Goodbye Autumn, hello Winter! Part One: Kimchi Festival

Once again I sit down at the pen to share thoughts, stories, impressions and the latest news.

While she was going to write about the upcoming autumn events in South Korea, the winter began. And taking this opportunity, I congratulate everyone on the first day of Winter! I hope, despite the fact that the temperature on the thermometers has plummeted down, you will feel warm and happy in your soul!

Autumn in Korea was intense, full of various events, festivals and events. And the last month, November, was so hectic that I didn’t even notice how it flew by.

In early November, the Seoul Plaza held a Kimchi Festival on Seoul Square.

Kimchi is Korean pickles. Most of the people think that kimchi is salted spicy cabbage . But we will quickly dispel this myth or prejudice. And this will help us Kimchi Museum, which is part of the festival, and therefore was in one of the tents in the square.

The entrance to the museum was free, and anyone who wanted it or simply walked past could look in there.

The museum is small, but decorated in a big way. The windows showed a variety of Kimchi from all regions, not only South Korea, but also North. Now the brothers abolished the war, which for so many years had been on pause.

So, in the museum you can find all the familiar kimchi from cabbage. Also, it was possible to get acquainted with kimchi from eggplants, carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes, radishes, onions, different types of herbs, fish, persimmon, and many other fruits and vegetables!

In Korean cuisine there are several hundred types of kimchi. And if we take into account that each house adds some element to taste when salting a kimchi, or preparing it in a slightly different way, then the number of types of kimchi can probably reach thousands.

In addition to the showcase, though with artificial, but still appetizing-looking kimchi, the museum also has a stand with history and stories about this salad.

In the same “building” as the museum, only in the next room, they organized a mini assembly hall, in which, according to the schedule, a lecture was held on how to salt kimchi, and the presenter was a specialist from one of the most famous companies in Korea kimchi

And in another inflated “building”, in the form of a huge red pepper, kimchi cooking classes were held. On the one hand, the entrance was for Koreans, and on the other - for foreigners. The cost of the master class was only 5 dollars.

Having prepared a portion of kimchi, you could take it home with you to taste it with your family. All ingredients and materials were issued by the organizers. Foreigners salted on a small quarter of cabbage, which was then packed in a small barrel.

But if you look in the direction of the master class for Koreans, then people would come out with huge foam boxes. Apparently, they salted kimchi for the whole year. After all, the end of November is the time when Koreans salted kimchi with the whole family.

This process in Korean is called kimzhang . At work, my colleagues went to the “village” with their parents and grandparents, and spent the whole weekend doing Kimjana so that later all year they could have homemade kimchi.

In Korea, there is even a special refrigerator for storing kimchi. And yes, for the year kimchi does not deteriorate, if it is properly stored. Earlier, in the old days, kimchi was stored in clay jars, which were buried in the ground. Soybean paste was stored in the same way. In principle, even now such jars can be found in many regions of Korea.

How such a jug looks like could be recognized at the festival. In the center of the square a huge pitcher was inflated, in which a playground was installed so that even the youngest visitors would not be bored.

In the next article we will go to another festival. So do not get lost, stay on the line my page!

@irisworld

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