You’re in deep kimchi now mister - Korea’s answer to sauerkraut (김치)
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009김치.
Delicious. Bold. Distinct. (see also: Smelly. Spicy. Scary) It’s true, not everyone likes kimchi. Then again, not everyone likes soju. Or chocolate for that matter. If you detest kimchi, I weep for you. Moving on.
Yes, I’m being biased. Of course I am. I frakin love kimchi. It’s comfort food. It goes with any dish. It smells good. It’s dynamic. It’s essential. What was my life before kimchi? We don’t speak of that time…
My history with kimchi is a sad one. We got off on the wrong foot - kimchi and I. See, when I got in trouble as a small boy, my father used to say to me, “You’re in deep kimchi now, mister”. Well, it didn’t take much for me to put two and two together to assume that kimchi was something bad (in this case, a substitute for the word that we affectionately know as the “S” word).
Don’t get me wrong - my dad is well-rounded in terms of cuisine. He’s from Texas but his palette has traveled to the far reaches of the globe. Being from an army town, it’s pretty easy to get Americanized versions of just about any dish - to include Korean food.
Speaking of worldly cuisine, Germany has a national food called Sauerkraut that has crept its way across to other European nations. Kimchi and sauerkraut share a few commonalities including a vaguely similar vegetable base, pickling process, and (most importantly) a strong division between sauerkraut lovers and haters. In the same vein, one either loves or hates kimchi.
Most generally, Americans know more about sauerkraut than kimchi. So, when prompted with the standard question of “Hey goofball Matthew, what is kimchi?” I usually just say “Screw you It’s Korea’s answer to sauerkraut” even though the love affair with kimchi runs deeper than the red-headed stepchild of Germany’s sour cabbage.
Kimchi makes its way into cross-cultural conversations daily. Other than some Koreans being freaked out that some foreigners actually know how to use chopsticks, kimchi makes for a frustrating topic at times. If you’re a foreigner eating Korean food, when you pick up a portion of kimchi to place in your mouth, you might get a few hundred people asking you in English “Wow~ Do you like Kimchi?” at which point you can either give them the stink eye and say “Why else do you think that I am eating it??” or you can choose the even more sarcastic reply of “Nope, I’m just trying to figure out what’s wrong with your taste buds. Still haven’t figured it out yet.”
I should go easy. I mean, these are the wonderfully masterful people who took what all other people on the planet would consider salty garbage and turned it into a staple in Korean refrigerators worldwide.
Thanks kimchi. You complete me. No wonder you went into outer space.
Thoughts?
Posted by Matthew in How Koreans Do It |
March 17th, 2009 at 8:24 am
huh, my mom makes sauerkraut kimchi, German-Korean fusion food. So now what do you say??!
March 17th, 2009 at 9:04 am
LOL I love your posts, Matthew!^^
Being Korean, people don’t look at me twice when I stuff my face with kimchi. My husband, however (who couldn’t be Asian no matter how hard he tried!) gets some of those looks you speak of if we’re out. He kinda likes the stuff. I wouldn’t say he loves it, but he’ll eat it… and he’ll eat quite a lot of it!
March 17th, 2009 at 9:31 am
@ 규리 씨 - you win. I want no part in your fusion madness
okay okay, I gotta know. how is it?? describe it for someone who has never had real sauerkraut.
@ Alexis - I love the title of your blog. I’ve had more than a few “안녕습니다” moments. Actually, now that I think about it, I’ve had more than a few. Either way, hats off to your better half for stomaching the sweetness that is the life-blood of Korea.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:09 am
LOL, thanks. 안녕습니다 comes from Robert, too. You should hear his “Korean”… oh my… I want to make a video of just his Korean, but he won’t let me. T_T But it is good that he at least eats kimchi!^^ Makes my life easier! LOL.
And seriously… canned??? That’s just… really wrong. XP
March 17th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Living in Japan as a foreigner, I always get the described look and the same questions when I go out eating with Japanese, and I eat Sushi or Natto. “Wow, you can eat raw fish? You can eat Natto?” It is not so difficult for me. But in 8 years of my Japan history I still get these comments… Often also from the same people which makes me even more sad.
And, I love kimchi! (Japanese “spicest” kimchi, is still very sweet and mild!)
March 17th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Hehe. “Can you even eat natto?” was also a very common question I used to get when I went to Japan. XD I wouldn’t know what else to say other than “of course!” ^^
March 17th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
i get that question all the time too. along with “can you eat spicy food?” which of course i can, but everyone is still always surprised. i ABSOLUTELY LOVE kimchi. in every form i have tried. though i didn’t love it the first time i tried it, the more i ate it, the more i began to NEED to eat it. now, sometimes i’ll have a random kimchi craving at like 2am. not for anything else. just kimchi.
though i was almost afraid to try it because i can’t stand sauerkraut…. random story about that: i grew up in minnesota, so they would even serve sauerkraut at school for lunch.. and when i was in kindergarten my teacher made me eat it even though i was trying to tell her how much i hated it and i wouldn’t eat it…. in the end she made me take a bite of it, and i promptly threw up on my lunch tray. i tried to warn her. awesome story, huh? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
March 17th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I think kimchi’s all right. I neither love nor hate it.
But I cannot eat natto. XD
March 17th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I think foreigners in Korea who eat kimchi (and at leat seem to enjoy it) may have an advantage in the workplace over foreign co-workers who can’t stand the stuff. More than once I’ve gotten, “우리 음식을 잘 드시네요!”, and it seems there’s a bit of a disdain for foreign co-workers who dislike Korean food, especially kimchi.
Just an observation…
March 17th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Mmm, nothing like Korean space food in the form of canned kimchi.
March 17th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
@Daniel, I get a similar phrase from my Korean FAMILY!!
Just because I grew up in Germany, they think I wouldn’t eat Ojinguh –.–’
@Matthew:
my mom uses the Sauerkraut as a kim-chee base ^^
I have to admit I prefer traditional kim-chee *lol*
oh and I can eat natto… but I don’t enjoy it… at all………………….