Kimchi is Korean people’s staple
and their favourite food. Koreans eat
kimchi at every meal as a side dish (banchan in Korean)
together with rice. Kimchi is also used as ingredient
in some Korean dishes such as kimchi-jjigae (stew), kimchi-guk
(soup) or kimchi-jeon (Korean pancake).
Kimchi is made mainly by salting Chinese cabbage and
dressing it with red pepper powder, garlic, ginger, scallions
and radish. This mixture is then placed in clay containers
called onggi (which are then buried in the ground) and
left to fermentate slowly. However, this is only the basic
kimchi recipe because there are different types of kimchi,
made with different types of vegetables and spices and
each region has its own specialties. It is interesting
to note that Koreans also have special fridges designed
for storing kimchi. The reason being, that kimchi needs
to be kept at an appropriate temperature in order to be
preserved at its best.
History of kimchi
Kimchi has been made in Korea since unmemorable times,
maybe even 3,000 years ago. However, at the beginning
it was simply salted without spices. It was not until
the 
XII
century that spices were added and red chillies only arrived
in Korea in the XVII century (being chillies native of
the Americas). So, Korean kimchi started becoming spicy
only five hundred years ago and the modern kimchi, as
we know it today with Chinese cabbage, started being produced
in the XIX century.
Health benefits of kimchi
Korean kimchi is considered to be one of the healthiest
foods in the world. Kimchi contains a high amount of vitamin
C, calcium and lactic bacterium that help keeping the
digestive system in good conditions. Kimchi also contains
antibiotic substances, which help prevent infections.
Types of kimchi
As we mentioned above, in Korea there are many varieties
of kimchi, with each region having its own specialities.
Below we list some types of kimchi:
