Confessions of a Kimchi convert

By Elias O. Baquero

FIRST off, when someone has no idea of what something is actually made up of, then that person might just be little hesitant before gorging on something off the tabletop.

This story happened around a few years ago, when I wasn’t even sure how to spell kimchi yet. Just in case some readers have missed what kimchi is, wikipedia.org has the following definition:

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“Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish, made of vegetables with varied seasonings. Many varieties of kimchi are fermented although unfermented varieties also exist. Kimchi is the most common side dish in Korean cuisine.”

I remember when my dad was first experimenting on how to prepare this Asian masterpiece at home.

1“I like my leaves green, normal and unfermented, please,” I always thought to myself.

Dad went on to explain that the fermentation process was normal for this particular dish, and to just think instead that I was downing several bottles of Yakult, which I love.

But Yakult! This is another story. It made bacteria (the drink contains a special strain of the bacterium Lactobacillus casei Shirota) look very good. The ads on TV had the good bacteria donning super hero costumes beating the life out of the evil-looking bacteria. After such mainstream marketing directed towards kids, who wouldn’t want to gulp down a few bottles of Yakult?

It took me a few weeks before my resistance fell and I finally held a spoonful of kimchi in my mouth during mealtime.

All it took was that one moment, then I pledged allegiance to Korean cuisine.

Kimchi’s main ingredient is basically Chinese cabbage. Other variations make use of radishes and cucumbers.

There are numerous ways to serve kimchi. It could be a side dish (as its also popular being one in Korea), or it could very well be the main dish when done it is served as kimchi fried rice (kimchi bokkeumbap), kimchi soup (kimchi gook), or kimchi stew (kimchi jjigae).

Lucky for me, we had pork kimchi jjigae (stew) for lunch. Generally, kimchi jjigae is cooked with kimchi, fresh vegetables and pork.

The good thing about this particular stew is that it made eating loads ofa pork feel healthy. But seriously, the greatest side of kimchi is its health benefits. Here’s the breakdown:

“Kimchi is made of various vegetables and contains a high concentration of dietary fiber, while being low in calories.

Kimchi is rich in vitamin A, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), calcium, and iron, and contains a number of lactic acid bacteria, among those the typical species Lactobacillus kimchi,” according to wikipedia.

Point is, eating kimchi (fermented or not) is definitely worth a try.


Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on August 14, 2010.