Hi all, don't laugh, but what exactly is kimchi? We are all familiar with the pickled chilli cabbage, but what is the link between them all, as according the Google there are over 180 recognized varieties of kimchi, such as baechu-kimchi (배추김치), baechu-geotjeori (배추겉절이), bossam-kimchi (보쌈김치) baek-kimchi (백김치), dongchimi (동치미), nabak-kimchi (나박김치), chonggak-kimchi (총각김치), kkakdugi (깍두기), oi-sobagi (오이소박이), pa-kimchi (파김치), yeolmu-kimchi (열무김치), gat-kimchi (갓김치) and yangbaechu-kimchi (양배추 김치), to name but a few.
I haven't tried or even seen most of them before, but some look like soups, some are very pickled, some are fresh etc, so I cannot see that makes them all 'kimchi'.