Gwangju Kimchi Town

As a major producer of rice, seafood, and other agricultural and marine products, Gwangju has been famous for its culinary traditions since ages past. One of the major events celebrating this proud heritage is the annual Kimchi Festival, which highlights the many virtues of kimchi, a staple food in Korea. Recently, the city of Gwangju has been expanding its program of cultural and art projects to include events like the Gwangju Biennale, F1 formula race, laying the groundwork for future international events.

The Gwangju World Kimchi Culture Festival is a celebration of the local food culture of Jeolla-do Province and the all-important food of kimchi. At the festival, visitors will be able to sample and purchase dozens of types of kimchi made using traditional methods. There are even several hands-on events like making kimchi and kimchi dishes, giving visitors of all ages a chance to join in the local tradition. 

Today our destination was “Kimchi town”. Kimchi is a staple food in Korea that's made by fermenting salted Napa cabbage or radish in a mixture of seasoning consisting of red chili pepper, garlic, and green onion. Since kimchi is made using locally-produced ingredients and methods passed down from generation to generation, it can differ greatly by region. 

The kimchi of Gwangju and the Jeollanam-do area is characterized by its spiciness and abundance of seasonings. If you are in Korea you need to know about “Kimchi”. You also need to develop your taste for kimchi as every restaurant, hotel and in every home you will find kimchi to eat in breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had an opportunity to learn how to make kimchi for a closer look at the kimchi town of Gwangju.  

 First a teacher teaches us on how to make the kimchi and then we practice it at our own. It was a nice team work, where everybody was participating with full energy and interest as for most of the internationals it was first opportunity of making kimchi.

.

  Blending different ingredients, mixing spices and then applying those spices to cabbage was really interesting process. We also taste our own made kimchi, believe me “it was really good”

My first experience of making Kimchi was really awesome. As many of my foreign friends have done it before and I have listen a lot about this, so it was my desire to make Kimchi which I get fulfilled today.

 The “Kimchi” was donated to some welfare organization and then we move to our next destination. Let me appreciate the efforts of the GIC, KE in organizing team. They did great home work for this event. Everything was well planned and well organized. All the way they were smiling and appreciating all the participants. 

For more detail about Kimchi Festival at Gwangju Please refer to this link.. kimchi.gwangju.go.kr (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese)