kimchi is a vegetable dish made usually from chinese cabbage chillies and some other ingredients like onions garlic ginger salt and fish sauce. it has a long history in korea. since farming began in the country the people have been growing and eating vegetables. however the early farmers soon realized they could not grow vegetables in winter. they had to find a way to preserve vegetables so that they could be eaten throughout the cold winter months. the farmers discovered that when the vegetables were covered in salt they did not turn bad. this discovery took place a very long time ago - exactly when no one knows