“It was the embodiment of everything I was led to feel ashamed of about my own culture. It was a stinky food… that everyone made fun of. Gross, yuck, those were the terms I heard.”

A staple of Korean cuisine, kimchi carries a cultural inheritance shaped by history, necessity, and collective memory. For centuries, Korean families have come together in the fall to make and preserve kimchi through kimjang, an annual ritual that historically ensured communities could survive the harsh winters. That process wasn’t just about food; It was a form of mutual care and knowledge sharing.

In the diaspora, kimchi has taken on new layers of meaning. For Korean Americans, it’s a sensory link to identity and ancestry, a reminder that culture can be carried, adapted, and celebrated across borders. The smell of fermenting cabbage in a garage fridge. The stained gloves from mixing gochugaru and garlic by hand. These are ordinary details that speak to something bigger.