By Honorary Reporter Robbie Lewis Martin from U.K.

Photos = Robbie Lewis Martin

The Korean British Cultural Exchange (KBCE) on Nov. 19 hosted its fourth Kimjang Festival at St. George's Square in New Malden, London's official Koreatown. I volunteered for this annual event, which is part of the Kingston Korea Festival.

The term kimjang refers to the traditional Korean practice and culture of making and sharing of kimchi in fall with family and neighbors to last them through the long winter months. 

The festival opened with speeches from Kingston Mayor Yogan Yoganathan, Korean Ambassador to the UK Yoon Yeo-cheol and KBCE Chairperson Deborah Hin. They mentioned in their speeches the importance of kimjang in Korean culture and the festival's purpose of sharing the tradition with the New Malden community. The speakers later practiced kimchi stuffing, or rubbing kimchi paste on the leaves of salted cabbage.

The Kimjang Festival had four events that allowed visitor participation.

The festival had four events involving public participation including a kimchi-making session for traditional cabbage kimchi and another for radish and kkakdugi (cubed radish) kimchi that uses the vegetable kohlrabi. Kkakdugi was especially popular among visitors as the kohlralbi usable to make it is more found easily in the UK than the traditional ingredient mooli (daikon). 

After making kimchi, it was packed in bags for participants to take home after undergoing fermentation at room temperature for a couple of days. Visitors also received recipe cards and the book "Kimchi, Korean Fermented Vegetables" published by the Gwangju-based World Institute of Kimchi.

The third event was a tasting session of four kinds of kimchi each paired with a Korean food. My favorite pairing was white kimchi with juk (rice porridge) and nureungji (scorched rice). This event explored the varieties of kimchi, preferences for certain types and complementary foods to serve.

The kimchi tasting session held inside Bar Malden, next to St. George's Square.

The final session was kimchi stuffing for visitors like the one for guest speakers. This event was so popular that it lasted until the end of the festival. In addition to the workshops, stalls sold packaged Korean foods and drinks and one served hot food including tteokbokki (spicy rice cake), jeon (fried pancakes) and eomuk (fish cake).

This setup is for stuffing kimchi made from kimchi cabbage.

As a volunteer, I sampled the types of kimchi served throughout the day and learned a lot about kimjang and the kimchi-making process. I also received the kimchi book and a bag with leftover Korean snacks. The KBCE recruits volunteers for this festival every year, so those interested should monitor its social media for posts in the months leading up to the event.

kalhong617@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.