The Hindu Business Line : Pickled at the thought!

You cannot say you’ve truly visited South Korea until you’ve tasted kimchi, the internationally famous, spicy, fermented cabbage dish. There are dozens of kimchi varieties — ranging from the fiery to the extremely pungent — but regardless of the city or season, kimchi is served with almost every meal.

While there’s no doubt that Singaporeans love their food, there’s not one singular dish that is eaten almost three times a day. You could almost say it’s an addiction — and it’s thought that very few Koreans can last more than two or three days before their kimchi cravings begin to take over.

“It’s part of our life — it’s like water and rice,” my tour guide Austin Kim tells me over a traditional Korean lunch.

I love hot food, so I liberally add the many varieties of kimchi on the table to my rice and ginseng chicken. Though not as spicy as I’d been led to believe, it was a good accompaniment for the plain rice. The smell, though, is quite overpowering and the garlic tends to linger afterwards, so be sure to have some mints on hand for later. Austin tells me there’s a saying in this part of the world — “Korean girls are often prettier than the Japanese, but be careful when you kiss her, because she will smell of garlic,” she laughs.

Healthy habit

But despite potential bad breath and an odd odour, kimchi is renowned as a healthy food. The US magazine Health some years ago 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. In 2005, it was even billed as a cure for bird flu when Scientists at Seoul National University fed an extract of kimchi to 13 infected chickens — and a week later 11 of them started to recover.

The history of kimchi can be traced back to ancient times where people would pickle their vegetables — most commonly cabbage — and bury them in earthen pots, which would last through the bitterly cold Korean winters. Nowadays, the kimchi refrigerator is ranked among the most wanted household appliances in Korea. It’s specifically designed to meet storage requirements for varied kimchi types as well as temperature controls for different fermentation processes.

Younger generations of Koreans can get their kimchi fix from fast-food outlets too. On the streets in South Korea you can find kimchi pizzas, kimchi burgers, kimchi sushi, kimchi sandwiches and possibly the most curious — kimchi chocolate. Beware of the hot chilli after-taste.

There’s even kimchi in outer space. South Korea’s first astronaut, 29-year-old Yi So-yeon, a bio-systems engineer from the State-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute (Kari), dined on kimchi space food when she blasted into orbit in April.

But for those discerning travellers visiting South Korea on the ground, there’s the Kimchi Field Museum in Seoul — with exhibitions focusing on kimchi’s history, its varieties, and its importance to Korean culture and cuisine. There’s also kimchi cooking schools, popular with visiting Asian tourists.

Annual fest

And don’t forget the Kimchi Festival held in the southern city of Gwangju each year in October. Visitors to this annual event can participate in kimchi-making contests, there’s even a kimchi song contest. And of course, every type of kimchi imaginable is on sale. But kimchi is an acquired taste and for the visitor not so enamoured, there are plenty of other traditional Korean dishes to choose from. Most famous is the traditional Korean BBQ. Many restaurants are equipped with hot plates fashioned into the tables and bulgogi is one of Korea’s most famous grilled dishes. It is made from sirloin or another prime cut of beef, cut into thin strips. The piece of beef is often wrapped in lettuce with rice, kimchi and shredded vegetables. You can also add doenjang (bean paste) for flavour.

Samgye-tang, otherwise known as ginseng chicken soup, is another Korean specialty. The body cavity of a small chicken is stuffed with glutinous rice and young ginseng shoots. The chicken is then boiled in a clear stock and served in an individual earthenware pot. This dish is said to give you stamina during the steamy Korean summers.

Bibimbap is another popular dish. The word literally means ‘stirred or mixed rice’. Bibimbap is traditionally served in a hot stone bowl with warm white rice topped with sautéed and seasoned vegetables, beef, chilli and an egg that cooks in the heated bowl.

The national carrier Korean Air has won a Mercury award for its bibimbap in-flight meal and its beef bibimbap is considered its signature offering.

The author is the Presenter of Fast:Track, BBC World News’ travel programme, which airs every Wednesday at 9 p.m.