As a boy growing up in the Midwest, I knew the smell of a fresh pickle and an old dill pickle.
The great generation kept gardens and home pickled and canned vegetables. I was no stranger to the process of fermentation. I had my share of sauerkraut. I thought I was pretty much ready for anything.
That was until I was in college and invited to the house of a Korean family for the first time. My friend Joe was a cool kid to hang out with. He smelled like any other American boy. He liked hamburgers and was a frequent of the famous hot dog stand up the road. But I could have never prepared myself for the moment he opened the door of his house.
It wasn't the smell of pickles and it wasn't the smell of something that just died or had gone rotten. This was the smell of something that was living. When I opened the refrigerator I was in for the biggest surprise. There was only a bottle of ketchup, a half gallon of milk, an apple and a medium sized container or what I assumed was pickled cabbage.
Joe warned,
"Don't open that."
Given the strength of the smell that already permeated the room, I obeyed. Instead I took a cup of the milk. This was not milk. It was like something was living in the milk. I couldn't drink it. It smelled sour and pungent like I should avoid it, but it was completely fresh milk.
Joe suggested,
"Try the apple."
We cut it in half. Joe went away at it and smiled. I couldn't eat mine. It just tasted like dancing garlic. An apple should not taste like that. I frowned.
Joe said,
"You asked for it."
He then opened the contained and put some of it in a frying pan with rice, sesame oil and oyster sauce. After five minutes. He put some on my plate and said,
"Try it."
This smell took some getting used to but this was one of the best dishes I have ever had. It was like Mexican food with a punch. I felt real flavor in every bite and it actually made me feel strong although it was nothing but pickled cabbage.
He said it was the probiotics. He said the fermentation allows these probiotics to grow and they help keep our body healthy. This was all new to me. I just couldn't get over the smell. Every time I entered a Korean person's house I would find that smell again.
It took me some time to love kimchi. At fist I would eat it with bread or mayonnaise and rice. Then I found it tasted great with barbecued meat. Now I don't go a meal without having kimchi.
I have a kimchi refrigerator to keep the kimchi from fermenting too fast and I never keep milk or apples in the same refrigerator I keep the kimchi. Somehow the probiotics and strong flavors jump into the milk and apples. That's the reason for my surprise the in my first encounter with kimchi.
This story was inspired from the inkwell's nonfiction prompt #31. The story is completely AI free. The drawing and picture are my own creations 