I don't know why, but people have a fear of kimchi. They look at it as if we were serving them raw kelp.

I am an advocate for the mystery food. It's delicious and if you're already a lover, you'll know it's quite addicting.

Kimchi, if you don't know, is a Korean side dish. It consists primarily of fermented cabbage and crushed red pepper. Of course there's more to it, like sea salt, fish sauce, rice vinegar, etc.

In traditional Korean culture, there's no real differentiation between meals. That means breakfast food could be the same as dinner food. And it usually is. As a rule of thumb, there's always rice, meat and some kind of soup. In addition to these three necessities, there are side dishes that accompany the main dishes. It's quite the spread.

Side dishes, called "Pancheon" (pan-chee-eon), can be various forms of kimchi, such as cucumber kimchi. They can be potatoes, bean sprouts, rice noodles, small vegetable pancakes, or even miniature egg omelets. Fried tofu and pan friend zucchini are also examples of pancheon.

Every time I'm at Mr. Big's restaurant, I steal slices of kimchi out of their refrigerator. It's gotten to the point where once I steal a piece, Mr. Big goes ahead and puts a bunch on a plate with a side scoop of rice for me. I smile politely, then dig right in.

"How come you don't eat any of your food anymore?" I asked, noticing he rarely eats the leftovers he makes.

"If you're around the same food everyday, you don't want to eat it," he said.

Then, about a month ago, I caught him packaging up a container of rice and kimchi to take home for dinner. Sure enough, later than evening, as I ate some of his delicious Korean ribs, he sat down next to me and began devouring kimchi and rice like there was no tomorrow.

"I had watched you so many times eating this and it just looked really good all of the sudden," he admitted.

Now, every other night, we package rice and kimchi for our dinner, which will sometimes consist only of kimchi and rice, simply because we can't get enough of it.

Call us crazy. But Kimchi has extremely healthy benefits.

Friends of mine just don't seem to get what the big hooplah is about it. They'll eat a bite here and there, but they won't consume nearly as much as I do. I get excited when customers come in, asking to buy a large container full of it, because they share the same love of kimchi.

My brother would be the next person I know who eats tons of it. Even my friends in Korea didn't like it very much.

People aren't sure what it is at first. The whole "fermenting" process scares people, too. Similar to how tripe and sushi scares people, kimchi just isn't that appealing, despite the fact it's not even a meat.

Nevertheless, I still love kimchi. Mr. Big has mentioned making a "kimchi pizza" that he once tried in New York. I don't know if I love it that much...