The Healing Power of Kimchi: Shelley Suh Shares Her Love of the Korean Dish at Her Sagaponack Home

“You have to try this.”

When you’re in Shelley Suh’s kitchen and she says that, it’s in your best interest to listen.

Even if you have a lifelong aversion to hard-boiled eggs — and a mild panic sets in when she slices one in half on the cutting board — you go along with it. Then she pulls from her fridge a homemade blend of olive oil, scallion, ginger and salt, spoons a dollop on top, and hands it to you. One bite later, you realize: after 40 years, maybe you don’t hate hard-boiled eggs after all.

That’s the magic of Shelley Suh.

The kitchen in Suh’s modern, chic-yet-unassuming Sagaponack home — where she lives with her teenage son, Mason Curry, and daughter, Cybelle Curry — is her happy place. Recently, it’s become much more than that: a space for renewal, creativity, and a rediscovery of purpose.

The most visible expression of that personal renaissance? Her wildly popular homemade kimchi. What started as small batches sold over the summer at Marilee Foster’s farmstand — just 2 miles from her house — quickly spread to the Sagaponack General Store, where it became a local favorite.

On a warm September day, Suh’s kitchen countertop is a colorful canvas: piles of orange and yellow carrots, bright purple shallots, and garlic bulbs sit beside several heads of Napa cabbage, generously salted and resting in a large bowl. Through her sliding glass doors, rows of corn sway gently in a nearby field. As she works, Suh talks about where she is in life — watching her children thrive, revisiting old passions, and feeling that the universe has always been nudging her toward this path, one that begins and ends with food.

Kimchi — a traditional Korean dish made of salted, fermented vegetables like Napa cabbage, carrots, and scallions — is seasoned with garlic, ginger, red pepper and other bold flavors. Because it’s fermented, it’s packed with probiotics and celebrated for its health benefits: aiding digestion, supporting immunity, and even helping combat obesity. Though it’s had its moment as a “trendy” superfood, for Suh, it’s never been trendy.

It’s been a way of life.

Suh grew up in California, the daughter of Korean immigrants. Her father, Young ik suh, met her mother, Sung Joo suh, in Los Angeles. They eventually moved to Orange County, where he pioneered the first Koreatown, opening the area’s first Korean market and restaurant.

“I was running around the market when I was 3 or 4,” she recalls with a smile. “My aunts were making kimchi in the back — for the whole restaurant, basically for all of Orange County. At that time, it was the only Korean market there. My father literally supplied the kimchi for the entire county. It was nuts.”

In the 1970s, Suh was an unofficial toddler taste-tester, absorbing flavors and traditions alongside her extended family. Her mother, a “fierce businesswoman,” also ran a successful jewelry store. Sundays were for church, followed by elaborate family lunches — often with 20 or more dishes lovingly prepared by her father.

“In my family, the cohesive thing was always the love language of food,” Suh says. “My grandmother was an amazing cook too, so it always brought the family together.”

Though Suh eventually pursued a career in fashion — including launching her own clothing brand designed for nursing mothers, inspired by her experience as a mom — food was never far from her mind.

“Through it all, everyone kept telling me, ‘God, you should do something in food,’” she says.

At home, her children picked up her love of culinary experimentation. Her son, Mason, once declared he’d open a smoothie bar; her daughter dreamed of starting a sandwich shop. As they grew older, their ambitions matured, too. Her daughter adopted a healthy eating lifestyle and inspired Suh to make her own almond milk (which she eagerly offers to guests). Mason harvested beach plums, added sugar, and created a fizzy, fruity seltzer — delicious on its own, and even better mixed with orange LaCroix.

When Suh and her family moved to Sagaponack full-time over a decade ago, she quickly gained a reputation for her large, delicious gatherings — gourmet homemade pizzas, themed dinners, you name it.

“I got this kind of reputation where it’s like, ‘You’ve gotta be invited to Shelley’s place,’” she says, laughing. “When you love to cook, you want to share it with people. You want to feed them and share that happiness. I’m really proud of being Korean, and I want to share those tastes — because they’re so delicious.”

The final push came this summer from Suzannah Wainhouse, who works at Marilee Foster’s farm.

“She said, ‘You’re going to make kimchi for us,’” Suh recalls.

And so she did. Her kimchi sold quickly at the farmstand. She shared jars with friends, who raved. Then it hit the shelves at the Sagaponack General Store — one of the hottest spots on the East End this summer — and took off.

Though she’s made kimchi her whole life, selling it publicly, at this scale, was new. But it felt right, she says, especially now, at a time when she’s thinking deeply about her legacy.

Women in their 40s and 50s often find themselves in a season of renewal, and Suh has embraced that fully. Along with cooking, she’s rediscovered her love for pottery — she serves her food on handmade plates and recently completed a large ceramic fermentation jug for her kimchi.

She’s also in the process of becoming certified as a functional nutrition coach — an extension of everything she’s always believed about food.

“If we could just eat better, it could cure everything,” she says.

Kimchi, she believes, is the perfect example of that philosophy.

“Overall, it’s the best thing you could eat,” she says. “It has so many benefits.”

Her process is precise. She uses a special salt gifted by a family member during a recent trip to California. The cabbage is salted thoroughly, tucked between the leaves, and left to rest until the stalks bend without breaking. Only then is it rinsed — an essential step, or the final product will be too salty.

A paste made from sweet rice flour forms the base, which is mixed with red pepper flakes or powder, ginger, garlic, anchovy sauce, fish sauce and honey. Kimchi can be enjoyed at various stages of fermentation depending on personal taste and desired health benefits.

It’s versatile, too. Suh often makes kimchi Jea gae — a kimchi stew — which her son loves. Her favorite way to eat it? Over rice with an egg cooked over medium on top.

“Kimchi is my comfort food,” she says. “Going into the winter, I have so many jars of it.”

It didn’t take long for Suh’s kimchi to attract attention. Friends and business contacts are already approaching her with ideas for partnerships. But she’s in no rush.

For Suh, making kimchi isn’t about making money — though she has a vision for its future.

“I think people appreciate a local source for health and food,” she says, comparing her small-batch, locally made kimchi to the appeal of meal delivery services.

“When you look at the world as a whole — sustainability, lessening our carbon footprint — these are things we’re teaching our kids,” she says. “There has to be a more delicious, more sustainable local source. It’s not about building a corporate business and going public; it’s about health. And I do see myself as a visionary in that, in the Hamptons.”

“There are so many wonderful things to eat,” she adds. “You just have to open up your palate.”

By opening her heart to what had always been quietly calling to her, Suh has found a deep sense of peace and purpose. It radiates when she speaks about her past, her family, and the path forward — rooted in tradition, shared with love.

“I’ve definitely acknowledged that food is my thing,” she says.

“My dad died of cancer 11 years ago, but he always said to me whenever I was starting a business or thinking about a partnership, ‘Shelley, you are fully capable of doing it yourself. You’re capable of whatever you want.’”

“I’ve been manifesting my whole life because of the way my father raised me and the things he said to me,” she says.

“And my grandma — I know she’s giggling and happy. She was a phenomenal cook. I know she’s shedding her light on me.”

For more information on Shelley Suh’s kimchi, email info@mamasuh.com.