Day 3: Kimchi 101

I am starting to realize that I need to learn more about what I am eating and why it is good for me. Many times I will go the cafeteria and point to a dish and ask my students if it is kimchi. My general rule of thumb has been if it is covered in red spices and looks and smells fermented then it is kimchi. But, sometimes I have been wrong and this is why I always double check with a Korean.

Kimchi is a traditional Korean vegetable side dish. It is not even the main course, but just one of many side dishes. Kimchi is made by fermenting seasoned cabbage and other vegetables (radish, green onions, or cucumber). While there are nearly 200 types of kimchi, the basic ingredients are cabbage, salt, and hot pepper sauce. I have seen it used in soups, pizza, burgers, and even donuts (yes I will look for this).

According to one source I found, Kimchi has recently gained popularity in the world. I am sure this has something to do with the health aspect. According to Health Magazine, Kimchi is one of the 5 healthiest foods in the entire world. It also claims that the average Korean eats 40 pounds of it a year! I might agree with them on how much the average Korean eats, but this article also suggests to put kimchi on top of a baked potato. I am telling you from my own personal experience, do not do this! Your baked potato will no longer taste good.

This was the meal I wanted

This was the meal I got

Since I have only completed 10% of my blogrimage I will save the health benefits, history of kimchi, and the arguments against it for another time. I did eat 3 meals today and had kimchi at all of them. The worst one was this morning because it was the same cabbage I had for dinner last night. I spread my kimchi out and made some rice and kimchi sandwiches to help the food go down easier. I kept thinking about the breakfast burrito one of the foreign teachers was eating this morning and gagged on one particularly slimy bite of cabbage during breakfast.

While today was rough I can still say that I made it. I am still going strong and know that I will be able to finish this. I did have one thought that kept coming up during the day, "why didn't I choose 30 days of fruit." Maybe other people cannot understand the reason behind this blogrimage, but I know there is some reason behind this absolutely insane journey. I am glad to be apart of this even though those strawberries looked really good today.