If you thought one Korean ajumma (older Korean woman with a curly perm and a 'tude) was scary, try 3,000 in one place. Just kidding. These housewives are Seoul's warmest-hearted -- they gathered on Wednesday to make kimchi for poor households who can't make their own. - It's kimchi season in South Korea
- A record number of housewives turned out for the country's largest kimchi charity event
- 250 tons of kimchi are being donated to poor households
(CNN) -- Kimchi-making season is upon South Korea, with grocery stores besieged with housewives snapping up buckets of giant cabbages, salt and red pepper powder -- or more often these days buying pre-made kimchi so they don't have to go to the trouble.
In one of Seoul's more unusual sights, 3,000 housewives marked the start of the period in which the ingredients are at their freshest, with the country's biggest kimchi-making event to date in front of Seoul's City Plaza on Wednesday.
Armed with aprons, rubber gloves and sanitary shower caps, the women stuffed and spiced a whopping 61,700 cabbages to provide 25,000 families with their essential side dish -- that's 250 tons of fermented spicy cabbage.
The mayor of Seoul presided over the festival, which was a charity event started by a Busan Yakult saleswoman in 2001 to provide kimchi to poorer households, and evolved into an annual national event in 2008, according to Korean daily Joongang Ilbo.
Read more on http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/15/travel/kimchi-festival/?iref=obinsite