The Story of Cabbage Patch Kimchi
I grew up surrounded by nature, with hardworking parents who cultivated and nurtured an organic garden. Through my youth, I lived in a small town and read books to escape, which in turn spurred my imagination to soar to unknown places. Before I knew it, I had wanderlust and ended up travelling for a number of years. My last adventure took me to Korea, where I w
as an ESL teacher for four years. My first few weeks there were disconcerting, how was I going to live in a country that seemed to eat only one dish? Yes, kimchi was the epicenter of every meal. Not only was it a key if not central ingredient in the main dish, all of the side dishes were also comprised of kimchi, as there are over 100 different types. I grew to love kimchi, craved it in the morning, at lunch and for dinner. No meal seemed to be complete without it. I loved the way it made me feel, I was energized and I had mental clarity and focus. When I wasn’t eating out I wanted my own kimchi at home, because the store bought product was full of additives. Yes, I was becoming a kimchi connoisseur of sorts. So, I asked all my Korean friends my age to teach me and discovered that it seemed to be a bit of a dying art. First, I enrolled in a course at a kimchi culinary school and leaned the art of making kimchi. Then, I asked one of the older teachers at my school to help me refine my procedure and she was delighted. Making kimchi is a laborious process done with love to produce a delicious result. Alas, all travel must come to an end, especially as one gets older and realizes there is no comparison to the beauty of Nova Scotia. As I arrived back in Cape Breton, gorged myself for about 2 weeks on all the indulgences I couldn’t get in Korea, I realized something was missing. I couldn’t buy kimchi in Cape Breton! Consequently, this is where my love affair with making kimchi began. I set out to find all the ingredients when I moved to Halifax and was delighted when I found they were readily available. I want to be able to share authentic Korean kimchi with people so they could enjoy the benefits of eating a delicious non-dairy probiotic.
