Kimchi-making season is upon South Korea, with grocery stores besieged with housewives snapping up buckets of giant cabbages, salt and red pepper powder - or more often these days buying pre-made kimchi so they don't have to go to the trouble.
In one of Seoul's more unusual sights, 3,000 housewives marked the start of the period in which the ingredients are at their freshest, with the country's biggest kimchi-making event to date in front of Seoul's City Plaza on Wednesday.
Armed with aprons, rubber gloves and sanitary shower caps, the women stuffed and spiced a whopping 61,700 cabbages to provide 25,000 families with their essential side dish - that's 250 tons of fermented spicy cabbage.
Read - In photos: 3,000 Korean housewives, 250 tons of kimchi
I loves me some kimchi! I spent a year in Korea in the early '00s and still miss the food.
It's very hard at first getting past that smell. But once you do it is quite good. On the down side nobody wants to hang around you. It can be a good people repellant. My family insists I eat my kimchi outside and brush my teeth right afterwards.
When I have to go into hostile business negotiations, I enjoy a nice helping of kimchi before the talks begin – it provides a psychological advantage over non kimchi eaters.
There are many types of kimchi. Try a young batch before the fermentation really kicks in. If you like hot peppers and pickles you should like kimchi – once you get past the smell.
"Sugarplum fa!ry came and hit the street...
Looking for Seoul food and a place to eat..."
Wow.....
Kimchi reeks. Never tried it, couldn't get past the smell