Kimchi is a fiery side-dish of pickled cabbage
Posted on 10/16/2010 5:26:46 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
South Korea's kimchi crisis has deepened, after the president was forced to step in amid fears that cabbage rustlers were descending on farms to steal the key ingredient in the nation's national dish.
Kimchi is a fiery side-dish of pickled cabbage
President Lee Myung-bak has this week ordered the government to block the price of staple foodstuffs from rising above international levels after the price of cabbage, which is used to make the fiery dish, increased sharply.
"There is no reason for people on low incomes to purchase items that are necessary to daily life at higher prices than international prices," Mr Lee was quoted as saying in a cabinet meeting by the Yonhap news agency.
The price of cabbage started to rise in the spring due to a poor harvest after an extremely cold winter. That has been worsened by a wet summer, with domestically-grown cabbages that were selling for 88p last year now changing hands for £8.75.
The opposition has blamed the government for the crisis, claiming that a river restoration project cost the nation 10,550 hectares of prime cabbage growing land.
Every year, South Koreans eat about 2 million tonnes of the fermented cabbage, mixed with garlic and spices, and even sent supplies to the International Space Station. The female members of families traditionally gather in the autumn to make sufficient kimchi to see them through the winter months.
Editorials in national newspapers have described the kimchi situation as "a national tragedy" and "a once-in-a-century crisis."
Desperate to get their hands on fresh supplies, there are even reports of gangs descending on farms in remote areas of South Korea to steal entire cabbage crops.
Mr Lee has ordered that tariffs imposed on cabbages imported from China be lifted with immediate effect and vowed
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
You have to admire the use of “deepens” in the headline.
This REALLY stinks! :-)!
“The female members of families traditionally gather in the autumn to make sufficient kimchi to see them through the winter months. “
Yeah the females gather together at the supermarket.
This is a crisis! we need Tamar1973 to save us!
Things must be FANTASTIC in South Korea. Seriously, if the scarcity of any cabbage based dish is considered a crisis in a first world country, then they must not have ANYTHING else to worry about. Gee, it’s not like they have communist neighbor who is armed to the teeth and led by a mad man or anything.
Cabbage rustlers - this conjures images of guys on horseback with lariats lassoing cabbage out of the ground.
Cabbage rustlers - this conjures images of the grape rustlers plaguing Frahnse.
yitbos
Plenty of gallon buckets of the stuff at our local Super H-Mart (Korean grocery chain operating in the U.S.).
By being in very, very shallow kimchi, they are in very, very deep kimchi.
Tasty?
It was the first thing I ever ate that gave me a stomach-ache.
I love kimchi. It’s delicious.
In Boulder City, Nevada it goes for 69 cents a pound.
yitbos
Kimchi and ten other kinds of chili cured or raw veggies to start, Beef Bulgogi and cloves of fresh garlic toasted on the table grill, accompanied by 15 or 20 toasts of shoju rice liquor. You’ll stagger or need to be carried from the restaurant with garlic fumes rising visibly off your skin, but that’s a meal!
but where has all the kimchi gone?
Kimche is a staple. Its like having a beer or fast food shortage in the US.
I agree kimchi rocks. However, it must be eaten in place where the menus are printed in Korean only.
Me , too ,and my own saurkraut . I grow all my cabbages .
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