A family recipe,
made to be shared.

A taste brought from Korea

My husband’s family immigrated to Canada from Korea about 25 years ago, bringing with them a tradition that had always been part of their home: making kimchi.

My mother-in-law was known in Calgary’s Korean community for her cooking—especially her kimchi. My husband still remembers how much he disliked seeing a jar of his mother’s kimchi given away in exchange for someone else’s. In his words, “Why would we give away Mom’s kimchi when hers tastes better?”

Learning by her side

I grew up around food too. My father is a chef, and cooking has always been something I love. Wanting to make the kimchi my husband grew up with, I began by helping my mother-in-law whenever she prepared a batch.

Why keep it to ourselves?

Years later, I found myself wondering: “Why should a flavour this special stay within our family?”

So I began visiting her regularly and learning everything from the beginning—how to choose the vegetables, prepare each ingredient, balance the seasoning and recognize when the flavour was just right.

From instinct to measurements

Like many experienced Korean home cooks, she didn’t use written measurements. She cooked by sight, touch and taste. I took photos and videos as we worked, then returned home and carefully weighed every ingredient, recreating each batch until I could preserve her flavour in a consistent recipe.

That process became Kim’s Chi: a family tradition passed from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law, carefully translated for a new generation and now made by hand to share with Calgary.