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kimchi

Japanese vending machines now sell spicy “drinkable cold ramen,” but how is this chilled fire?

Two companies from two nations team up to create Nomu Fururu Reimen.

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Can French fry and instant yakisoba-flavored sodas surpass kimchi as Japan’s best strange ramune?

Just because you can make something taste different doesn’t mean that you should.

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Newest Japanese vending machine crush: Keikyu’s kimchi vending machine!【Taste test】

For those times when you’ve got someplace to be, and you’ve also got a craving for kimchi.

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We visit Osaka’s newly dubbed Koreatown for the first time and set our sights on all of the food

After viewing 60+ varieties of kimchi in a single shop alone, our reporter learns that she has much to learn about Korean cuisine.

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Major retailer Aeon may have won Japan’s Best Home Senbero

However, it was only a temporary victory.

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Yakiniku rice burger: A bento boxed lunch you can eat with one hand

New Japanese burger comes in three sizes, depending on how much of a meat tower you can handle.

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YouTube video about home-grown, home-cooked, traditional Chinese food causes major controversy

One dish created in the video has some people angry that it was included when it’s not Chinese food.

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McDonald’s unveils latest Black Burger – the Spicy Korean Burger 【Video】

Hot and spicy enough to distract you from the off-putting blackness of the bun and cure bland food Malay-se?

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Chloe Grace Moretz delivers kimchi slap down during a spot on Korea’s Saturday Night Live【Video】

The infamous kimchi slap makes a comeback!

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Make your tummy happy, eat a kimchi yogurt rice bowl today

In the boring and often mildly terrifying world of being a competent adult, there comes a time when you have to start eating healthily or face the horrible consequences. Junk food somehow seems less appealing when you have to factor in the inevitable side effects such as bloating, stomach cramps, and bad skin.

So we’re always looking for new things to eat that have added beauty benefits, and recently a secret super recipe has come to our attention which involves adding a dollop of yogurt and kimchi to our rice bowls.

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New magic powder purports to make natto edible even for bean-haters

Slimy, sticky, and stinky – natto is a triumvirate of all the things picky eaters are likely to find unpalatable. While these fermented beans are actually incredibly good for your health (being rich in vitamins and fibre), they’re nonetheless something that even most Japanese people don’t like eating. But now there’s a new miracle product which claims to make natto perfectly tasty and edible, even for die-hard natto haters.

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Korean drama advances slap technology with ancient Korean recipe

Have you ever been slapped in the face? If you have a sibling it’s likely to have occurred, or if you’ve wronged someone in just the right way, you’ve likely seen the fingers a flyin’. That hand is all up in your face, and whether you know it’s coming or it’s totally unexpected, it’s surprisingly pretty painful. You can imagine our astonishment when a segment of the Korean drama Everybody, Kimchi! took slapping to a whole new orangey, messy level!

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Kimchi cocktail offers a taste of Korea that no Korean would actually endorse

You’ve probably heard of a Bloody Mary, a popular cocktail with a base of vodka and tomato juice, plus a host of other weird and wonderful flavourings such as Worcestershire or Tabasco sauce, horseradish, celery, pepper, salt, lemon juice, and so on. It may not sound appetizing but it has plenty of devotees, although that may be more to do with its reputation as a ‘hair of the dog’ hangover cure rather than its taste. But if you’re feeling adventurous, why not try the even more exotic flavours of a spicy Korean kimchi version?

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Word wars: Koreans take the Chinese out of Chinese cabbage

America throws the best linguistic hissy fits when political relationships sour. Remember when Congress tried to change French fries to “freedom fries” because France didn’t want to come along on the Iraq invasion? Or how about when sauerkraut became so unpopular during World War I that makers suggested changing the name to the less Germanic “liberty cabbage”? Good times.

Well, it may be that the Yanks aren’t the only ones who want suitably patriotic cabbage. In Korea, it looks like Chinese cabbage, the vegetable used to make the most common variety of kimchi, is now being referred to as “kimchi cabbage” or just “cabbage”.

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We try Cheesecake Kimchi Natto Ramen with a conspicuous moe character on the box

While traveling in Iwate Prefecture recently, one of our reporters stumbled across a brightly decorated pack of instant ramen. Although first drawn by the buxom moe character on the front, it was the name – Rare Cheese Kimchi Natto Ramen – that made this a must-buy.

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Korean government makes request for kimchi to be recognised as intangible cultural heritage

If you were asked to think of a traditional Korean food, kimchi would most likely come to mind. If you’re unfamiliar with the dish, it’s a fermented, rather spicy, side dish made up of vegetables and various seasonings, and it forms the staple ingredient for hundreds of different Korean dishes. With kimchi valued so highly, it is perhaps no surprise that the Korean government wants to see it classified as intangible cultural heritage.

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Kimchi is a fermented cabbage dish from Korea that is often referred to as “Korea’s national dish.” It’s so pungent that those who enjoy eating copious amounts of kimchi have been known to purchase a separate fridge dedicated to storing it. For decades, Korean mothers have sworn by the health benefits of adding kimchi to one’s diet, but now it seems scientists agree as well. New research published in the Journal of Medicinal Food suggests that eating even a small amount of kimchi every day may help lower cholesterol, LDL (“bad cholesterol”), and fasting blood glucose levels.

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The world is full of countless foods and ways of eating them. It’s impossible to keep track of them all. I was surprised to discover salty watermelons, just as other people were surprised by my preference of putting peanut butter on waffles.

Such an incident happened on 19 January when a Japanese test maker unknowingly confused thousands of university entrance exam students with a recipe for a meat sauce calling for a “delicious kimchi base.”

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Stereotypes; you have to love them.

Americans all own guns; every Brit has bad teeth; Asians make bad drivers; Koreans all eat Kimchi.

Usually stereotypes are utter nonsense- none of my American friends have ever held a real gun, let alone own one; a Japanese friend of mine once piloted my car along possibly the narrowest mountain road known to man when I was too freaked out to do it myself; and, as far as I can tell, my teeth are not in need of any urgent dental work.

But with 18kg (40lbs) of kimchi consumed per person in Korea each year, there might just be a grain of truth to that last  stereotype.

So when news broke earlier today that Korea now imports more of its own national dish than it makes, it’s understandable that there were a few raised eyebrows… Read More

Like Spicy Food but Bummed by the Summer Heat? Try Some Frozen Kimchi

Summer seems to get hotter every year. For those of us who like spicy food it can be too burdensome to eat after working up enough of a sweat from the cooking alone.

To help this dilemma, a popular Korean Barbeque restaurant, Gyukaku, has announced that it will start selling a new style of frozen kimchi from 20 June.

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