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=Kimchi=



1. How have the food/ dish become identified as a traditional/ cultural food? Research the history of the food and how it became known to your population. Does the food have any special meaning or roles within your culture/ population? 1.1 What is kimchi? Kimchi is a one of the Traditional fermented foods of Korea which is still loved by Koreans in Korea and even by those who are living abroad. It is made of vegetable with mixture of selection of seasonings. There are hundreds of different kinds of Kimchi made with different ingredients and recipe that are currently identified. This is mainly due to environmental and geographical characteristics of different provinces of Korea. (Life in Korea, 2011) There are four clear and distinct seasons in Korea; spring, summer, fall and winter in which temperature, amount of daylight and rainfall is all different in each season. Owing to this fact this, some vegetables are only grown in certain seasons and it had to be replaces by another vegetable grown in different seasons. This resulted in discover of different types of Kimchi. The last but equally influential factor is geographical characteristic. Korea is surrounded by the ocean; east, south and west sea. Different kinds of sea food are harvested from each sea. So, depending on the proximity of each province to these seas, people from each province uses different ingredients to make Kimchi which adds more variety to Kimchi. In the past, Kimchi is stored in fermenting crock pot which is buried underground during the winter time to store Kimchi within the optimum temperature range for fermentation and preservation. (see //Figure 2 and 3//) Despite such attempts, owing to higher or lower altitude of a particular province is located at, people use more or less amount of ingredients (depending on their location) which help the preservation of Kimchi, such as salt, which again results in different types of Kimchi.



1.2 History of Kimchi and its development Before probing the past of Kimchi to answer the question ‘when did Koreans started to eat Kimchi?’, it is crucial to identify the meaning of its name. Because, according to the historical documents, there has been number of name changes of Kimchi. There is important significance, in terms of history of Kimchi, in these names as it often involved the introduction of a new ingredient or change in the recipe. (Pulmuone, 2007) The origin of Kimchi, the first name of Kimchi is ‘Chimchae’ which means salt pickled vegetable. Some ancient document mentions of Chimchae which dates back to 57 B.C. (Life in Korea, 2011) In these times, people started to grow rice and vegetable instead of hunting animals and gathering fruits. Then later, development in agricultural knowledge allowed grain to be the main food and saline vegetable helps digestions. Moreover, ancient people of Korea were looking for ways to preserve foods and pickling one was method. So it is thought that Kimchi was born with this transition of acquisition of foods. (Pulmuone, 2007) However, before the 9th century, it was merely a pickled vegetable and by then people started use selection of seasonings and spices such as onion and spring onion. (Life in Korea, 2011) It is not until the 17th century that red chilli was used in making Kimchi and became one of the main ingredients of it. (Lee, 1991) The introduction of red child provided people, who were already enjoying the peppery taste with garlic and Chinese pepper, with new opportunity to incorporate it in Kimchi. It not only gave them to enjoy new sort of spiciness but also help fermentation of Kimchi. (Pulmuone 2007 and Life in Korea 2011) Since then, Kimchi made with red chilli became dominant.

1.3 Cultural significance of Kimchi When Korean people are asked to name their traditional foods, the first and foremost food they will mention is Kimchi. Koreans would think that it is part of their culture thus when they are required to present their culture to other people Kimchi would be a good place to start. It has been with the life of Korean since the old times and it is considered as the main side-dish with rice in contemporary Korean diet. Therefore, special meaning or role of Kimchi is not quit well perceived by Koreans. However, it does have complete new role in contemporary society, in different a sense, as an indication of the consumer price. Because Kimchi is a daily consumed food, price of making it is quite sensitive to people. So if the price increases it often signifies the need of stabilising the consumer prices.

2. How has the population’s consumption of the food changed between the times of its “discovery” until now (in the modern context)? What are the factors that have likely influenced these changes? 2.1 Consumption pattern of Kimchi from its discovery and till now. World Institute of Kimchi (2010) cites Korean national nutrition survey that shows the average consumption of Kimchi; adult consumes 50 to 100 grams of Kimchi during the summer and 150 to 200 grams of Kimchi a day in winter. However, there is no indication or records of consumption patter of Kimchi in the past but there are some indications which can be used to assume the consumption pattern of Kimchi. 2.2 Factors that influenced Kimchi consumption First of all, availability of ingredients to make Kimchi is an important indication. In the past, agricultural technology was not as good as the current one. This includes growing methods of plants, lack of reservoir and irrigation system. Secondly, a factor that is thought to influence the consumption pattern of Kimchi is storage. Storage is an important factor that determines the taste and longevity of Kimchi. (Lee, 1991) In the past, the only method of Kimchi storage was using fermenting crock pot introduced in 1.1, and during the winter time, it was buried under ground to keep it under fixed temperature. (See 1.1 and //Figure 2 and 3.//) Thirdly, the temperature during the fermentation and ripening of Kimchi play crucial role in determining the taste of Kimchi and temperature also plays role in delaying the over-ripening of Kimchi which alters the taste. Change in diet style is another indication. (Lee, 1991) Lastly, the relatively recent change in lifestyle and diet may be used as an indicator. In the past, before the country was open to western world, their main diet was largely depending on vegetable. This signifies the possibility that the daily consumption of Kimchi was more than the contemporary consumption in terms of total daily food intake.

