It would be rude to write a blog based primarily on South Korea (well for the time being anyway) and not to mention the scientific phenomenon of Kimchi. To the simple western eye, this may look and taste like pickled cabbage in a spicy red pepper paste but on further examination, this magic piece of vegetable engineering is in fact a medical and psychological marvel.
A little introduction if I may.....
Eating in South Korea is a foodies dream, its all about barbecuing meat [galbi] at your table, covering it in samjang (hot pepper paste) adding it in some onions and wrapped in a leaf of lettuce. Its quite a group affair and it will inevitably involve drinking lots and lots of beer [mekchu] and another staple; soju, a rice wine that resembles Mr. Muscle but by god its good. Aside from galbi, the sushi is mouth and eye-watering good, in fact anything you will find, apart from bundaegi (silkworm larvae) is yuuhuuuhuuumm. On most of these royalesque food outings you will also be granted a bowl of kimchi in some vegetable shape or form. The fact that it is actually cabbage seems to be uninterpretable by candy baring kindergarteners and children of the veggie hating age groups. Man, this stuff is better than a snickers.
Kimchi not only ensues godly health in Koreans that otherwise would be crawling with flu, it also has an astounding and unnerving affect on the elderly men and women [ajummas and ajashis] that roam the family marts, street corners and busstops. To avoid the use of the word crazy, as it is a little frowned upon on these shores; extreme, unwitting and noticeable eccentricism can be used to describe some of these scary and amusing societal beings. Its the kimchi, the magical pickled vegetable and without it, South Korea would resemble a siberian city, void of madness and entertainment. And to be honest, its taken me.
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