'Asinan' vs 'Kimchi': Variety is the spice of life

A. Junaidi The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

"Asinan!," we said almost together in a dinner at a restaurant in Seoul, South Korea, four years ago, referring to the pickled vegetable salad kimchi that had just been put into small bowls on our tables.

We -- Indonesian journalists and travel company representatives -- had been invited by the South Korean Tourism Agency to see the preparations for the 2002 Asian Games. All of us automatically thought of Indonesia's asinan fare when we were offered kimchi.

In the old Korean language, kimchi meant salted vegetables. Similarly, asinan means salted things -- whether vegetables or fruit.

There are many similarities between kimchi and asinan; the ingredients -- vegetables, chili and salt, among others -- and its taste, which is salty and hot.

Both asinan and kimchi have many variants.

Asinan has at least two varieties; asinan sayur that is made from vegetables, and asinan buah that is made from fruits, such as papaya, pineapple and bangkuang (a white, crisp fruit).

Although asinan is generally thought to originate from Bogor and Jakarta similar dish called sayur asin (salted vegetables) is also popular in Surabaya.

The ingredients of asinan sayur and sayur asin are almost the same -- local green cabbage, cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, chili, peanuts and, most importantly, salt.

Similarly, kimchi has many variants in the different provinces in South Korea.

Kimchi's ingredients commonly consist of Korean cabbage, white radishes, cucumber, Indian mustard leaf, garlic, ginger, red chili and salt.

Both asinan and kimchi, therefore, primarily use cabbage, cucumber and salt -- the reason for the quick comparison we made at the dinner table.

Another similarity between kimchi and asinan is in the preparation process, where the cabbage is salted for a period of time before it is cooked.

In kimchi's processing, however, the cabbage is fermented with salt and acid for much longer than when making asinan. For kimchi, this fermentation process can take months and the Korean cabbage is stored in ceramic pots underground during the winter to be opened in the summer.

According to various laboratory tests, kimchi is a low- calorie, low-cholesterol food, rich in vitamins: A, B complex, and C, and minerals.

While no laboratory tests have been made on asinan, the dish is likely to be similar to kimchi in terms of its nutritional value due to the similarity in the process and ingredients.

Salt, one of the world's oldest-known preservatives, is the key ingredient in both kimchi and asinan.

The condiment, with its ability to kill microorganisms has been known to preserve vegetables for hundreds of years.

Salt is also an important ingredient in all Indonesian foods. There is an Indonesian proverb, a simile that underlines the importance of the mineral: "Bagai sayur tanpa garam (like vegetables without salt).

For Indonesians, salt is vital in all cuisine.

The proverb also teaches the importance of small elements that are necessary to enrich a greater whole.

Big and important ingredients (like cabbage or cucumber) are equally tasteless and uniform if salt is not added.

A similar proverb in English might be "variety is the spice of life".

Certainly, without its ethnic variety, this country would be far less interesting and this variety, of course, includes the minority Korean population and their delicious, salty kimchi.