The Only Food That Hangs In the Air After You've Eaten It...

Now I've heard it all!
The magic medicine: Kimchi!
Many moons ago in the "land of the
Morning Calm," a good bowl of kimchi
would clear out the room--no questions
asked!
Kimchi, for those who have not fallen
under its spell, was the staple food for
literally millions of Koreans. Kimchi spelled
survival through "the hard times", the periods
between the spring and fall crops when there
was nothing to eat. To understand what kimchi
is and what it means to the average Korean, think
of the role potatoes played during the Irish famine...

Kimchi requires elaborate preparation. Basically,
it is a melange of cabbage, garlic, fish sauce, ginger, onions,
and lot's of pepper.

Originally, it was prepared and buried in earthenware pots
in the ground and allowed to ferment.

Today, it is eaten as a favorite food at any time...

In the military, if you worked for the US Army, you were
not allowed to partake of kimchi during working hours...
And if you violated that rule, everyone was the wiser.
Kimchi produces its own aftermath that hung in the air
hours after someone having eaten it had left.
It was that strong!

Eventually, when the people could afford to buy noodles and
other favorites, they still nurtured a taste for this food which
was to become a delicacy.

In fact, as a favor to my friends, I would send jars of it through
the mail to Koreans who couldn't get this spicy food in their
adopted lands...

That's why today's revelation that Kimchi might hold the answer to
the flu virus has caused demand for this delicacy to escalate with jars
literally flying off importer's shelves.

Why not, I ask, considering that the old stand-by chicken soup seems to be
good for just about everything else. Maybe it is time for a new player
to hog center stage and why shouldn't it be the Asian equivalent of chicken
soup. Stranger things have happened! And if it works, more power to the
stuff that no only clears sinuses but also rooms at a moment's notice.

Now, if it only removed mold.


les aaron