Standing around a kitchen island with a small group of other food writers, I pull on a pair of plastic gloves and begin massaging a bright red paste into wedges of cabbage.
We are in Korean-American TV chef Judy Joo's London flat, learning how to make kimchi from scratch.
Kimchi - sharp, funky, fermented cabbage - has become a kind of shorthand for Korean food in the UK. Judy calls it "the cornerstone of Korean cuisine".
"Traditionally, Koreans eat kimchi 365 days a year," Judy tells me. Kimchi recipes are passed down "like heirlooms", she adds.
The group joke about the chilli under our nails and the smell lingering on the train home, but we're all excited to have a jar of homemade kimchi ready to put in the fridge.
