Kimchi: Korea strives to keep tradition on the menu<\/p>\n
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Seoul<\/p>\n
A cloyingly sharp smell hung in the air at the aT Center's
\nexhibition hall here, site of Kimchi Expo 2003 last week.<\/p>\n
Rows and rows of stalls displaying Korea's famous fermented
\ndish, made with a spice rack full of different ingredients, took
\nup the two floors of the modern building.<\/p>\n
The idea of putting on a six-day international exhibition
\nhonoring a pickled dish may raise eyebrows among some people, but
\nnot Koreans.<\/p>\n
For them, kimchi is serious stuff, part and parcel of their
\nculture, with old sayings such as, \"A man can live without a wife
\nbut not without kimchi\", and \"as Korean as kimchi\".<\/p>\n
For more than 3,000 years, sour-spicy kimchi has been a
\nrevered staple of Korean cuisine. Even today you would be hard
\nput to find a Korean house, apartment or monastery without pots
\nof kimchi on the porch, balcony or the refrigerator.<\/p>\n
On the Korean peninsula, kimchi is so pervasive that people
\ncompare it to life's essentials of air and water. There is even
\nthe Kimchi Field Museum in Seoul, satisfying the questions of
\nthose curious about where it came from and how it evolved.<\/p>\n
Director of the Kimchi Research Institute Park Kun-Young said
\nthe food also had philosophical value in honoring ancestors in
\nthis Confucian society.<\/p>\n
\"Our ancestors were poor, and we have no natural resources.
\nThat was why they tried to find a way to preserve food in the
\nwinter,\" said Park, a professor at Pusan National University's
\nDepartment of Food Science and Nutrition.<\/p>\n
But globalization, with the inevitable mushrooming of fast-
\nfood restaurants around the world, has even affected venerable
\nkimchi.<\/p>\n
\"Young children don't seem as fond of kimchi. We're afraid
\nthat as they avoid kimchi, the culture may deteriorate and
\ndisappear,\" said Kim Young-Mo of the chief committee of the Expo.<\/p>\n
There has also been decrease in market demand, and the
\ncountry's producers face tight competition from Japan and China.<\/p>\n
These are the very reasons the country held the second annual
\nExpo.<\/p>\n
\"Other objectives are to introduce kimchi to the world market,
\nto reinvigorate the kimchi industry and to increase the domestic
\nmarket,\" said Kim, adding that the total budget for the Expo was
\nabout US$80,000.<\/p>\n
A total of 181 companies participated in the Expo. Of that
\nnumber, only 50 companies were kimchi producers, with the rest
\nincluding spice and ingredient makers, kimchi refrigerator,
\nhealth food firms and others.<\/p>\n
The committee put on a variety of programs for the Expo which
\nstarted on Nov. 6, such as a kimchi making contest for
\nforeigners, kimchi cooking contest and folk song contest.<\/p>\n
Of course, children are a focus to ensure there will be kimchi
\nlovers in the future, so the committee invited 10,000
\nkindergarten students to the event, with some of them getting to
\nparticipate in a kimchi making program. There was also a kimchi
\nwriting competition for elementary school students.<\/p>\n
\"Through this Expo, we also hope to attract buyers from other
\ncountries to boost the local kimchi industry, which is still on a
\nsmall scale,\" said Kim.<\/p>\n
In the past, kimchi was made by housewives and as a cottage
\nindustry. It has only developed as an industry about 10 years
\nago, and now consists of some 600 producers all over the country.
\nBut only 30 to 40 percent of the producers are economically
\nviable, with the rest barely keeping afloat.<\/p>\n
Only 5 percent of the total companies have the resources to
\nexport.<\/p>\n
\"Many if not all Korean women know how to make kimchi. But
\nmodern, kitchen-less homes have led to more and more kimchi being
\nbought from the store, because it's costly to make kimchi at
\nhome,\" Kim said.<\/p>\n
The most recent data, from the year 2000, showed that 30
\npercent of kimchi consumption in Korea was store bought. The
\ntotal volume of kimchi produced commercially is some 500,000 tons
\nannually, or a 1 trillion won market, which include not only
\nbranded kimchi in fancy packaging, but also that in modest boxes
\nsold in traditional markets.<\/p>\n
In 1992, kimchi consumption per head was 34.9 kilograms while
\nin 2001, it was 33.6 kilograms, with the local price per kilogram
\naround 4,000 won ($3.50).<\/p>\n
Kim said small decrease in market demand was small \"yet we can
\nfeel it\".<\/p>\n
Income from exports has also decreased, from around $78
\nmillion in 2000 to $68 million a year later, before rebounding to
\n$79 million in 2002.<\/p>\n
Japan takes 94 percent of the kimchi exported from Korea, but
\nthat only accounts for 6 percent of the total amount consumed in
\nthe country, with the rest made locally or from China.<\/p>\n
\"As kimchi gains more scientific recognition, Japanese are
\ngrowing to like it. And they now know more about the method to
\nproduce it,\" Kim said.<\/p>\n
Korea also imports its national dish, with this year's figure
\nof about 24,000 tons or some $10 million. Almost all (98 percent)
\nimported kimchi is from China, a country blessed with abundant
\nnatural resources to make the dish.<\/p>\n
Korea is now working on promoting the nutritional value of
\nkimchi as a low-fat, low-calorie and healthy dish. When Severe
\nAcute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) broke out earlier this year,
\nsome swore by the medicinal properties of kimchi.<\/p>\n
\"We hope this exhibition can encourage producers to export,
\nand influence the government in terms of making its export
\npolicy,\" Kim said.<\/p>\n
Organizing an exhibition, he added, was an effective way to
\ncommunicate with a large number of people.<\/p>\n
\"I do believe that after the SARS epidemic, the increasing
\ninterest in Korean singers and actors, Korea will be more
\nfamiliar to people and interest in kimchi will increase, too,\"
\nKim said.<\/p>\n
With about 100,000 visitors visiting the Expo, there is reason
\nfor his hope of keeping kimchi on the menu.<\/p>\n
Yet it is the spirit of maintaining a tradition and upholding
\nit, despite the onslaught of the golden arches and other mass
\nculture, that is really admirable about Koreans and their kimchi.<\/p>\n
We Indonesians should learn from it and never take acar\/asinan
\n(pickled vegetables and fruit) or other traditional food lightly
\nanymore.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kimchi-korea-strives-to-keep-tradition-on-the-menu-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}