‘Kimchi is important like air is important’: chef Jung Eun Chae on her cabbage memories – and recipes

‘Kimchi is important like air is important’: chef Jung Eun Chae on her cabbage memories – and recipes

Her Korean restaurant Chae seats just six diners and has a made-from-scratch approach with some ingredients taking more than a year to prepare. Here the chef and owner shares the meaning – and method – behind kimchi

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I was once asked by a reporter, “Why is kimchi important to Koreans?” The question is simple but the answer is enormous, encompassing a huge narrative and a raft of memories that carry me from my childhood all the way to now, to the home I share with my husband, Yoora, and dog Haru in Cockatoo, outside Melbourne.

Kimchi is important like air is important. More than a foundation of our cuisine and a must with every meal, it’s an accompaniment to our lives, threaded into daily and yearly rhythms. It wasn’t until I had been living in Australia for 10 years that I started properly making kimchi again. It was one of the things that set me on the path to cooking Korean food. Kimchi has been a touchstone, full of meaning for me, for ever.

Continue reading… Her Korean restaurant Chae seats just six diners and has a made-from-scratch approach with some ingredients taking more than a year to prepare. Here the chef and owner shares the meaning – and method – behind kimchiGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI was once asked by a reporter, “Why is kimchi important to Koreans?” The question is simple but the answer is enormous, encompassing a huge narrative and a raft of memories that carry me from my childhood all the way to now, to the home I share with my husband, Yoora, and dog Haru in Cockatoo, outside Melbourne.Kimchi is important like air is important. More than a foundation of our cuisine and a must with every meal, it’s an accompaniment to our lives, threaded into daily and yearly rhythms. It wasn’t until I had been living in Australia for 10 years that I started properly making kimchi again. It was one of the things that set me on the path to cooking Korean food. Kimchi has been a touchstone, full of meaning for me, for ever. Continue reading… Australian food and drink, Korean food and drink, Food, Pickling, fermenting and preserving, Chefs, Australian lifestyle 

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