This Squash-Vine Kimchi Recipe Is a Love Letter to Two Cultures

My dad often tells me stories of how he and other relatives would go foraging for mushrooms during the rainy season in their native Charapan, Michoacán, Mexico, preparing the most amazing stews and tamales. How his grandma would stuff their bellies full of quelites that she foraged around her troje, a traditional P’urhépecha wooden living space.

When starting my journey to re-establish my relationship with Mexican food and Mexican American culture after having gone plant-based more than 10 years ago, I was convinced that I had to re-learn how to cook and figure out what to eat, because it seemed as if animal products took priority above all else.

On the contrary, it was then that I realized that the generational knowledge and ingredients necessary to lead a satisfying plant-based lifestyle had always been at my disposal: herbs, mushrooms, nopales, grains, legumes, seeds, and quelites (an umbrella term used in Mexico to describe edible greens from both native and non-native plants alike). This is how we’ve always eaten.

Shifting my focus to cultivating and foraging quelites in my own environment and reconnecting with these ingredients over the years has developed into an ongoing love letter to my family and the traditions passed on to me. 

This recipe — kimchi made with quelites — combines the culture I grew up with, and a culture that I’ve developed a love for. When I was growing up in Los Angeles, there was never a shortage of East and Southeast Asian restaurants, with one of my favorites (and a favorite amongst many Latinx families) being Ocha Classic. It’s a popular Thai restaurant chain that my family would find any excuse to eat at and will forever hold a special place in my heart, with the countless memories made gathered around their red vinyl booths.

Even after cutting out meat I was still drawn to East and Southeast Asian restaurants because there were always a number of dishes that de-centered animal products. Little by little I familiarized myself with what was suitable (or could easily be made suitable) for me to eat, and ever since, Asian restaurants have become a safe haven whenever going out. 

HakJin, an old family friend from Seoul, first introduced me to kimchi when I was a kid, but being a picky eater then, the idea of spicy fermented cabbage wasn’t something I was eager to try. Fast forward to a few years later, when scouring the internet for new recipes, I came across Maangchi’s YouTube channel. Maangchi, a Korean YouTuber who makes recipe videos that focus on traditional Korean dishes, became my new obsession. Maangchi’s enthusiasm, kind motherly demeanor, and obvious passion for her country’s cuisine fed my curiosity — even to the point that made me fully regret ever missing out on anything that HakJin offered me. I wanted to learn and experience more. 

Traditionally, many versions of kimchi aren’t at all suitable for vegans because they’re usually made with fish sauce, salted shrimp, or other non-vegan-friendly ingredients. But I was set on exploring my curiosities, so the search for an alternative version of kimchi continued. I pieced together different recipes over time, and making kimchi at home —something I never thought I’d be doing — became somewhat of an annual tradition for me. It all came together with a hefty amount of Napa cabbage and an old upcycled plastic barrel that once housed cueritos my mom had lying around. 

Making kimchi can sound intimidating — the thought conjuring up images of expert kimchi-making mothers and grandmothers churning out impressive amounts of the Korean staple — but I’ve found it can be a pretty straightforward process. It lends itself effortlessly in this application with squash vines and blossoms, drawing inspiration from other traditional kimchi recipes that use quelites, such as mustard greens and dandelion greens, as their base instead of Napa cabbage. 

Better known as the superstars in sopa de guías — an ultra-comforting traditional Oaxacan soup made with tender squash and young corn delicately flavored with a quelite called chepiche — squash vines (guías de calabaza in Spanish) are the edible green shoots, leaves, tendrils, and blossoms from the squash plant.

In this kimchi recipe, I use squash vines for their varying textures and ability to hold up when preserved, offering a light-but-firm bite when fermented. I combine the squash vines with three different chiles (guajillo, puya, and árbol), creating the perfect stand-in for Korean red pepper powder. The mix of chiles adds subtle fruity, sweet notes, a beautiful vibrant color, and buildable heat to the kimchi.