The taste of ripened, fermented food! We meet a table full of memories that melts away the winter cold and warms our hearts. When the weather gets chilly, there are foods that we instinctively remember. Kimchi that has fermented coolly in the frozen ground, savory cheonggukjang boiling in an earthenware pot, salty yet savory pickled seafood, etc. are all fermented foods that helped us endure the cold winter. The fermented taste contains the mother’s sincerity that comforted us from the harsh cold and the memories of siblings, making it even more unforgettable. That is why the fermented taste that deepens as it ferments is the taste of winter that we miss. Let’s go into a generous winter table that is fermented and delicious and comforting because it contains memories. ■ A fermented table protected by an older sister like a mother – Byeonggok-myeon, Yeongdeok-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do Yeongdeok, Gyeongsangbuk-do, which embraces the wide, open sea without obstruction, is also a mountainous region where the ridge of Baekdudaegan continues endlessly. Kim Wi-ja (61 years old) and Cheon Hee-deuk (60 years old) live in Geumgok-ri, 6 kilometers from the seaside into the mountains. As winter approaches, they are busy harvesting highland cabbages and making kimchi. It may be hard work, but even the wife’s younger siblings gather, bringing smiles. It is a happiness that the eldest sister has enjoyed while guarding her home even after both of her parents have passed away, but each winter dish has its own special story. Although it is a mountain village, it is a coastal area, so the kimchi is made with raw fish. In the past, the village used to be isolated in winter because the snow would pile up to the front door. Back then, the brothers had a fierce battle to get a piece of fish in kimchi, which was the only delicacy. The father, who was a herbalist, did not have enough money to buy enough fish. However, the strength that allowed them to survive the long and harsh winter was the brotherhood of the brothers and the taste of the fermented fish. Kim Wi-ja, who still makes fermented perilla leaf kimchi from back then. When she picks well-fermented perilla leaves in the summer and season them with anchovy sauce, her younger sister finds herself feeling a lump in her throat. This is because she remembers her eldest sister, who graduated from middle school and got a job at a factory to pay for her high school and college tuition. It wasn’t the case that all eldest sisters lived like that back then, but Kim Wi-ja says calmly that it was natural for her to do so. What would her older sister’s fermented meals taste like, even though she is now in her 60s and is busy preparing food for her younger siblings? ■ A mother’s table, fermented and savory in both taste and life - Naemi-ro-ri, Samcheok, Gangwon-do Because of the clear water flowing down from Dutasan Mountain, which is 1,300 meters above sea level, Samcheok has been known for successful soybean farming since ancient times. Soybeans account for 80% of field crops. There is a saying that soybeans are a crop that can be harvested only when the farmer is lazy, and that they need to be exposed to the cold frost to be fully ripe and easy to peel. Their tenacity, which does not rot even in the cold frost, is just like the appearance of the village mothers. The mothers’ winter preparation begins with harvesting soybeans, making meju (fermented soybeans), and making cheonggukjang (Korean soybean paste stew). This is an annual event that they do every year. It is exhausting, but when they think of their children who are still waiting for their mother’s taste, they gain strength that they never had before. Each and every food they make is difficult for the mothers, but it is a beautiful memory. To make meju, the soybeans are boiled for about three hours, crushed by stepping on them, and wrapped in a hemp cloth to shape them. The hemp cloth is woven by the mothers themselves. It is a symbol of the strong lives of the mothers who stayed up all night weaving hemp cloth to educate their children. Yangmiri is added to the stew made with boiled soybeans and fermented soybean paste, and flounder is mixed with millet to make sikhae (spicy fish stew). In the days when meat was rare, mothers would travel a thousand miles across the mountains and back to the oil market countless times to feed their children even this cheap fish. Mothers who raised their children by fermenting themselves still feel sad about the things they could not do for them. We meet the savory and abundant meals of these mothers. ■ A wife’s table, well-fermented and delicious - Imja-myeon, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do Imjado, located at the southernmost tip of Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, is the home of salted shrimp. Jeonjangpo, where 60% of the salted shrimp in Korea are produced. For Mr. Ju-su (80 years old) and Ms. Lee Haeng-sook (76 years old), who have lived here for 55 years, fermented salted shrimp is life itself. Nowadays, it is common for sailors to immediately filter and salt the shrimp on the boat after catching them, but in the past, all of this work was done by the women. They had to sort the mountain of pickled shrimp that came in four times a day according to the tide, one by one, and even salt them themselves, so they would only sleep for two or three hours. Still, the couple lived well thanks to that pickled shrimp, and just looking at it makes the shrimp pretty. The years that have passed flash by like a revolving lantern through each fermented seafood. Another specialty of Imjado is the dried croaker, which is fermented in the wind and made into a soup. When boiled, it becomes a rich, nutritious dish like gomguk. The hwaryongjeomjeong that enhances the flavor is the meat that has been caught in the sixth month of the lunar calendar and fermented for more than a year. However, whenever they make this croaker soup, there is someone they think of. It is their mother-in-law who came to a poor family in Jeonjangpo by boat seven hours from the mainland at the young age of 21 and always loved her daughter-in-law who suffered. The husband, Mr. Ju In-su, who gives his wife dried yellow corvina. The wife still makes the fermented hairtail squid that she learned from her mother-in-law and uses it to braise yellow corvina. She knows that yellow corvina symbolizes her husband's longing for his mother. We meet the fermented seafood table of the fermented couple who understand each other's feelings telepathically without having to say anything. ※ This video is [Korean Table - Comfort of Fermented Taste] that aired on December 5, 2024. #Kimjang #Salted seafood #Cheonggukjang #Korean Table #Chef ✔KBS Documentary KBS Official YouTube Channel [KBS Documentary] 🔔Subscribe👍Like➡️ / @kbsdocumentary 📝Contact: [email protected] Copyright ⓒ KBS. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, redistribution, and use (including AI training) are prohibited. ∙Unauthorized reproduction, redistribution, and use (including AI training) are prohibited. ∙The current situation and content may differ slightly depending on the time of broadcast. ∙Defamatory or malicious comments may be deleted by the operator to protect the performer.