Kimchi Comes Again under the World’s Spotlight

Kimchi Comes Again under the World’s Spotlight
Nowadays Covid-19 is cutting a wide swathe in the world, but it has failed to make
inroads into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In the past, when SARS was prevalent in the world, this country had no one infected.
At that time, the international medical circles reported that kimchi could be efficacious in
preventing and curing the disease.
As the global research on Covid-19 is being intensified, scientists pay their attention
to kimchi, saying that adequate intake of essential nutrients can boost the immunity of
human body to the disease.
Long before, many medical scientists have regarded kimchi as an ideal health food.
An American health magazine introduced kimchi as one of the world’s five health foods.
A news agency of a country reported: Kimchi, a traditional food of Korea, is well known
as a cure-all; it is a peculiar dish made of pickled bok choy; much intake of kimchi could
be effective in preventing several diseases; the dish, which is a must in the Korean
people’s diet, is rich in vitamins, essential amino acids and minerals.
Kimchi is prepared with fresh vegetables such as radish and bok choy as major
materials and is fermented with such spices as ginger, spring onion, garlic, chilli powder
and so on. It not only looks and tastes good but also is high in the nutritious and
pharmacological value. Kimchi is diverse in its kinds. It can be prepared with different
vegetables according to the season, like radish, bok choy, cucumber, eggplant, parsley
and other fresh edible herbs.
From the pharmacological point of view, kimchi is an alkaline food which keeps
human body from going acidic. In particular, it is very efficacious in curing obesity,
arteriosclerosis, diabetes and lack of appetite, which can be often found in those who take
much meat.
Pollack, squid, shellfish and shrimps added in kimchi blend well with one another,
producing a peculiar taste and stimulating the appetite.
Kimchi is a medicine by itself.
If the fruit of Crataegus pinnatifada, which is known to be efficacious against heart
diseases, is added to kimchi, it strengthens the heart, lowers the blood pressure, expands
the blood vessels and prevents absorption of cholesterol; if pheasant, beef and abalone
are added, it becomes as good as tonic.
For this reason, it is being widely introduced in many countries; some countries make
kimchi rice, kimchi saute, kimchi sandwich and kimchi ice-cream.
According to historical records, the Koreans found long ago the way of preparing
kimchi with radish and bok choy and storing it; even in the cold winter, they intake
vitamins and other necessary nutritional substances by eating kimchi stored in its fresh
state.
Whenever winter comes, it is commonplace in the country to see families preparing
kimchi.
Some years ago, UNESCO inscribed the Korean people’s kimchi making on the
Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and gave wide publicity
to it on the Internet.