Grandma's Kimchi
Every Saturday morning, I’d awaken to the smell of crushed garlic and piquant pepper. I would stumble into the kitchen to find my grandma squatting over a large silver bowl, mixing fat lips of fresh cabbages with garlic, salt, and red pepper. That was how the delectable Korean dish, kimchi, was born every weekend at my home.
My grandma’s specialty always dominated the dinner table as kimchi filled every plate. And like my grandma who had always been living with us, it seemed as though the luscious smell of garlic would never leave our home. But even the prided recipe was defenseless against the ravages of Alzheimer’s that inflicted my grandma’s mind.
Dementia slowly fed on her ...
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She brought out the old silver bowl and poured out the cabbages, smothering them with garlic and salt and pepper. The familiar tangy smell tingled my nose. Gingerly, my grandma stood up from the couch in the living room, and as if lured by the smell, sat by the silver bowl and dug her hands into the spiced cabbages. As her bony hands shredded the green lips, a look of determination grew on her face. Though her withered hands no longer displayed the swiftness and precision they once did, her face showed the aged rigor of a professional. For the first time in years, the smell of garlic filled the air and the rattling of the silver bowl resonated throughout the house.
That night, we ate kimchi. It wasn’t perfect; the cabbages were clumsily cut and the garlic was a little too strong. But kimchi had never tasted better. I still remember my grandma putting a piece in my mouth and saying, “Here, Dong Jin. Try it, my boy.”
Seeing grandma again this summer, that moment of ...
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Grandma's Kimchi. (2021, April 2). Retrieved March 26, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Grandmas-Kimchi/107666
"Grandma's Kimchi." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 2 Apr. 2021. Web. 26 Mar. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Grandmas-Kimchi/107666>
"Grandma's Kimchi." Essayworld.com. April 2, 2021. Accessed March 26, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Grandmas-Kimchi/107666.
"Grandma's Kimchi." Essayworld.com. April 2, 2021. Accessed March 26, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Grandmas-Kimchi/107666.
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