Locally Produced Foods

[Anchor Lead]

With the Lunar New Year holiday just around the corner, foods produced by local residents or farmers are growing in popularity. Let's find out more about these locally produced foods.

[Pkg]

Elderly people gather to make dumplings with the Lunar New Year holiday approaching. Sixteen seniors make some 1,300 dumplings a day.

[Soundbite] Jeong Eun-ok(Ceongju Resident) : "Customers purchase a lot of products for the taste of the old times. We are short of workers every year and every holiday. They are popular."

Their homemade products range from traditional pastes and sauces to fried appetizers called jeon, side dishes and traditional beverages like sikhye and sujeonggwa. Famous for having a taste straight out of mom's kitchen, the products fly off the shelves.

[Soundbite] Lee Ran-hee(Chief, Cheongju Sugok Senior Club) : "They are not made in machines but by elderly people. So they retain the taste of hand-made foods."

Stores selling foods produced by local farmers are also enjoying booming business. Products include organic eggs and warm tofu made with locally produced beans. Naturally dried wild greens and first-grade domestic beef and pork are popular. Under brands using the names of the region of their origins, gift sets of apples, pears, traditional liquor and wine, and honey are as good as those sold at department stores.

[Soundbite] Kwon Jung-kyu(Farmer) : "It is good there is a local food shop that directly sells our products to those who need them. I am happy with the positive responses."

Food cultivated and produced by local residents is seen as a bright spot for ethical consumerism ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.