The Classy Transformation of Kimchi: Modern Kimchi Cuisines in Netflix’s Black and White Chef

Kimchi, a traditional Korean dish, has transcended its function as a symbol of Korean culture and is now widely loved across the world. Despite this, kimchi was once a practical means to preserve vegetables through fermentation dating back thousands of years. Kimchi, which is known for its health advantages including probiotic functions and high vitamin content, has become a Korean diet staple as well as part of the culture itself. Over the years, families have gathered each fall to make kimchi and parents have shown their love by mixing kimchi with water to reduce the spice for their children.  During tough winters when kimchi was sometimes the only side dish alongside rice, it provided essential nutrients that helped families endure the bitter times.

In recent years, Kimchi has evolved into more than culture; it has become a versatile culinary component, with chefs all over the world experimenting with it. One illustration of this progression is Netflix's program Black and White Chef. Black and White Chef is a show in which brilliant chefs compete by combining a variety of items into their recipes (including kimchi), and renowned figures (Jongwun Baek and Sungjae Ahn) judge those dishes to select the winner. As you may have already guessed, the chefs are divided into two divisions: white chefs who are renowned in their field, and black chefs who are not.

Image credit: Netflix

Black and White Chef highlights kimchi's adaptability by featuring recipes that combine traditional Korean ingredients with modern, international cuisines. In one of the cooking rounds, a black chef with the nickname “Meat Gangster” competed against one of the most renowned white chefs, Edward Lee (the largest figure shown in the left of the image). The ingredient they were given was seasoned kimchi, and their dishes were solely evaluated based on taste.

Meat Gangster cooked Samhap, which combines skate, bacon, and seasoned kimchi. Samhap, which means "three combinations," emphasizes the harmony between the various flavors of these components. The strong, fermented taste of kimchi was balanced by the soft skate and bacon, demonstrating kimchi's flexibility in both Korean and Western cuisines.

Image credit: Netflix

Edward Lee’s dish was a pork cutlet with seasoned kimchi salad and sweet persimmons. Edward Lee is well-known for combining traditional Korean tastes with Western culinary methods. However, the ingredient was a challenge for Lee. As a Korean-American immigrant, he has only tasted seasoned kimchi once or twice in his entire life. Still, the show continued. Lee used the juice from seasoned kimchi to make a sauce, combining it with salad made of pork cutlet, persimmons, and Korean pear.

The results of the round were truly surprising. The judges unanimously selected Lee’s dish after a blind test, despite his unfamiliarity with seasoned kimchi. The judges highly appreciated the sweetness of the fruits Lee used and the intricate balance between the taste of kimchi. Lee’s recipe not only displayed kimchi's compatibility with salty, fried dishes but also how kimchi can be improved with the natural sweetness of fruit, resulting in a new layer of taste that appeals to a global audience. Although there was only one winner in the round, both of the culinary dishes were highly evaluated in the innovative approaches to blending the taste of traditional kimchi with novel styles and ingredients.

Kimchi's rising prominence in worldwide cuisine demonstrates how it encompasses cultures and affects chefs throughout the world. Kimchi is no longer only a Korean family staple; it has become a well-known and popular component. In Black and White Chef, the chefs show how the usage of kimchi represents a mix of traditional Korean values and modern world culinary trends. The chefs combined cultures of the East and the West into a display of food. This global approach led to the resurgence of kimchi, elevating it from a side dish to a creative component of contemporary cuisine.

Kimchi's transformation from a simple, traditional meal to a worldwide culinary dish is continuous as seen by series like Black and White Chef, which highlight how chefs continue to experiment with Kimchi. Kimchi's future in fine dining is promising, with chefs combining it into innovative, intricate dishes that appeal to a wide range of audiences. This program has inspired the creation of additional food shows, such as a kimchi-focused culinary competition in Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, featuring chefs from Black and White Chef. Kimchi continues to inspire chefs and food enthusiasts all across the world, constantly evolving, solidifying its place in modern kitchens and altering global dining experiences.