UNIT 12. Kimchi: How It Evolved

The following is part of Junho's homework about kimchi, which will be included on his school's English homepage.

Ⓠ Why did early Koreans develop kimchi?
1
  It is believed that kimchi first appeared on the Korean Peninsula some 3,000 years ago. As fresh vegetables were too hard to come by during the cold winter, it was necessary to find ways to preserve them until spring came. Pickling them in salt was one such way people found. Diggings from the Three Kingdom Period (4th to 7th century) suggest that vegetables kept in salt existed almost 1,500 years ago. Large jars made of earth are often dug up on the peninsula. They measure some 90 centimeters in height and 220 centimeters around the middle, large enough to store lots of vegetables in salted water. On one jar was written: A family of ten needs eight jars to make it through the winter.