'Health Food Evangelist' Kim Soo-young, Yangcheon District Mayor, Why Did She Start Making Healthy Jang?

Striving for a Healthier Yangcheon with Safe Food... Promoting the '2021 Healthy City Yangcheon Jangdokdae' Project Together with Neighbors

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] “Traditional jang (fermented sauces) are really important foods in Korean life. Even a foreigner like me is so glad to be able to experience this.”

On the afternoon of the 11th, Sun Jing (39), a trainee from China participating in the ‘Min-Gwan Cooperation Yangcheon Jangdokdae’ project held at Yangcheon Urban Agriculture Park, said this while cleaning a jar.

Kim Sooyoung, Yangcheon District Mayor and a ‘health food evangelist,’ is paying special attention to the ‘Yangcheon Jangdokdae’ project aimed at improving local community awareness of the excellence of our traditional foods and proper eating habits.

Through this project, the district has built a proper food community among villages, welfare centers, and schools, continuing traditional jang making in various places.

Since its start in 2019, the project involved two villages with local residents last year, three welfare centers including Yangcheon Senior Welfare Center, and three elementary schools (Gyenam Elementary, Yanggang Elementary, Shinwon Elementary) where students, faculty, and parents participated to create healthy schools based on proper food education and healthy eating habits.

A total of 117 local residents and students participating in the project completed doenjang (soybean paste) and ganjang (soy sauce) in 150 jangdokdae (fermentation jar stands), which were donated to the Yangcheon Love Welfare Foundation and delivered to vulnerable elderly, contributing to the spread of a warm sharing culture.

This year, the district specially installed the ‘Min-Gwan Cooperation Yangcheon Jangdokdae’ at Yangcheon Urban Agriculture Park, creating a healing spot where people can enjoy both vegetable gardens and jangdokdae.

Here, 40 jars in total?20 for doenjang and 20 for ganjang?are installed for on-site jang making practical training.

At the jang making training held on the 11th at Yangcheon Urban Agriculture Park, about 90 people including multicultural families, North Korean defectors, and local residents participated together to make jang. Kim Eonjeong, a first-class master jang maker of the Korea Fermented Sauce Association, and nine practical instructors provided explanations and demonstrations of jang making. Trainees directly measured salt and made brine, put meju (fermented soybean blocks) and brine into jars, fixed them with bamboo, added charcoal, jujube, and chili peppers, and cleaned the jars in hands-on training.

This training will conclude with a sharing ceremony in December, delivering the produced doenjang and ganjang to vulnerable elderly, following traditional jang teaching in May and traditional jang sharing in October.

The district plans to provide participants with opportunities to communicate with the local community and practice sharing along with traditional food culture education through the training course.

District Mayor Kim Sooyoung said, “This project not only promotes and develops traditional food culture but also aims to restore community values by joyfully making jang together with neighbors. We will strive to realize ‘Healthy City Yangcheon’ by spreading awareness of proper food through excellent traditional jang culture education.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.