3. What is the impact of this food on your population’s diet? How are modern consumption patterns of this food likely to affect the health of your population?

3.1 How does Kimchi impact Korean’s diet?

As mentioned earlier, rice is the main food in Korean diet and Kimchi, regardless of kinds, is the main side dish of Korean diet. It is not only consumed daily but also Kimchi is process and used as an ingredient in making other dishes which are consumed quite frequently such as Kimchi fried rice (see //Figure. 5//), Kimchi stew (see //Figure.// 4  ) and Kimchi panfried dishes (Joen, see //Figure.//  6  <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">). Kimchi is closely related to contemporary diet and is consumed quite largely. It is interesting to see that Koreans have adopted chilli in their diet in a variety of ways, even though it was only introduced during the 17th century. It is thought that incorporation of chilli into Kimchi familiarised people to have spicy and salty food. There are constant arguments that Kimchi is a risk factor for gastric cancer. (Nan et al., 2005)







<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">3.2 Kimchi consumption pattern and health of population. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Kimchi has the reputation of being ‘healthy food’. It is high in dietary fibre which helps digestion and contains healthy bacteria that makes the intestine healthier. It also contains half of daily recommended intake. (Korea Tourism Organisation, 2009) <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, as explained earlier, average daily consumption of Kimchi is up to 200 grams a day. This has significant implication on average daily sodium intake of Koreans. It is not possible to set the exact amount of sodium content of Kimchi as vegetable used in making Kimchi is soaked in brine. However, it is known that 60 grams of Kimchi contains 0.6 to 1.4 grams of salt. (Nan et al., 2005) This means by consuming Kimchi alone a person consume up to 4.7 grams of salt a day which means they are likely to consume more salt than what is recommended by WHO. (2006) The argument mentioned above is based on the fact the sodium intake of Korean is quite high. Excessive sodium intake is associated with elevated blood pressure and some cardiovascular disease (WHO, 2006) There still are on-going argument whether Kimchi consumption causes adverse consequences in terms of health however it should be noted that, given that Korean consume large amount of sodium which is a risk factor, gastric cancer is 3rd highest reason of death in korea. (Korean Department of Statistics, 2010)

=Reference list=

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Pulmuone Kimchi Museum. (2007) Kimchi Data. Retrieved 13 May 2012, from http://www.kimchimuseum.co.kr/data/kimchi/kimchi_list.asp?m_id=3&page=1&str1=&str2= <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Korean Be Inspired. (2002) History of Kimchi. Retrieved 13 May 2012, from http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FO/FO_EN_6_1_2_1.jsp <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Life in Korea. (2011) Origin of Kimch’i. Retrieved 13 May 2012, from http://www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/kimchi/kimchi.cfm?xurl=origin <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lee, Y.C. (1991) //Kimchi// : The famous fermented vegetable products in //Kimchi//. Food Reviews International, 7(4): 399-415(1991) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Nan, M., Park, J., Song, Y., Park, J., Hyun, T., et al. (2005). Kimchi and soybean paste are risk factors of gastric cancer. World Journal of Gastroenterol 2005; 11(21) p.3175-3181 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">World Institute of Kimchi. (2010) Kimchi Industry, Domestic Consumption of Kimchi. Retrieved 13 May 2012, from http://www.wkimchi.re.kr/kimchi/industry_eng.php <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Korean Department of Statistics. (2010) The recent pattern of major mortality rate. Retrieved 12 May 2012, from http://www.index.go.kr/egams/stts/jsp/potal/stts/PO_STTS_IdxMain.jsp?idx_cd=1012 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">WHO Forum on Reducing Salt Intake in Populations (2006 : Paris, France) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Reducing salt intake in populations : report of a WHO forum and technical meeting, 5-7 October 2006, Paris, France <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Lee, Y, C. (1991) Kimchi: The Famous Fermented Vegetable Product in Korea. Food Reviews International, 7 (4), p.399-415. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Korea Tourism Organisation (2009) Food, History of Kimchi Retrieved 11 May 2012, from http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/OO/OO_EN_13_1_2.jsp?cid=347478 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Lee, H. (Photographer). (2012). Kimchi of Korea [Photograph], Retrieved May 12, 2012 from http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=foodheeju&logNo=140129770496 Copyright 2012 by Lee Hee Joo. Reprinted with permission. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Fermenting Crocks containing Kimchi [Photograph] (2004). Retrieved May 12, 2012, from http://ask.nate.com/qna/view.html?n=9326185 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Fermenting Crock buried underground [Photograph] (2008) Retrieved May 12, 2012, from http://ask.nate.com/qna/view.html?n=6386951 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Kimchi Stew [Photograph] (2008) Retrieved May 12, 2012, from http://www.hyundai.ac.kr/2012/layout/05/05_pgallery.asp?gotopage=6 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Kimchi Fried Rice [Photograph] (2009) Retrieved May 12, 2012, from http://happyhandy.tistory.com/entry/%EC%9D%8C%EC%8B%9D%EB%A7%8C%EB%93%A4%EA%B8%B0-%EA%B9%80%EC%B9%98%EB%B3%B6%EC%9D%8C%EB%B0%A5 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Kimchi Joen [Photograph] (2007) Retrieved May 12, 2012, from http://dory.kr/93