Originally Posted By: wilnis
Thanks for the replies. I got my first jar yesterday after reading alot about it, and I'm trying to decide if it is a vegetable, a salad, or a condiment, and I guess it is all of these. I tried it as a seperate dish, and tried it with a baked chicken dish we had last night and it worked well for me as both. The rice suggestion is one I've seen several places, also with fried rice. I appreciate the comments and thanks to you all. Bill
It's a side dish (banchan) unless it is used for stew (jjigae) in which case it serves as a soup base. But please do experiment. I have a cousin who eats kimchi with macaroni and cheese and other odd combinations. It can also be an ingredient like in kimchi buchingae (Korean pancake).
Sort of a perspective thing I suppose. If you've always seen a hammer as a hammer, then it's hard to not see it as a hammer.