What’s kimchi without the strong garlicky odor?  Right?  In this morning’s LA Times, there’s a story about Kim Soon-Ja who is the annointed Kimchi Master of South Korea, and about how she pursued the creation of an odorless kimchi.  This was ignited by a comment during a trip to Europe: ”My tour guide asked me not to take out my kimchi in public because it can be distasteful to foreigners.”  Ouch!

After much research and diligence, she has created a “new type of freeze-dried pickled cabbage that doesn’t smell even after water is added, appealing to both foreigners and the fussiest Korean eaters.”

The obvious reason for such a pursuit is to better globalize kimchi by making it more appealing by the suppression of the kimchi smell.  The South Korean government is making large investments in the midst of the global recession to evangelize Korean food around the world, and kimchi is one of the central pieces of both Korean food and culture.  However, the raging debate from the purist is that the odor of kimchi is what makes kimchi so unique.  Do you take out the olive oil in Italian cooking?  What do you think?  Should kimchi go odorless?  Remember when you were a kid and you invited your non-Korean friends over to the house and your mom busted out the kimchi next to the sandwiches and turkey.

The Pickle Club TV investigated how to make kimchi since it’s the food of Koreans everywhere.  They reached out to YouTube chef Maangchi to see how kimchi is made.

Oh boy, this is going to stir some controversy.  Koreans are protective and passionate about kimchi; it is the de facto food symbol for Koreans.  We’ve watched our mother’s and grandmother’s make kimchi.  We always chuckle when you see kimchi next to the turkey at Thanksgiving dinner.  Whatever you’re eating, kimchi goes well with everything… according to our grandmother’s.  Well, did you ever wonder who has the best kimchi in the U.S.?  We’ll start with the east and then head west.   But we’re here to say (or suggest) that the winner of best kimchi in Manhattan is at Gahm Mi Oak.  We’ll get to Philly, D.C. and other heavily populated Korean cities at later dates, but for now we’re going to start with New York City.

When we first attempted to enter and film on the premises, we were denied because they were afraid of…. a good review?  We had to come back again undercover with a hidden camera.  We were able to eat and leave with some footage of the place.  For many New Yorkers, Gahm Mi Oak is the staple restaurant in Manhattan.  It’s best known for having the best sulung tang in the east coast, but that’s for a later review.  Today, we’re talking about their gaktogi and kimchi.  The recipe is kept under lock and key but there’s been much speculation as to why it’s so savory.  It’s so sweet and pure that sometimes you get so consumed by eating it as an appetizer and you forget that you ordered the bibimbap or sulung tang.

Gahm Mi Oak is also one of the “go to” places at 3am after an evening of dancing, partying, karaoking or working if you’re an investment banker.  It’s open 24 hours and its walls are adorned with art work from different artists.  They’re quick to seat you but a line in front of the register is not to uncommon.  If you’re willing to sit Indian style, then you’re more likely to get a table.   When you do finally sit down, you’ll notice the very sparse menu.  It’s not a restaurant that serves all the different Korean dishes because it’s a specialty restaurant and it serves 4 things really really well: sulung tang, bibim bap, soondae and kimchi.  Because they specialize, you won’t wait long for your food to arrive.  However, before your entree is delivered, they first come out with the kimchi and gaktogi where the wait staff will cut it up for you at your table.  When your mouth first consumes the kimchi, you immediately want more of it.  Next thing you know it, it’s all gone and you’re asking the waiter for another dish of kimchi.  So when you find yourself on West 32nd street and you’re wondering where to go eat, drop by the place with the red neon sign and order yourself an extra heaping of kimchi.  You will not be disappointed.

Gahm Mi Oak aka Gam Mee Oak from Korean Beacon on Vimeo.

Someone at the Examiner thinks that kimchi could – in theory – cure you of the Swine Flu.  It is a far fetched theory but here’s his basis:  the anecdotal evidence that kimchi has prevented and killed SARS (bird flu).  So the author asks, why can’t kimchi do the same with the Swine Flu?  Kimchi contains probiotics which is the “good bacteria” that helps your body.  It’s been known to be generally healthy.  Things that make you go hmmm?  Read more>

Would you trust Guy Fieri to make kimchi, the national food product of South Korea?  He does make a good attempt but doesn’t it seem better to hear it from a Korean mother with a Korean accent making kimchi?  There is no doubt what kimchi smells like and you know you’re not embarrassed to say that at one of those past Thanksgiving dinners, your mother pulled out the kimchi next to the turkey and gravy.  For Koreans, kimchi goes well with everything: spam, rice, bulgogi, etc.  Now the question is, can you make it yourself and not resort to buying the big jar from Hmart?  We scoured the Interweb for the best instructional videos about kimchi, and hopefully you can combine your memories of your mother and grandmother making it with these videos to make your own homemade kimchi.

“Young women don’t know how to make kimchi; they buy it. Normally, Korean women stayed home, but now a lot of them are working, and making kimchi takes too much time.” Korean America has changed as well. While the first generation brought with it secret formulas for jars of pickled goodness, their American-raised children have, for the most part, been indifferent to learning how to make the dish. They rely on Mom and Korean markets that offer store-made versions by the pound, along with aisles of packaged brands.

The LA Times has an interesting article about the mass production of kimchi by the Cosmos Food Co, the largest manufacturer within the U.S. of this Korean staple. Mr. David Kim’s process produces kimchi in minutes, not days or weeks like it would normally take by someone’s mother.  With this process in place and South Korea making a big PR push for Korean food across the world, could kimchi finally become more familiar to the American masses and make it to the dinner table?  Could Korean food find parody with Thai or Japanese food when it comes to ordering dinner?  Hmmmmm.