``Kimchi is International Food``

There was a kimchi cooking class in the Provincial Horticultural School in Tokyo, Japan. It was first time for the school to have a foreign food cooking class. There are two classes in one semester.

Chung Tae-Kyung (47), a cooking expert, taught 15 students and two instructors in the Food Science Department how to make cucumber kimchi and kimchi-jijimee for three hours.

Student Hiramatsu Agasa enjoyed the class saying, `` Since I had tried Chinese cabbage kimchi and cucumber kimchi before, so I have been waiting for this class for more than one month.`` Students kept saying `delicious` as they had lunch with the cucumber kimchi and kimchi-jijimee cooked by themselves.

Teacher Miki Gazunari evaluated the meaning of the class saying, ``in this globalized era, it is important for students to have affinities with foreign foods.``

Ha Sang-Mok, the director at the Tokyo Agriculture Trade Center said, ``As kimchi is getting more popular recently, there seems to be more number of schools that want to learn how to cook kimchi.`` In Tokyo, three schools have began to open kimchi cooking classes.

Shim Kyu-Sun ksshim@donga.com