Summer of Veganuary
Hey friends,
It’s been a glorious week for team Gomo Kimchi, particularly for me (Maggie), and I will tell you for why — vegan kimchi is a-go.
I am basically a lifelong vegetarian who went vegan around 6 years ago. Eddie is more or less the opposite. When Eddie and I first started seeing each other he told his brother Joe ‘I’m not overthinking it’ (since he is a chronic over-thinker and the fact of getting involved with someone who lives on a different continent can definitely trigger this particular trait). When Joe heard that I was a vegan he said ‘wow — you’re really not overthinking this.’ That’s how not-vegan Eddie is.
Therefore, he was understandably skeptical about the viability of a vegan kimchi. Fish sauce (or shrimp paste) is considered a pretty indispensable ingredient that creates the unique flavour of kimchi. We have tried several different brands of vegan kimchi and none of them quite cut it.
However, when Eddie made his last batch of kimchi, he made one little test jar of vegan kimchi. (I should note here – and please don’t be disappointed in me, fellow vegans — I break edge exclusively for Eddie’s kimchi, to support. But now I won’t have to!!!) It was finally ripened to perfection this week and I got to carry out my favourite job — taste-testing. Let me tell you, it is fucking delicious. Eddie was extremely pleasantly surprised by how good it is. He can’t believe it, guys. So the next batch is going to be HALF VEGAN!!! I am very, very excited. I’ve pretty much finished the first jar already so I’m waiting with anticipation. Someone please give this boy an event to attend so he has a good reason to make a shit-tonne of kimchi.
Spot the vegan kimchi - ko you CAN’T!
Speaking of which, we were at the lovely Cooperage last Saturday! The weather was incredible, and I got to indulge in my favourite mac and cheese and coffee at the wonderful Vivi's Deli. Eddie got shawarma, which was also delicious (see, I’m selling him short, he actually likes a lot of vegan food). We brought our friend’s dog Ollie along, and he indulged his small-dog syndrome by barking at a bunch of other dogs, and also at one of the lovely guys from tomorrow's earth clothing who successfully managed to remove one of his ticks. He’s an angry little dog, let me tell you. But I think he enjoyed the market as much as we did.
Ollie looking cute and like he doesn’t hate every other dog and person he encounters
We’re also in the process of trying to decide on next steps for Gomo Kimchi — we almost decided to buy a shop on Kilmarnock Road, then swiftly chickened out, then had a wtf are we doing, where is this going??? moment before deciding we might try to find somewhere slightly less expensive than Kilmarnock Road to begin with, just so we have an actual location to make/sell kimchi other than our flat — and then we could do our own little hot food pop ups whenever we feel like it too?
Let us know if you have any thoughts/advice/hints/tips in this area as we are all ears and little experience or business know-how. People are always asking if there’s somewhere they can buy our kimchi other than an occasional market scattered across the city, and sometimes Stalks and Stems Really, I’m trying to convince Eddie we have to buy a shop so I can quit my job and make taste-testing, jar-labelling and working the card machine my full-time career. One can dream.
Ta-ra for now,
Maggie & Eddie