Τροφή και πολιτιστική κληρονομιά
At 75, Ki is the 10th-generation custodian of her family’s sauce-making legacy. When she married into a prestigious family at 23, she inherited not just a household but the responsibility for preserving fermentation techniques dating back 370 years.
Ki is a traditional jang maker, a term that describes a family of fermented soybean condiments that season virtually every Korean dish: ganjang (soy sauce), doenjang (soybean paste), and gochujang (fermented chilli paste). These aren’t just seasonings but the foundational flavours that define Korean cuisine.
Ο Raphael Rashid γράφει στον Guardian για τη μαγειρική παράδοση της Κορέας, η οποία αναγνωρίστηκε ως άυλη πολιτιστική κληρονομιά από την Unesco.
These blocks are tied with rice straw and hung indoors, where the beneficial bacteria from the straw help develop unique flavours during fermentation. After around 50 days, they’re submerged in brine made with bamboo salt, which Ki creates by baking sea salt inside bamboo at high temperatures.
Βρίσκω συναρπαστική την εμμονή στην τεχνική και στην παράδοση, όπου το ένα αναμειγνύεται με το άλλο και δεν είσαι σίγουρος τι είναι απαραίτητο και τι οχι. Αλλά αυτή είναι μάλλον η λάθος ερώτηση.
“The day for boiling meju must be a good day,” she says. “We begin only after bathing to purify ourselves and saying prayers. This requires extraordinary devotion, but our family has followed these same rituals for 370 years. It’s how we’ve always done it.”
Η αφοσίωση σε κάτι τόσο συγκεκριμένο που όμως μπορεί να δώσει νόημα στη ζωή.
As the afternoon light casts shadows across her precious jars, Ki reflects on her life’s work. “This isn’t just about jang,” she says. “It was my fate to inherit this tradition, and it has become my destiny to preserve it.”