One thing that Japanese tourists find pleasantly puzzling is that kimchi, Korean spicy side dish, is offered for free at all the restaurants in Korea. Why is such good food offered as a free side dish? One possible answer is that kimchi, despite the reduced intake due to a Westernized lifestyle, remains the essential and universal side dish for Koreans.
Kimchi was not for gourmets. It never was. From kings to beggars on the street, kimchi was - and still is - a universal food that represents Korean culture in general and a unique dietary pattern in particular.
Pregnant mothers in Korea, for instance, were allowed to eat cubed radish kimchi only with softened flavor and in precise rectangular shapes. This tradition implies that the well-proportioned shape of kimchi was believed to have a positive impact on unborn babies.
◇ What is Kimchi?
Kimchi is a fermented vegetable dish seasoned with mainly red pepper, garlic, ginger and salted fish. Also on the list for kimchi-making are various vitamins, abundant fibers, minerals and anti-cancer substances. All these things can be obtained with surprisingly few calories - approximately 33 calories per cup.
Kimchi also represents the cooperative spirit of Koreans. During the kimchi-making season, or "gimjang," around late November or early December, Korean mothers used to help each other in turns mainly because the amount of kimchi for the then extended family was too burdensome (often over 100 Chinese cabbages were needed), not to mention the manpower needed for preparing all sorts of condiments and various ingredients.
With the rapid introduction of Western food, coupled with changes in apartment-oriented housing, today`s Koreans prefer buying bottled and plastic-packed kimchi at the supermarket.
◇ Kimchi Research Centre
Korean government is stepping up its efforts to globalize Korean cuisine against the backdrop of the widespread Hanryu or “Korean Wave" now evident in Asia and other parts of the world.
A state-run research center for Kimchi opened three months ago with the aim of developing technologies concerning the spicy-pickled vegetables into a more promotable item worldwide along with many other fermented dishes.
Korea Food Research Institute provides scientific studies to transform kimchi into a more global dish in line with the nation's efforts to promote hansik.
It also plans to pave the way for a future industry by creating functional food items using lactic acids in kimchi. They are known to be useful in making anti-bacterial products, food additives and medical materials that could prevent dementia.
[English News Team]
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