Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter |
Kimchi, a Korean traditional fermented vegetable dish is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the Napa cabbage suffering due to rising temperatures day by day.
The warmer weather destroying Kimchi Napa cabbage that thrives in cooler climates. Napa cabbage is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 Celsius (77 Fahrenheit).
The studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops that might not be able to grow Napa cabbage in South Korea one day due to the intensifying heat.
Describing the effect of higher temperatures on the vegetable, Lee Ha-yeon, who holds the designation of
Kimchi Master from the Agriculture Ministry, said the heart of the cabbage “goes bad, and the root becomes mushy.”
“If this continues, then in the summer time we might have to give up cabbage kimchi,” said Mr. Lee, whose
title reflects her contribution to food culture.
According to the data showed by the government statistics agency, “the area of highland cabbage farmed last year was less than half of what it was 20 years ago: 3,995 hectares compared to 8,796 hectares.”
As per Rural Development Administration, a state farming think tank, climate change scenarios project the
farmed area to shrink dramatically in the next 25 years to just 44 hectares, with no cabbage grown in the highlands by 2090.
In the fields and in kitchens - both commercial and domestic - farmers and kimchi makers are already feeling the change.
“We hope these predictions don’t come to pass,” plant pathologist and virologist Lee Young-gyu said.
Kimchi is very famous among the Koreans also been proven to have several antioxidants and anti-ageing
properties. It is a side dish essential in every food.
