William Brady / Stockfood
Durian fruit, Limburger cheese, shrimp paste, natto, kimchi: These are some of the stinkiest foods in the world. Kimchi—the fermented cabbage condiment that is standard at most Korean meals—is so smelly that many fans of the product keep a separate kimchi-only refrigerator so the odor doesn't permeate everything else in the fridge. But now, kimchi might be making its way off the smelliest-foods list, thanks to the work of one Korean woman, Kim Soon-ja. Kim, who has been named Korea's first kimchi master by the South Korean Food Ministry, has developed a freeze-dried kimchi that doesn't smell. "When it soaks in water either hot or cold for a few minutes, it will become just like ordinary kimchi," she says. But how does it taste? Cho Jae-sun, a food-science professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, says that without its strong smell, the freeze-dried pickled cabbage will not taste the same as fresh kimchi.