I really love this particular episode.Think I have watched it at least 5 times on the Travel channel (whats with all the No Reservations re-runs?!)I especially like Bourdain's description of Kimchee:
"Kimchee, the heart and soul of Korea.The principal dish.The beginning and end.The constant condiment.The much-loved concoction of cabbage and tongue-scorching spice buried in claypots until appropriately..fragrant.From a field of fermenting kimchee to hanging bricks of dry and moldy beans...i love the dark forces of rotting, of aging, of fermentation..the divine game of changing between light and dark, but the difference between the divine and the rotten, is entirely in the hands of a talented artist"
I have been a big fan of the Hermit Kingdom (much of it attributed to the tear-jerking drama 秋天的童话 which I was crazy over in secondary school) and have visited it twice of which both times I remembered how their cuisine was just so unique! They go big on spices, antiquated food traditions like Kimchee, love their seafood, have moulded sheets of metal serve as their cutlery and bowls (seriously! have you seen an authentic Korean chopsticks?)and are so proud of their cuisine that they bring it wherever they go!
There are many Korean food establishments here in Ann Arbor and I could say that you can trust most of them for a good hot meal on a blistering cold wintery day...Will miss these places when I leave in 1.5 months time...
and wow, do you know that the Kimchee fermentation procecess is kicked off by rotting oysters? you will never look at that plate of Kimchee the same way again=)
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