cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/55456416
Kimchi from China sells to restaurants for about 1,700 won ($1.15) per kilogram, while Korean-made versions average about 3,600 won ($2.45), more than double the price.
Around three-quarters of South Korea’s kimchi manufacturers are micro-businesses with four or fewer employees. Most rely on labour-intensive methods that struggle to compete with industrial-scale production in China.
A few years ago this video of a shirtless Chinese guy wading in cabbages really caused a ruckus and push against Chinese kimchi in Korea. All the restaurants are required to post visibly where each ingredient they use is sourced from, but I guess it’s just hard to avoid cheap kimchi in cheap restaurants.