Kimchi Is Not One Food: A Guide to Korea's Many Kimchi Types

Kimchi’s Big Moment on American TV and Menus

Kimchi’s profile in the US food world got a real boost this month. On July 11, 2026, Food Network premiered “Cooking with Choi,” a new series hosted by Korean-American chef Esther Choi. The debut episode, “Kimchi Time,” teaches a quick mak kimchi and Choi’s grandmother’s – her halmoni’s – kimchi recipe, alongside kimchi fried rice and bossam.

That’s happening alongside something less telegenic but arguably more consequential. Meeting for its 48th session in Rome in November 2025, the Codex Alimentarius Commission – the joint FAO/WHO body that sets international food standards – approved a change Korea had proposed: adding “kimchi cabbage” as an accepted ingredient name alongside “Chinese cabbage” and “napa cabbage” in the international kimchi standard.

Analysis: Neither of these is kimchi’s US debut – it’s been a grocery-shelf staple for decades. What’s notable is the shift in how it’s being presented: as a technique worth learning on a national cooking show, and as a term precise enough that international regulators bothered to standardize its vocabulary. That’s the kind of attention a food gets once it’s assumed to be a fixture, not a novelty.

One Word, Hundreds of Dishes

Ask an American what kimchi is and you’ll likely get one answer: spicy, red, fermented cabbage. That’s baechu kimchi, and it’s the most common type – but it’s one dish among many. The Academy of Korean Studies and the Korea Tourism Organization both catalog a range of distinct, individually named kimchi types, each defined by its main vegetable or its fermentation style: baechu (napa cabbage), kkakdugi (cubed radish), chonggak (ponytail radish), dongchimi (radish water kimchi), nabak (red water kimchi), oi-sobagi (stuffed cucumber), baek (white, chili-free) kimchi, and gat (mustard leaf) kimchi, among others.

Treat “kimchi” the way you’d treat “sandwich” or “stew” – a category, not a recipe. A radish water kimchi and a stuffed cucumber kimchi share a fermentation process and a place on the table, but they don’t taste alike, and one of them isn’t even spicy. Main vegetable plus fermentation style defines the dish, not one master formula scaled up – that’s the mental model worth carrying into the rest of this guide.

What Actually Makes Something ‘Kimchi’

With that many variations, what actually qualifies something as kimchi? There’s an official answer. Kimchi has carried an international Codex Alimentarius standard, CXS 223-2001, since 2001 – adopted at Korea’s initiative, then amended in 2017 and 2022, and most recently in November 2025, when the Codex Alimentarius Commission approved adding “kimchi cabbage” as an accepted ingredient name alongside “Chinese cabbage” and “napa cabbage.” The standard defines kimchi as a fermented food made primarily from salted napa cabbage.

Inside Korea, the science behind kimchi’s many regional and household varieties is studied by the World Institute of Kimchi (WiKim), a government-funded research institute affiliated with the National Research Council of Science and Technology under Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT – a standalone institute dedicated to one fermented food, which says something about how seriously Korea treats kimchi as a subject of ongoing study, not just a finished traditional recipe.

Baechu Kimchi, the Cabbage Everyone Pictures

Baechu kimchi – made from salted napa cabbage – is the type most associated with Korean food outside Korea, and it’s essentially what the Codex Alimentarius standard is describing when it defines kimchi as “a fermented food made primarily from salted napa cabbage.” It’s the version in nearly every Korean restaurant side-dish spread and most US grocery store jars.

It’s also the type most directly affected by the November 2025 Codex update: because baechu kimchi is built on napa cabbage, the new approval of “kimchi cabbage” as an accepted ingredient name in the international standard applies most directly to it. If you only ever try one kimchi, this is the reference point – but it’s worth remembering it’s a reference point, not the whole category.

Kkakdugi and Chonggak: The Radish Kimchis

Move past cabbage and the next most common kimchis in Korea use radish instead. Kkakdugi is defined by its main vegetable and cut: cubed radish, salted and fermented. Chonggak kimchi uses a smaller, more slender radish – often called “ponytail radish” for its tail-like greens – as its defining vegetable.

