By Kim Heung-sook
It was weeks before Chuseok when I made the last batch of cabbage kimchi. I bought an average-size cabbage for 2,500 won and a radish for 1,000 won then. A couple of days to Chuseok, I went to a supermarket with the hope of making some fresh ``baechu” kimchi. A head of Korean cabbage was priced 6,000 won. I didn’t buy it because I thought prices would go down once the holidays were over.
Well, it didn’t turn out as I expected. My kimchi was running out after Chuseok and I went to several stores only to find a head selling for 10,000 won and a radish for 3,000 won. When cabbage prices soared exorbitantly in the past, there were some middlemen hoarding them and the surge seldom benefited the farmers who grew the vegetable. Having the least intention to help the profit takers, I bought cucumbers, eggplants and chives instead, gladly remembering that our ancestors made kimchi with many other vegetables than cabbage.
Kimchi dates back to the 6th to 7th century. The first kimchi was more like pickles without ingredients, made of chives, bamboo shoots, turnip and a few other plants, but not of cabbage. In the early half of the Joseon Kingdom period, more diverse vegetables were made into kimchi with spicy ingredients like ginger and garlic. At the end of the 16th century, red pepper was introduced and was used for kimchi. Cabbage kimchi became popular only after a kind of cabbage suitable for the Korean soil was developed around 1900 and gradually replaced other kimchi.
So, it was not only economical but also historically meaningful for me to make kimchi with other vegetables than the expensive cabbage. After washing the cucumbers and eggplants thoroughly, I chopped them into five to six centimeter-long pieces and made a cross cut in each of them. Then, I sprinkled salt over them and turned them over so that every piece was salted. I cut the chives but didn’t souse them because the thin plant becomes too limp if salted.
When the pieces were moderately soused, I drained the salty water from the container. I made a mixture of red pepper powder, a slight amount of garlic and ginger, a few drops of shrimp brine and ``maesil” (Japanese apricot) juice. I mingled the chives with the mixture and put a tiny amount of the combination into the cross cut in the cucumbers and eggplants. The process was quite simple compared to baechu kimchi preparation, because the chives made the green onion unnecessary and required very little garlic and ginger.
My experiment turned out to be a tasty success and I have already gone through the process again upon the consumption of the initial production. Now, having the kimchi in my refrigerator, I feel safe from the ongoing kimchi frenzy. When I watch or read news reports about the cabbage price, I feel sorry my fellow housewives who are so keen on obtaining the cabbage while there are other vegetables for kimchi.
Even if cabbage kimchi is a crucial element of Korean cuisine nowadays, its absence won’t kill anyone immediately. When the price of something goes up unreasonably high, people don’t buy it. Why not cabbage? If housewives refuse to buy it until the price comes down to an acceptable level, what will happen? Uprooted cabbage withers or rots in time and the conscienceless middlemen will have to sell their stock for a lower price. Thus, I hope the housewives will react nonchalantly.
Ever since the cabbage price soared, the mass media have fanned fear and anger among the people, failing to suggest alternatives to cope with the situation. The government didn’t do anything until housewives panicked and then imported Chinese cabbage. It would have been better if the government took advantage of the current crisis as an opportunity to remind the public of the olden-day variety of kimchi before resorting to import. If deemed inevitable, the imports should have been made earlier.
I wonder if the National Agricultural Cooperatives Federation and the Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation are under scrutiny for failing to ensure a smooth supply of produce at optimum prices. The government should do its best to uncover and punish those who manipulated cabbage prices, if any.
By the way, a head of Korean cabbage was selling for 6,000 won at a neighborhood store yesterday. The price will definitely go down further. Sisters, be free from the kimchi fear control!