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Kimchi & Kimjang

Kimchi appears at almost every Korean meal, and kimjang — making winter kimchi together in late autumn — is a much-loved family tradition.

In Korean김치와 김장“gimchi · gimjang”

Where
All over Korea
Best season
Winter

#kimchi#kimjang#fermented

💡 Good to know
  • Kimchi comes free as a side dish in restaurants, and refills are fine to ask for.
  • Beyond cabbage kimchi, try kkakdugi (radish cubes) and mild baek-kimchi (white kimchi).
  • Some cultural centers run kimchi-making classes where you can make your own.

Kimchi is vegetables salted and mixed with chili flakes, garlic and fermented seafood, then left to ferment. It is the side dish that appears at almost every Korean meal — and an ingredient in stews and fried rice too.

Kinds of kimchi

  • Baechu-kimchi — the classic napa cabbage kimchi, tangier as it ripens.
  • Kkakdugi — cubed radish kimchi, perfect with rice soups.
  • Baek-kimchi — “white kimchi” made without chili, so it is not spicy.
  • Yeolmu and chonggak kimchi — young radish varieties; there are countless more by season and region.

Kimjang: making it together

In late autumn, families and neighbors gather to make a winter’s worth of kimchi in one go. This tradition, called kimjang, was inscribed on UNESCO’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. If you visit in November or December, you may see huge piles of cabbages at markets.

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