Back in 1999, I was a 15 year old high school kid struggling with tough subjects like Trigonometry and Calculus. Mama told me to visit our Korean neighbors to solve my numerical burdens. All I have to do is spend a few hours with them talking in English in exchange for my free Math lessons!
When I entered their home, their was a very strong and pungent smell. It doesn't smell like anything my sensitive nose has encountered! After an hour or two of equations and conversations in broken English, I felt the need to escape! The scent from the kitchen was so strong that my olfactory nerves were becoming numb! At the end of the day, I decided not to have free Math lessons anymore!
A few months later, my Korean neighbors went back to their own country. I cherished the Morning Glory notebooks and the powdered Vitamin C they gave me but not the scent that reeked from their kitchen. For several years, I had a hidden disgust for Korean cuisine due to my nose-wrecking experience!
In December 2005, I applied as an English tutor for Korean students in a language academy near my home. The new applicants and I were trained in a classroom which also served as a dining hall for the students. Our training started at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and the scent of anything that was eaten for lunch clung heavily in the air! As the days went by, flashbacks from my former neighbors' home entered my head due to the familiar scent in the classroom. My Filipina boss told me that the students love to eat kimchi, a traditional pickled Korean dish, on a daily basis. She also added that she found it tasty and appetizing. After I got home, I surfed the Internet for some information about kimchi. I was amazed at the fact that the magazine Health has included it in its list of the "World's Healthiest Foods"! I guess that's the reason why my students regard it as a staple food along with rice.
The scent of the classroom/lunch room was becoming more appetizing. I felt ashamed that I was too narrow-minded about Korean dishes when I was a teenager! I wanted to try kimchi at that time yet I was too timid to ask my students for some. I also didn't know that it was sold, not only in Korean restaurants here, but also in some local grocery stores. It wasn't until in April 2006 that I had my first taste of that coveted dish. One of my students invited me and their other tutors for a dinner at Kim's Bab Restaurant. They ordered bibimbab, a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sauteed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste) & kimbap, made from steamed white rice (bap) and various other ingredients, and rolled in gim (sheets of dried seaweed. Kimchi was one of the appetizers. It was too spicy yet I almost finished the entire plate! I guess it appealed to my masochistic alter ego... my tongue hurt yet it was very delicious! My students taught me where to buy kimchi and since that day, it has become my pungent addiction.
No comments:
Post a Comment