Let the future begin, kimchi air conditioner is here

February 15, 2006

Romantic kimchi photo courtesy of “Do the Bart” Charlotte Yong San Gullach

Kimchi is pickled cabbage (or radish or mustard leaf or…) and I feel quite comfortable in reporting that it is one of the top five most delicious things you can put in your mouth. It is Gawd’s own comfort food, made with generous amounts of fresh garlic, ginger and red peppers, it is crazy healthy. So healthy, that an entire nation and a large population of several other nations believe that kimchi can prevent illness. I belong to one of those nations. Kimchi Nation. Kimchi also has a farty smell, but regular culiblog readers know that I just live for that.

Museum of Kimchi photo courtesy of NihaoGirl

And if all that weren’t reason enough to get a leg up on the kimchi altar, apparently kimchi can also kill the avian flu virus H5N1 and is soon to be used in the manufacture of air conditioners. No Fred, not hair conditioners, AIR conditioners.

Snowy vats of kimchi fermenting in the park courtesy of Polish Sausage Queen

Today Reuters reported that: South Korean firm LG Electronics is poised to start marketing an air conditioner with a filter made using an enzyme from the pungent national dish kimchi that is aimed at protecting against the bird flu virus. “We developed the filter with the aim of protecting people against bird flu,” LG spokeswoman Park Se-won said by telephone, citing four studies from domestic and overseas institutions that she said showed the filter eliminated the deadly H5N1 virus.

Kimchi pots in the public space by Bryan Hughes

Unfortunately the air conditioners will use only the enzyme from the kimchi and will not transmit its smell. This is a mistake waiting to happen and I would like to urge you to get on the horn immédiatement to let LG Electronics know how wrong that would be.

Thank you Willem for this culi tip. You know I love the kimchi.

Glamour shot of kimchi courtesy of a person with wonderful photographic skills and whose name I cannot read because it is written in Korean

A list of links to images and air condioner manufacturers for Kimchi researchers and cultural activists.

• culiblog writes about kimchi
• Reuters on the Kimchi air conditioner
• Flickr kimchi tag
• LG Electronics online contact form in Dutch
• Romantic kimchi photo courtesy of “Do the Bart” Charlotte Yong San Gullach
• Museum of Kimchi photo courtesy of NihaoGirl
• Snowy vats of kimchi fermenting in the park courtesy of Polish Sausage Queen
• Kimchi pots in the public space by Bryan Hughes
• Glamour shot of kimchi courtesy of a person with wonderful photographic skills and whose name I cannot read because it is written in Korean

technorati tags: kimchi, avianflu, South Korea

Kimchi, the comfort food of the gawds courtesy of culiblog

debra at 23:58 | | post to del.icio.us

10 Comments »

1. Kimchi Nation! I am your fellow citizen.

   Comment by mzn — February 16, 2006 @ 3:22

2. Hmm….I’m not sure I’m quite ready to be a member of the Kimchi Nation, although I guess I should try anything once.
   Any recommendations of the best way to take a tour?

   Comment by Christiane — February 16, 2006 @ 12:39

3. Citizen, Salute.

   Comment by Debra — February 16, 2006 @ 13:49

4. Christiane, try a Korean supermarket, a Korean friend, a Korean restaurant, Korea, or an Asian Supermarket. Any Asian supermarket worth its weight in salt will have fresh kimchi in vats, or packaged. Do not buy canned kimchi because it isn’t delicious. My mouth is watering as I write this. I’m in Berlin right now and there is no kimchi until dinner.

   Comment by debra — February 16, 2006 @ 15:07

5. Debra! Please post recipe about how to make kimchi. In this small French village they’ve never heard about asian supermarkets. In fact, the only asian thing they ever heard of here is asian birdflu. Your pantrychef needs to get kimchi-ing ritenow!

   Comment by kristi van Riet — February 16, 2006 @ 19:21

6. Dear Pantry Chef,
   I can give you MY recipe for kimchi, but although it tastes really great and is probably healthy like ‘real’ kimchi, my kimchi doesn’t taste even remotely like Korean kimchi. For many years I have tried to follow the traditional recipes with no success in producing the kimchi that Korean people can produce without thinking.

   I think the reason for my continued failure to get the authentic Korean kimchi flavour and tang (because the bubbling and fresh texture is the most important part), is because I am crap at following instructions.

   Maybe pantry chef is better?

   Comment by Debra — February 17, 2006 @ 13:04

7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dayanism/69196759/in/photostream/

   Dear Pantry Chef,

   This is a photostream of ‘dayanism’ that explains the basic concept of making kimchi. In this recipe she is using daikon radish, but you can substitute any sort of cabbage or tough leafy green. Koreans pickle everything including hot green peppers.

   I will contact her to get the amounts of time that it has to sit before the bubbles start to come. This is important.

   Maybe it’s like bread, your kitchen needs to get properly ‘yeasted’ before the good bread will come. Micro-organisms are everything in cooking.

   You cannot imagine my joy at the thought that you might end up being the kimchi chef. I will revere you.

   My kimchi always resembles my ‘quickles’.

   Comment by Debra — February 17, 2006 @ 13:17

8. The recipe intrigues me, although I’m still not completely sold on the kimchi.
   I’ll try anything once though….

   Comment by Christiane — February 21, 2006 @ 15:04

9. Ahhh kimchee nation sounds like a dream come true. I love the pix of kimchee vats in the snow, so picturesque and lovely.

   Comment by sandy — October 26, 2007 @ 18:39

10. You’re an idiot… what the hell kind of review was that? “Farty Smell” great way to describe food moron.

    Comment by Mike — January 31, 2008 @ 14:12