South Korea's famous kimchi is facing a serious threat due to climate change. Rising temperatures are adversely affecting the cultivation of Chinese cabbage, the main ingredient in the dish. According to experts, in a few decades, it may no longer be possible to grow this vegetable in South Korea.
Experts, farmers and food producers are warning that climate change are reducing the quality and quantity of Chinese cabbage crops, a vegetable needed to prepare the traditional South Korean dish, kimchi, Reuters reports.
Chinese cabbage is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures are cooler and rarely exceed 25 degrees Celsius during the growing season. However, rising temperatures are threatening the vegetable crop to the point that there may come a time when South Korea will no longer be able to cultivate it due to the heat – it was emphasized.
“Cabbage likes to grow in cool climates and adapts to a very narrow temperature range. The optimum temperatures are between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius,” explained plant pathologist Lee Young-gyu. “We hope that these predictions will not come true,” he said.
Threat to South Korea's traditional dish
According to government data, the area under Chinese cabbage cultivation in South Korea last year was half of what it was 20 years ago, at 3,995 hectares. A state think tank, the Rural Development Administration, estimates that over the next 25 years, this area will shrink dramatically to just 44 hectares, and by 2090, it will disappear altogether. This will be due to high temperatures and longer summers, but also to unpredictable downpours and pest infestations that are increasingly difficult to control.
“The crops are often attacked by various diseases and pests, we have to constantly use measures to prevent them, constantly spray them,” emphasized Kim Si-gap, 71, from the village of Anbandegi, who has been growing Chinese cabbage all his life. His farm is located in the high-mountain Gangwon Province, which currently produces about 93 percent of the country's Chinese cabbage in the summer. “The reports that there will come a time in Korea when we will no longer be able to grow cabbage are shocking and sad. Kimchi is something we cannot not have on the table. What will we do if that happens?” he wonders.
Meanwhile, Lee Ha-yeon, who holds the title of Kimchi Master, awarded by the agriculture minister, admits that if the situation continues to worsen, Koreans may have to give up eating kimchi with Chinese cabbage. “It's very sad to think that we may not be able to make kimchi that our ancestors have eaten for generations, using cabbage grown on our own land,” she said.
The most popular form of kimchi contains pickled Chinese cabbage and other vegetables such as radish and cucumber. Kimchi is usually spicy in taste, which is due to the hot pepper gochugaru.
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