Pickled Seafood

[Anchor Lead]

Pickled seafood is a popular side dish in your average Korean meal. It’s also a key ingredient in kimchi. Ahead of the winter kimchi-making season, a number of salted seafood festivals will open in former port areas in Chungcheongnamdo Province.

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A salted seafood market has opened near Ganggyeong Port which was one of the two major ports in the Joseon dynasty era. All kinds of pickled seafoods such as salted shrimp and more spicy varieties lure tourists' taste buds as they sample the offerings. People can't stop eating.

[Soundbite] Go Hye-yeong(Jeollabuk-do Prov. Resident) : "I love the salty and chewy taste. I can eat loads of rice with this side dish."

This is the largest salted seafood festival in the country held ahead of the winter kimchi-making season. Kimchi is the spicy Korean cabbage dish. Over 130 vendors are at the festival selling a dozen different pickled seafood at a lower cost than market prices. The vendors' glib talk and their generosity is an added bonus for the customers.

[Soundbite] Min Seong-goo(Vendor) : "I give generously for customers to share with their children, daughters-in-law, fathers-in-law and others."

Various participatory events are also held on the sidelines including a hands-on kimchi making session for visitors which of course includes the use of salted seafood.

[Soundbite] Kim Chang-han(Daejeon Resident) : "The salted seafood is delicious and the cabbage has well matured. I tried the seafood wrapped in cabbage leaf. It's so good."

In Hongseong in the same Chungcheongnam-do Province, a salted shrimp festival opens Friday to greet shoppers preparing for the kimchi making or kimjang season. What's special about the pickled shrimp here is that they are fermented in an underground cave.