Koreans Eat 36 kg of Kimchi a Year

Koreans ate 1.9 million tons of kimchi in 2019 or 36 kg per person, which is more than their entire annual consumption of rice.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Thursday published its first survey of kimchi consumption, which found that 0.7 tons or 40 percent of the spicy pickled cabbage is still made at home the traditional way, followed by manufacturers (25 percent), restaurants (19 percent) and imports (16 percent).

Among the 5,000 households that responded, some 42 percent said they make their own kimchi, and the rest get it from family members or buy it.

But the survey shows that half of restaurants -- 84 percent of Chinese restaurants and 69 percent of Korean restaurants -- use factory kimchi. A baffling 41 percent of kimchi supplied in restaurants comes from abroad. More than half of Korea's schools also serve the packaged variety.