Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
More households skip annual kimchi making
By Kwak Yeon-soo
By Kwak Yeon-soo
A 58-year-old housewife surnamed Lee plans to skip gimjang, or the annual kimchi-making process, this year and buy a small quantity of packaged kimchi instead.
Before this year, she used to make kimchi with her sister and other family members every year for 30 years.
“I decided to skip gimjang this year because a variety of kimchi is now available at supermarkets, individual side dish sellers and even convenience stores at all times,” Lee said.
She used to make kimchi on weekends with other family members and her sister who came over to help out. But she began to feel that making tons of kimchi for the winter months was a waste of time.
“As I've gotten older, it's become much harder for me to make over 100 kilograms of kimchi, even with the help of others,” she said.
“Buying kimchi may be more expensive, but it can reduce the burden on family members responsible for making the kimchi.”
Like Lee, more and more households are foregoing traditional gimjang as it requires excessive labor.
Traditionally, households with many family members would make tons of kimchi at the beginning of winter to last at least six months.
But the number of kimchi-makers has been falling.
According to a survey conducted by ready-made kimchi producer Daesang, 55 percent of 3,115 Korean housewives said they have no plans to make kimchi this year.
Just more than half of respondents who have no plans to make kimchi said they would buy it. The others said they would get their supply from their parents or other relatives.
“The recent survey reflects that there is a consensus among housewives that buying packaged kimchi is a rational choice,” a Daesang official said.
The official added that the price hike of key agricultural products caused by the typhoons this year led to decreased consumer demand for kimchi-making supplies.
When asked if they have ever been stressed over making kimchi, 75 percent of housewife respondents said they have experienced fatigue after making kimchi.
Meanwhile, sales of packaged kimchi grew to 212.8 billion won ($183.5 million) in 2018, up 18 percent from a year earlier, according to Nielsen Korea.