Kimchi - The Most Popular Among All Korean Food

Kimchi is the most famous and basic Korean food. Koreans eat Kimchi in almost every meal and every day.

Kimchi is a traditional Korean fermented dish with various vegetables. It is known for the source of nutrients and to help digestion and restraining the growth of harmful bacteria in the intestines. It is an excellent functional food with numerous physiological functions such as having an anti-oxidation and anti-aging function, and anti-cancer effect. Main ingredient such as Baechoo (Chinese cabbage) is good for colorectal cancer and garlic is good for prevention of stomach cancer. In addition, Kimchi can prevent lung cancer because of its high content of beta-carotene. Also spicy ingredient like pepper eliminates nicotine from the surface of the lungs, This is why the US magazine Health named Kimchi in its list of top five "World's Healthiest Foods" for being rich in vitamins, aiding digestion, and even possibly retarding cancer growth. Its nutritional value and effects have been proved scientifically.

Korean

The word "Kimchi" is from Chimchae which means pickled vegetables. Therefore in the broad point of view, all fermented food by pickled can be seen as Kimchi. Nutritionally Kimchi is a food that has low calories and high fibers. Especially vitamin C, beta carotene, B vitamins, calcium, iron, phosphorus, etc. are abundant.

Garlic and red pepper in Kimchi inhibit the activities of bad microorganisms and help to ferment the lactic acid effectively and help to create the various functional materials. Kimchi has lactic acid four times more than dairy product in the market. Specially lactic acid synthesized from vitamin Band amino acids is good for preventing constipation and cancer.

Kimchi also stimulate appetite and is effective for diet and reduce cholesterol in the blood vessels. In addition to that, Kimchi improve immune system because of its anti-oxidant effect.

Kimchi's composition can be separated into the main vegetable ingredient and the mix of seasonings used to flavor the Kimchi. While the most popular type of Kimchi is the baechoo, many different types exist including regional and seasonal varieties. Popular variants include Ggakddugi which is a Kimchi made with cubed radishes, Pa Kimchi (made with scallions), and Oisobaegi which is a cucumber Kimchi stuffed with hot and spicy seasonings.

The Kimchi Field Museum in Seoul has documented 187 historic and current varieties of Kimchi. As a result of continuous efforts by Government, industry and academy for the industrialization of Kimchi, our traditional fermented food, Kimchi market has rapidly grown to form over 500 billion won worth domestic market. Furthermore, as nearby countries like Japan and China have aggressively advanced into the world's Kimchi market, the Kimchi market has been diversified. Despite of the multi-dimensional changes in environment of Kimchi market, uniformity of quality, standardization and long-term preservation which are the most important factors in merchandising Kimchi have still remained the same as the old method.

Kimchi - The Most Popular Among All Korean Food

John J. Lee is a freelance writer and developer of Korean restaurant List and a Korean English dictionary