Kimchi gains popularity overseas as domestic consumption plateaus

The water-based radish kimchi
/ Courtesy of World Institute of Kimchi

By Kim Ji-soo

The health benefits of kimchi are increasingly embraced by "foodies" around the world. YouTube star Maangchi, a Korean living in New York whom the New York Times once described as Julia Child's Korean cousin, demonstrates how to make kimchi on her food blog.

Apart from being rich in vitamins A and B, kimchi is also known for its abundant lactobacilli, a type of beneficial bacteria found in fermented food, like yogurt.

But while kimchi is gaining popularity around the world, the opposite may well be true in its country of origin. The World Institute of Kimchi, based in Gwangju in southwestern Korea, recently released a report that showed a reduced consumption of this staple Korean side dish.

According to the 2015 trend report released early this month, the institute found that the annual consumption of kimch per person at home in the country averaged only 25.3 kilograms, or an average of 62.9 grams per day. The figure was down by 11 percent from 2010.

The report also showed that while kimchi imports jumped twofold in the last decade, to $112 million in 2015 from $51.34 million in 2005, exports have diminished, while kimchi is imported from five nations, almost all (99.9 percent) of it comes from China.
The results of the survey of 1,900 Korean households also revealed that two out of 100 did not consume kimchi even once during winter of 2014 through the fall of 2015 .

But domestic kimchi makers seem undeterred, though, as quality, country of origin and overseas markets offer an outlet.

Daesang Corp. currently dominates the domestic market with Chongga Kimchi, which has a market share of around 70 percent. The large food company believes that packaged kimchi will continue to sell in the country in accordance with the rise of single households.

"As these single households tend to purchase small packages of kimchi, our company may not necessarily see a sales decrease," said Yoon Bo-yeong, a section director at Daesang Corp.

Also, when the price of raw ingredients, such as cabbage, ground red chili pepper and garlic, goes up, consumers are more willing to purchase prepared kimchi rather than make their own.

Yoon said the company is not particularly worried about the increasing kimchi imports from China. "People know that Korea-made kimchi is better," she said. Yoon also said while kimchi exports to Japan in the past three years remained low owing to the abundance of private-brand kimchi products there, exports are expected to bounce back with the appreciating yen in the wake of Brexit.

The National Agricultural Cooperatives Federation (NACF), which produces Arumchan Kimchi sold at NACF outlets, said it started exporting the product to China last year and is looking into other overseas markets, having attained a halal certificate for its 26 kimchi products.

The World Institute of Kimchi did note that while the two-trillion-won domestic packaged kimchi market has not diminished over the years with the increase in nuclear and single-member households, the overall demand for kimchi had decreased. Homemade kimchi traditionally uses vegetables such as cabbage, radish or cucumber, which are salted or soaked in lightly salted water. The bacteria on the vegetables, the lactobacillus, multiply and convert the sugars and carbohydrates into lactic acid, fermenting the vegetables.

But even though they have been eating less kimchi, Koreans remain very proud of their traditional side dish. In December 2013, the traditional practice of making kimchi was also registered on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.

Various kimchi trends are also emerging.

Chefs and other culinary experts are using ingredients as unusual as dandelions, Korean lettuce and Korean angelica, such as what kimchi master Park Kwang-hee, who is based in Gangwon Province, did. Park's unique kimchi were presented at the Korea NYC Dinners event in New York in June, hosted by the World's 50 Best Restaurants and the Seoul-based gourmet magazine La Main.

Hansung Food also produces exotic varieties such as perilla cabbage roll kimchi, gardenia seed and seaweed roll kimchi and seaweed kimchi. The company is owned by Kim Soon-ja, who was named kimchi grandmaster by the Korean government in 2012.

"We have introduced low-sodium products for the past several years now, as well as salad-like kimchi that people can eat without rice so more people will be able to consume it," Kim Soon-ja said.

Korea Times reporter Choi Ha-young contributed to this report.

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