A Taste of Community: Reflections on the 2025 Kimchi Grand Festival in Gwangju

Our team from the Bukgu Family Center working together.

Gwangju’s May 18 Democratic Square in front of Asia Culture Center has always been a place where stories of solidarity live quietly in the air, and on November 22nd that spirit rose once more through the fragrance of garlic, red pepper, and freshly salted cabbage.

At the 2025 Kimchi Grand Festival (대한민국 김치대전), more than 1,122 volunteers from social welfare centers and support organizations across the city gathered to make 10,000 heads of kimchi, an effort broadcast live by MBC Gwangju and embraced by the community with the kind of warmth only kimjang(1) season can bring. Because of its profound cultural significance, "Kimjang, the making and sharing of kimchi" was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. UNESCO recognized it as a crucial part of Korean culture that promotes social cohesion and a shared cultural identity.

Autumn in Korea is full of festivals where participation is part of the magic: chestnut roastings, rice-cake pounding, kimchi workshops, traditional craft events. This hands-on culture is rooted deeply in Korea’s seasonal rhythms and long-standing values. There’s something undeniably special about making something together: feeling the textures, sharing the labor, and creating something that becomes more than the sum of its parts. Today’s kimchi-making event carried exactly that feeling. Volunteers didn’t simply observe a cultural tradition; they became its living heartbeat, working side by side to prepare kimchi that will be shared with neighbors in need.

This year’s theme, “김치버스 KimchiVerse,” brought a poetic depth to the event. The idea behind the KimchiVerse treats Korean food culture as its own universe, rich with stories, flavors, and connections that reach far beyond Gwangju. Kimchi may grow from Korean soil, but its spirit belongs everywhere: a symbol of resilience, community, and care. Watching hundreds of hands working in unison felt like seeing that universe widen one cabbage at a time. And on the large plaza screen, scenes from the Kimchi School in the UK showed just how far kimchi culture has traveled, giving Korean viewers a glimpse of its growing global presence.

But what truly made the event remarkable was not just the scale; it was the intention. This wasn’t kimchi for display or commerce, it was kimchi for sharing. Knowing that every batch would be delivered to vulnerable neighbors added a quiet depth to each movement, each handful of seasoning. In the rhythm of the volunteers’ work, you could feel the heartbeat of the community: steady, compassionate, and unwavering.

This collective warmth isn’t unique to kimjang. It echoes through Korean history, shaping the nation’s identity in profound ways. One of the most powerful examples is the 1997-98 IMF crisis, when Koreans voluntarily donated their gold, wedding rings, coins, family treasures, to help the country overcome financial collapse. The “gold collection movement” became a global symbol of unity, showing how a society could come together not through words but through action. And even earlier, the astonishing transformation known as the “The Miracle on the Han River” was driven not only by policy or investment but by the sheer determination of ordinary people willing to work together for a shared future.

Working diligently and with a warm heart.

After all this work a snack is more than welcomed!

Packing the kimchi for delivery.

This deep-rooted group culture, often described as cooperation, collectivism, or we consciousness , is not just a social framework. It’s a reflection of  Jeong (정), that warm, untranslatable affection that binds people quietly but powerfully. Today, standing among strangers who felt like instant companions, I understood that word in a new way.

Being part of this event was an honor I won’t forget. I came to participate in a cultural event, but I left with something richer: a deeper appreciation for Korea’s sharing culture, its history of collective strength, and the gentle but persistent way people show care for one another. It was moving to realize that, in a single afternoon, I was touching a tradition that links generations, a tradition built on giving, resilience, and the belief that community is something we make with our own hands.

In its own way, the 2025 Kimchi Grand Festival retold Korea’s story, not with speeches or monuments, but with aprons, laughter, stained gloves, and mountains of cabbage. It showed that the spirit that once rebuilt a country, that once carried a nation through crisis, is still alive in the simple act of making kimchi for someone else.

Me and my Chinese friend, honored and happy to have been part of this event.

And maybe that is the real miracle: that something as everyday as kimchi can hold centuries of memory and hope, and that by coming together, we keep that hope alive.

Photographs courtesy of Melline Galani and Gwangju Bukgu Family Center (광주북구가족센터).

(1) Kimjang (김장) refers to the traditional Korean practice of making and sharing large quantities of kimchi (the fermented vegetable dish, most commonly napa cabbage kimchi) to last through the winter months.