As to the Portuguese thing, I trust wikipedia about as far as I can throw the clustered hardware it resides on. I skimmed through the Korean history articles one day and came up with a handful of factual errors (facts, not viewpoints or interpretations) within the first ten minutes.

Anyway, from mr. lankov:

“In the 1540s the first European sailors (overwhelmingly Spaniards and Portuguese) reached Japan and introduced the then new spice there as well. From Japan it was transferred to Korea. In all probability, this happened during the devastating Imjin War of 1592-1598 when Korea was invaded by the Japanese armies. At least, the first references to chilli pepper in Korean books appear soon afterwards.”

also, another korea times article…

“Portuguese traders brought the peppers to Asia and the vegetable arrived in Korea during a Japanese invasion in 1592. One historical account says pepper powder was used as a crude form of tear gas during the fighting.”

Of course, I could be wrong as none of these are primary sources, but from what I’ve read of his material, I tend to trust Mr. Lankov if not the kimchi museum.

Oh, one more thing… isn’t kochujang the bean paste? I’ve never made kimchi before, but I’d imagine you’d just use the kochu and not the paste…

The Portuguese brought the pepper to Asia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi

Not all kimchi contains kochu. A lot of people still eat mul kimchi during the summer months.

Also, I was under the impression that the Japanese were responsible for the introduction of South American chili pepper to Korea? (as a chemical weapon or trade item, you pick) Unless you meant the Portuguese were indirectly responsible? In that case, so were the native peoples of South America…

Asians have much higher stomach cancer rates than Westerners. In fact, the disease has shown a decline in the US over the last 60 years as refrigeration has reduced the need for using salt as preservative (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_2X_Can_stomach_cancer_be_prevented_40.asp?sitearea=)

Milk is North America’s equivalent of kimchi. It is both healthful and unhealthful. A majority of Americans of African, Asian, Hispanic, and native heritage have some degree of lactose intolerance, yet milk is served on every kid’s lunch tray. The rich and powerfu dairy industry continues to promote milk as essential to good health, and stories linking milk consumption to disease get little attention in the media.

Evolution takes a lot longer than the amount of time Kimchi’s been around to work on critters as complex as us. Many many lifetimes. People can build up a resistance to some things, but I think carcinogens are not the sorts of things resistance can be developed for.

Sambek_ZX/Max,

Wasn’t the update also that Korean kimchi was found to be adulterated with roundworm? For a while there nobody was eating kimchi in restaurants and then it passed. Have kimchi imports (from China) really halted? I find it hard to believe…