Practical: If a US grocery store’s kimchi selection is limited to one style, it’s usually baechu. Look for kkakdugi and chonggak at Korean or Asian grocery chains (H Mart, Zion Market, and similar) rather than a general supermarket’s international aisle – they’re common in Korea but less widely distributed in the US than cabbage kimchi.

Dongchimi and Nabak: The Kimchis You Drink

Not every kimchi is a chili-heavy side dish eaten by the forkful. Dongchimi is a radish water kimchi – radish fermented in a brine rather than a thick paste, producing a kimchi that’s mostly liquid. Nabak kimchi is a related red water kimchi, made with cabbage and radish in a lighter brine. These are the two types most likely to surprise an American expecting a red, spoonable side dish: the liquid isn’t a byproduct here, it’s the point, and both are typically served cold and sipped as much as eaten.

Baek Kimchi and the Pre-Chili Past

One kimchi type breaks the assumption that kimchi means “spicy”: baek kimchi, or white kimchi, is made without chili at all. That’s not a modern low-spice adaptation – it reflects kimchi’s history. Chili peppers didn’t enter Korean cooking until the mid-Joseon period, well after fermented vegetable pickling was already established; the Academy of Korean Studies’ national encyclopedia points to Eumsikdimibang, a 1670 cookbook, as a record of pre-chili pickling and fermentation methods. Baek kimchi preserves that older, chili-free style.

Analysis: This is a useful corrective if you’ve mentally filed kimchi under “spicy fermented food.” Chili is a defining feature of the most common kimchi, not a defining feature of kimchi itself – it’s a relatively late addition to a much older technique. If chili heat is what’s kept you from trying kimchi, baek kimchi is the type built for exactly that hesitation.

Oi-sobagi, Gat, and Kimchi Beyond Cabbage

Two more named types round out the range documented by the Academy of Korean Studies and the Korea Tourism Organization. Oi-sobagi is a stuffed cucumber kimchi, using cucumber as its defining vegetable. Gat kimchi uses mustard leaf as its main vegetable. Both push past what “kimchi” usually conjures for an American reader – a cucumber version and a mustard-green version aren’t close cousins of the cabbage jar on the shelf, they’re separate applications of the same fermentation idea to whatever vegetable is in season.

Beyond these named types, kimchi varies further by region and household – a range broad enough that WiKim researches it as an ongoing subject rather than a fixed catalog. The types in this guide are the ones with established English names and consistent recipes, not an exhaustive list.

Kimjang: Why Kimchi-Making Is a UNESCO Heritage

The practice behind all of this – Kimjang, the seasonal, communal making and sharing of large kimchi batches – was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. UNESCO’s listing specifically notes significant regional variation in recipes and methods across Korea, and that the practice is typically passed down from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law. The listing isn’t for kimchi the food – it’s for kimchi-making as a social practice, which is part of why there’s no single “correct” recipe to chase: regional variation is the documented norm, not an inconsistency.

Buying Kimchi in the US: What to Check on the Label

With that much variation, buying kimchi in a US grocery store means reading past the word itself.

First, check for fish and shellfish. Traditional kimchi recipes often include salted seafood or fish sauce, and that’s not always obvious from a jar’s front label. In May 2026, Ocinet Inc., based in Downey, California, recalled its “…And Kimchi” sliced kimchi – all three jar sizes, sold at six Zion Market locations across California, Georgia, and Texas – because the product contained undeclared fish (anchovies), an allergen risk for anyone with a fish sensitivity.

Analysis: The Ocinet recall is a useful data point beyond the recall itself: fish and shellfish show up in kimchi more often than a “fermented vegetables” description suggests, which is exactly why an undeclared allergen made it onto shelves in the first place. If you’re looking for a vegan or vegetarian kimchi, don’t assume from the jar – check the ingredient list, or look for a product labeled vegan explicitly, like Lucky Foods’ Seoul Kimchi, a fermented napa cabbage kimchi made without fish or shellfish.