Friday 5 January 2007

how kimchi got its name

i think this is the most written about topic on my blog!!! which i find utterly hilarious! but nontheless... i was told a story about kimchi last night and i just have to share it with the world.

the teller of the story is uncertain if this is the truth, or just an urban legend, but it's great. (he heard it from a Taiwanese journalist over the holidays...)

about 1500 years ago the koreans went to meet the king of china. they, of course, brought him a gift of kimchi. he had never heard of it, or tasted it before and was delighted. upon tasting it he said "kimchi". the koreans (who didn't speak chinese) took this to be the name of it, since it didn't have one before this (this is where i think the story is lacking... it didn't have a name???) anyway, he said "kimchi" and the koreans decided this was the name of the dish. but what the king was really saying was "i don't like it"!!!

so that's why kimchi is called kimchi!

and now that i've written it down, it sounds more like a joke than a true story... but it's fun anyway!

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