I might have well been on another planet with all the unidentifiable foods I came across. On this alien planet one dish in particular managed to find its way onto almost every table I sat at -- Kimchi!
Now, if your talking staples, then along with sticky rice, Kimchi has to be considered one of Korea's favourite dishes. Kimchi is made by fermenting seasoned vegetables and it comes in hundreds of different forms. This 2600 to 3000 years old dish generally has a varying degree of spice to it, and the number of different types is staggering. There is nabak kimchi (radish water kimchi), oi sobagi (stuffed cucumber kimchi), yeolmu kimchi (young summer radish Kimchi), gat kimchi (leaf mustard kimchi), pa kimchi (green onion kimchi), vangbaechu kimchi (western cabbage kimchi), gul kkakdugi (diced radish kimchi mixed with oysters), and many more. Kimchi is also one of the healthiest Korean foods. Even "Health" magazine placed it in the top five of the world's healthiest foods. Kimchi is an important part of Korea's sense of identity and it is embedded in their culture and history. Families even enjoy this spicy cabbage with breakfast, lunch and dinner.
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