Gimjang Season, Koreans' Annual Kimchi Party

Korean Traditional Food Kimchi

As you might have heard of Kimchi before, Kimchi is one of the most important Korean foods. So, there is a traditional season called ‘gimjang-cheol’ in which kimchi is made in large quantities in Korea. It’s usually between late autumn and early winter. In 2013, Gimjang culture was registered as a Human Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. Gimjang is an important ritual in Korea, meaning that Koreans make a large amount of kimchi to spend a long, cold winter. It’s because it was difficult to get some fresh vegetables in winter. Anyway, You can never imagine how much kimchi Koreans make..

Making Kimchi

It’s time to gather at grandma’s house to make kimchi together

The traditional gimjang culture in Korea is for large families to gather at grandmother’s house. It usually takes about 2-3 days for making tons of kimchi, but It depends on the number of families. Some families make up to 300 cabbages.

Steamed pork with freshly made Kimchi

The best reward of Gimjang: Steamed pork with freshly made kimchi (Bossam)

After the end of gimjang, Koreans have steamed pork with gimjang kimchi to celebrate their successful gimjang. It’s also an important part of gimjang culture. Koreans can get rid of the tiredness accumulated by making kimchi through eating speical food.

Of course, there are some families who do gimjang to this day, but it's true that the number has decreased. Nowdays, fresh vegetables such as cabbages are readily available even in winter, and more people tend to buy kimchi instead of making themselves. Also, Korea becomes more globalized and the size of families have been reduced. Due to these, their lifestyle also has been changed a lot.

Personally I love this speical gimjang culture and even my family still does it. Thus, I really hope that this unique culture won't be disappeared and will be continuing for the next generations as well.