Well, it was unusual to me, but for millions of Koreans in
their own country and overseas, it
was celebrating perhaps the most important part of their menu. Kimchi.
If they know nothing else about Korean cuisine, most people
will have heard of kimchi,
that fiery, cabbage-y condiment which appears at every meal. And I mean EVERY -
breakfast included.
In case this has not entered your shopping list yet, you
need to know a few things.
Kimchi is an authentic Korean side dish of pickled
vegetables, often (and perhaps mainly) made with Chinese cabbage. However, almost
any food can be kimchi-ed, and there are over 170 varieties!
References to kimchi have been found up to 3000 years ago in
Korea. Like many countries with cold winters, a way was needed to safely
preserve food for use when it was no longer available fresh. Fermentation
(think, sauerkraut and pickles in Europe) was the ideal solution.
Although the version most people know involves rubbing a
crimson spice mixture between the leaves of brine-soaked Chinese cabbage which
is then put to ferment, often for months, in an earthenware pot, there are at
least a hundred other types. Even water kimchi, a sort of spicy turnip broth,
appears often as one of the multitude of side dishes which are essential at
each Korean meal.
Focused as they are on health, the country's 48 million
inhabitants believe kimchi is what keeps them well, and some even credit it with
protecting them during the SARS epidemic.
There is an annual Kimchi
Festival in the southern city of Gwangju and a Kimchi museum
in Seoul.
However this is not the only unusual food on tables in
Korea. Acorn jelly a wobbly unappetisingly-coloured dish served cold is an
acquired taste, as is raw crab which even my guide refused!
In this picture, the roasted chestnuts look delicious, as do
the wafer-crisp breads. But look carefully at the simmering pot in the
background. Yes, you’re right. Those are silkworm larvae. Having done their
work of spinning silk, once it is unwound, they are tossed into a basket ready
for their next use – boiled as a protein-rich addition to someone’s lunch.
