Fermentation Family

This was a wonderful family series which celebrated kimchi in all its glory! The cast displayed cooking skills and told stories about the ingredients of every kimchi variety they produced FROM SCRATCH! The title is fitting because 50% of the series was held in the kitchen or preparing ingredients outdoors in the freezing cold. Of course, like in many Kdramas, it included family hurts, greed, diseases like ALZ and cancer, and lots of love and forgiveness throughout. A true PG series!

The acting was terrific all around. I watched this because of one of my favorite actors, Song Il Gook. It was so good to see him in a lighter and non-violent role (very few fights) and still as good-looking as ever. He was fragile, vulnerable, lost, confused, but oh-so-good-hearted. Veteran actress Park Jin Hee was excellent as the FL with an equally beautiful Lee Min Young, playing her older sister. Actor Kim Young Hoon was the rich heir to HanDol Foods and was stoic and cold-natured, yet I loved his fragility at the end. All supporting characters were superb which made me sob and get teary-eyed in many episodes, esp. The final 5. The music was okay, not too memorable.

Overall, I loved the story, but the final episode was marred with a very bad video (via my streaming service) and I was quite frustrated thru it all. The ending was slow, but sweet and positive. I always wish for more romance from the lead couple, but...c'est la vie! A must-watch for kimchi lovers!

I am a fan of Kdrama showcasing their food that is why I watch this kdrama. But the back story is not that great and the leads don't have that much chemistry together. The cooking of Kimchi was good but every time they explain the meaning behind, it becomes corny and annoying. I just skip a lot of parts and got bored eventually.