allplants | Is Kimchi Vegan? (2024)

FAQs

Allplants | Is Kimchi Vegan? ›

Is it vegan? Traditionally, kimchi is not vegan. This is because it is typically seasoned and fermented in a seafood paste to deepen the flavour. This means that lots of kimchi bought that is made by Korean brands are not vegan-friendly.

A staple ingredient is shrimp paste and fish sauce which heightens the flavor and makes it extra tasteful. They also add more garlic to improve the taste of this Korean food. The two seafood ingredients are not part of the vegan diet, which makes Kimchi not vegan.

Yes, there is almost no difference. A study conducted at Brown University showed that because of the fermentation process, both vegan and traditional kimchi probiotics were similar in the end, although both started differently.

Does Kimchi have meat or shellfish? Normally, kimchi is not vegan.

It depends on how the kimchi is made. Most kimchi I can find has either fish sauce, anchovy or shrimp juices in it, but not all of it. There is one brand that they carry at the Korean market about 40 minutes away that has at least 3 varieties that are vegan though.

While the basic ingredients of kimchi, like cabbage, radish, and scallions, are vegetarian-friendly, often fish sauce or shrimp paste are added to the mixture to up the umami and saltiness of the final product. That's perfectly fine if you eat fish, but if you don't, it's worth keeping an eye out.

A vegan favorite, kimchi contains lactic acid.

Kimchi is often served as a side dish alongside other healthful vegetables and proteins. Researchers noted in the study that consuming more than three servings of kimchi a day could have the opposite benefit. Participants who ate more than five servings of kimchi per day were more likely to be at a risk for obesity.

Along with fiber, vitamins, and minerals, kimchi contains natural probiotic bacteria. If you eat them regularly, the probiotics in fermented foods can be beneficial to your gut microbiome. Studies suggest that eating kimchi on a daily basis could help to improve some digestive problems.

If your gut health isn't in tip-top shape, I would start with just a small teaspoon of kimchi (or another fermented veg) with just one meal a day. Build your way up – when you're constantly enjoying a whole food, fibre-rich diet, then you can probably enjoy one or two tablespoons with two meals a day.”

Does kimchi lose probiotics when cooked? ›

Don't (always) cook miso, kimchi or sauerkraut.

Fermented foods like sourdough starter, unpasteurized tempeh, kombucha, sauerkraut, miso and kimchi are teeming with live good bacteria. But cooking kills them.

Eating kimchi hot or cold for health benefits

The answer to “do you eat kimchi hot or cold” is really about health, not flavor. Kimchi tastes great cooked into almost anything. But heating kimchi kills the healthy, helpful bacteria that are a product of the fermentation process.

A past taxonomic study carried out on Korean kimchi reported the prevalence of lactic acid bacteria as the main fermenting microorganisms, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Pediococcus, and Weissella species [12].

“In vegan kimchi, producers swap in things like miso, which is a fermented soybean paste, in place of the seafood components,” explained Michelle Zabat, an undergraduate at Brown University and lead author of the study.

Is it vegan? Traditionally, kimchi is not vegan. This is because it is typically seasoned and fermented in a seafood paste to deepen the flavour. This means that lots of kimchi bought that is made by Korean brands are not vegan-friendly.

Even if it's refrigerated, mold can still grow on kimchi that's been kept for too long. Throw out your kimchi immediately if you see any blue, black, white, or green masses starting to form on the kimchi itself or on the jar. The kimchi will taste a lot more sour if it's gone bad.

According to the 2022 iteration of the Codex Alimentarius international food standards, kimchi is vegetarian in that it's simply “prepared with Chinese cabbage as a predominant ingredient and other vegetables which have been trimmed, cut, salted and seasoned before fermentation”.

Kimchi can be made from a variety of vegetables and recipes vary depending upon which region of Korea they originated from. Some of those recipes use brined anchovies, brined shrimp or a jeotgal (a type of fish sauce) as part of their flavorings, but they can simply be omitted if that is your preference.

Kimchi is not always vegetarian because it often contains fish sauce, shrimp paste, or other seafood-based ingredients. These ingredients are used to add a savory and salty flavor for fermentation. To make vegetarian kimchi, you can replace the traditional sauce with vegetarian-friendly one like salt.

As of 2021, there were around 2.5 million people in South Korea following a vegan diet.