Kimchi

Modern kimchi spans more than 200 regional and seasonal varieties, though the everyday version is baechu-kimchi: whole napa cabbage leaves salted to draw out moisture, then coated in a paste of gochugaru (chilli flakes), garlic, ginger, spring onion, and jeotgal (salted, fermented seafood) before fermenting for days to weeks. Other common types include kkakdugi (cubed radish), oi-sobagi (stuffed cucumber), and watery, mild nabak-kimchi.

Fermentation develops the dish's sour, funky depth and beneficial live bacteria, and the flavour keeps evolving as it ages — young kimchi is crisp and mild, while well-fermented kimchi turns sharply tangy and is prized for cooking into stews like kimchi-jjigae and fried rice. It's served at virtually every Korean meal, alongside dishes like Korean BBQ bulgogi.

Fermented, salted vegetables have been part of Korean cuisine for over 3,000 years, long before chilli peppers existed on the peninsula. Early kimchi was closer to a simple salted pickle, often flavoured with ginger and other spices rather than the fiery red paste eaten today. Chilli peppers reached Korea via Japanese and Portuguese trade routes in the late 16th and 17th centuries, and it took roughly another hundred years before they were widely adopted into kimchi, eventually becoming its defining ingredient by the 18th century.

Kimjang — the communal, late-autumn tradition of making large batches of kimchi to last through winter, when fresh vegetables were once scarce — turned the dish into a social ritual as much as a food, with families and neighbours gathering to prepare hundreds of cabbages together. UNESCO recognised kimjang as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013, citing its role in strengthening Korean identity and cooperation.

For more on where to eat it today, see our food lover's guide to Milan, Tokyo & Seoul.