Kimchi Scare

Living in a place where the Chinese kimchi scare is in effect, I printed out an article to discuss with my intermediate level adults. I wanted to know their opinion about the safety of kimchi and what they've done to protect themselves from the parasitic eggs found in most domestic brands.

Most of the women were taking it in stride. They didn't trust the government or restaurants to destroy imported Chinese kimchi. Most of them already made kimchi at home before the safety of store bought kimchi was called into question, and all of them did now that both Korean and Chinese brands were known to have safety issues. They told me that ingredients for kimchi have doubled in price in the last year, and with domestic demand growing it will rise more.

My wife is a generation younger than these women and doesn't know how to make her own kimchi. It's a dying art. It's simply easier to buy it in a store than go to the trouble to make it when you work outside the house and are busy. Currently she gets our supply from her grandmother who makes it herself from items grown on her farm.

I have fresh, safe, homegrown kimchi to eat, but I need to depend on others for it. I think this gives us a good reason to learn to make it for ourselves. I've made kimchi in the past with kindergarten students, but all the ingredients were prepared before the class and we simply mixed them together. The actual preparation time is in the items that come together to make kimchi. We don't have our own kimchi refrigerator (though my mother-in-law does) to hold kimchi if we wanted to start making our own, but that's something to worry about for another day.

Since you eat kimchi with every meal, it's worth looking into the quality of the food.

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