Kimchi….now made in Singapore

You know the Korean food has officially been accepted the masses when your local heartland supermarket- NTUC starts producing it’s own kimchi sauce.
Yes. Seriously. Bottled kimchi suace.

I’m not sure how it tastes like though. Somehow, it doesn’t look that hmm… kimchilicious? I may be wrong of course, so if anyone has tried it, please let me know as I don’t wish to make my family into guinea pigs.

And that’s not all, Woh Hup, the brand that I associate with oyster sauce and soya sauce has also started producing kimchi sauce, sold in their familiar looking bottles.

It can only mean that kimchi (or rather the taste of kimchi)- that staple dish for Koreans has found its way into the Singaporean’s everyday cooking.

Pretty amazing as the Korean wave has only been around for about 10 years and only intensified in the last few years due to the frequent appearances of Korean artistes in Singapore. I can only imagine it’s the younger ones (who are really into K Pop) are the ones demanding kimchi-related food on the table which has led to this scene. When Korean dramas were the rage (watched mostly by women of a sligher matured age) in the early stage of the Korean Wave, NTUC and Woh Hup did not rush out to produce their own version of kimchi sauce, because well, even if the mother would like to try out that simply delicious looking kimchi stew that she just saw on TV, her family probably wouldn’t want any of it.

But when it’s children asking for it…ahhh.. that’s different. For mothers will cook what their children ask them to.

Locally made Korean food products doesn’t just extend to just kimchi sauce. I bet you 10,000won if you open up the kitchen cupboards of most Singaporeans now, you will find Kimchi ramyeon right next to that chicken flavoured instant noodles and tom yum noodles. How do I know? Because NTUC (again) also has kimchi ramyeon under it’s own house brand. In case you turn your nose up at it. NTUC’s kimchi ramyeon is made in Korea for NTUC. Whereas that Shin Korean brand noodles that you find in the supermarkets (except Korean stores) are actually made in China.

And the Myojo brand of the hugely popular chicken instant noodles also has it’s own brand of kimchi rameyon, proving that kimchi is indeed, here to stay.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Afterall, you can find a Korean stall in practically all foodcourts now, though they are almost always manned by a Chinese national and the food cooked by a local Chinese.

Does this mean that the next stage of the Korean Wave (after dramas and music) would be food? Well, why not? Singaporeans are known to love food..both young and old, men and women. It is something that unites all. Major food producer/ wholesaler/ distributor like CJ Food and Koryo Trading, a vendor in the last Annyeong Seoul Korean Fair at Bukit Panjang Plaza have already started selling that products in all the major supermarkets.

Maybe one day, I would be able to buy freshly made kimchi, right next to the the uncle selling freshly grind coconut in my local wet market. What do you think?

For tips on how to eat Korean instant noodles, check out my postings on Ramyeon 101 and Ramyeon 101- FAQ.

And to get you in the mood to have that slurping, hot ramyeon..here’s Jang Hyuk to entice you. ^^