Kimchi Forever
Comments (6) When I was growing up, my family would eat pizza on Sundays after church. A few minutes after we’d received the body of Christ shrunk to the size of a coin, we’d drive to our favorite pizzeria and get a hot pie with extra tomato sauce.
My brother and I loved the chewy crust, the bubbly cheese, the slices of pepperoni. It was greasy, salty heaven, and the cheese was hot enough to burn the roof of my mouth. I didn’t want to think about what it was doing to the little bit of Jesus that was inside of me.
As we were gorging ourselves and falling into food coma, inevitably, my mother would stop and say, “Hmm, wish I had a little kimchi.” My brother and I’d look at each other and roll our eyes. Our mother was such a FOB. Such an incurable FOB. She had to have kimchi with everything. Spaghetti? Kimchi goes with that. A grilled cheese sandwich? Put kimchi in the middle. Pancakes? With kimchi on top, pretty please; hold the maple syrup.
Years later, I would see people flocking to fusion restaurants, where they’d pay up to a day’s wages for a tiny dinner. The restaurants are often celebrated with four-star reviews. Many of these places are run by Asian chefs who’ve combined their European training with their mama’s cooking. Or by Caucasian chefs who recognize the fact that Asians are not a “minority.”
You know what the key ingredient is in many of these places? Kimchi! At one restaurant in Seattle, you can get a mac and cheese with a side of pickled radish. In New York, you can have kimchi with your foie gras.
The coolest innovator of all, of course, is Roy Choi, the taco truck guy in L.A. who serves kimchi with quesadillas and Twittered his way to fame. And only charges seven bucks. (We thrifty Asian American princesses like that.) The Korean taco seems to be a growing phenomenon, as evidenced by Koi Fusion, which started in Portland a few months ago. The guy behind Koi Fusion realizes that the demographics of Portland isn’t exactly that of L.A., still he’s determined to bring the taste of Korea—and kimchi—to the masses. Who would have guessed that my fobby mother had been a trendsetter all along?
