Korea's Fermentation Culture

Fermentation seems to be an old-style preservation technique that is loosing ground to more modern methods. However, the rich fermentation traditions in Korea are well preserved. My interest in fermentation started long before my time in Korea. The idea of making something at home intrigued me and the ‘wonder drink’ Kombucha confounded my mind. What was this thing everyone is so interested in and willing to pay almost four dollars for? I started researching probiotics and got very excited at the possible health benefits. For me the logic seemed very sound; we came from this Earthly planet and can find symbiotic relations with many different Earthly organisms. An imbalance in the micro-world can cause macro-health problems.

Then I went to Korea. If you’re very new to Korea then I might say you don’t know ‘kimchi’ about Korea. Compared to the ocean of the words taken from Chinese and Japanese only a drop come from Korean. One of them is ‘kimchi’; so if you don’t know kimchi, you don’t know anything. Kimchi is basically fermented vegetables. The most common is cabbage kimchi. Although a major ingredient is hot pepper I never noticed any spiciness to it. It reminded me of something I learned in China: “Sour neutralizes spicy.” It’s so true!

Aside from fermented cabbage Koreans ferment almost anything they can. I’d say the next most popular fermented dish would be radish kimchi. From what I remember of the kimchi museum the first kind of kimchi was radish kimchi, but it didn’t include hot pepper paste (that could be shocking if you are a Korean and never knew that). Another notable fermented item would be sesame leaves. Also you can’t forget hot pepper paste itself. Oh and many other sauces as well. Perhaps now you see what I mean when I say Korea is rich in its fermentation culture.

Of all the fermented foods I enjoyed there was one that I particularly DIDN’T enjoy. I was lucky enough to only come across it once. The meal was supposedly very traditional Korean-style. So what was fermented? Fish. And it was so disgusting! Some fermented dishes take some time to get used to and after a while they become enjoyable. But not this. I couldn’t imagine enjoying it. Ever. I thought maybe they accidentally spilled some toxic chemical on the fish. Well, there’s no need to go on any more about this.

One of the most fascinating things about fermented foods for me is the relatively little control we have over them. Perhaps that’s why in many other cultures we have given up on it. Yes, I know of course mass-produced things like beer and cheese are scientifically made probably within a .01% error margin. But in Korea all these things they make are wild ferments. There is a certain taste (it happens to be slightly repulsive) to homemade makoli (rice wine). I was lucky enough to experience that once and it reminded me of a home ferment that I tried.

Cooking  is an art. So when wild fermentation is added to the process I feel like the art really speaks to me. Sometimes the kimchi (like at school) is pitiful. Sometimes it was unbelievably good. But one thing to appreciate about it was the temporary nature of it. Try as you may to keep the kimchi taste the same day after day it will slowly sour and change in taste. You as the artist work with this invisible hand. The invisible hand may help extremely, but it could also hinder you.