Koreans and expats gathered to make kimchi in Seoul and Cheonggye plazas on Friday as part of the Seoul Kimchi Making and Sharing Festival.

The event continued at Seoul Plaza through Sunday. In total, 9,000 people made 260 tons of kimchi to be given out to 22,000 underprivileged families, city officials said.

The collective making of kimchi ― known as “gimjang” ― is a tradition that goes back centuries and was recently recognized by UNESCO, which listed it as an intangible cultural heritage item last year.

One celebrated facet of gimjang is its social aspect ― something not lost on some of Friday’s participants who braved the dipping temperatures to join in.

“Despite being physically cold it was a really warm experience,” said Dwight School Seoul student Jason Chon. “There’s a lot of friendliness going around. Even if you don’t understand them, you still have a lot of fun.”

His school mate Lilou Delatte also enjoyed making Korea’s signature food.

“I would have continued, but my back was starting to hurt a little bit,” she said.

Dwight School principal Brigid Toner said that the school had brought pupils who were learning Korean as a second language as a cultural event, as they had not made kimchi before.

“It might have been a bit of a contest between the kids about how many boxes they made,” she said. “They all got into it and we had a great time.”

“We got help from the women out there,” she said. “(One of them) corrected my technique. They were really good.”

The help was also appreciated by first-time gimjanger Daniel Sanchez, who works for Jack Morton, a U.K. brand experience agency whose Korean office decided to join the festival as part of the company’s social contribution efforts.

“There’s a lot of people to show you how to do it. It’s really cool, it’s great fun,” he said.

Kimchi making events were held for Chinese tourists and others over the weekend.

Alongside the gimjang itself, there was a market for kimchi ingredients nearby, and an exhibition in Gwanghwamun Plaza. Titled “Kimjang, The Wisdom of Time,” the exhibition showed the history of kimchi, as well as rare types of kimchi, including those served at royal meals and temples.

Mass kimchi-making events have been held in the plaza in previous years, sponsored as this was by Yakult Korea, but this is the first time the festival was an official city event.

The city government plans to make the festival an annual event, hoping to establish it as a noted festival in the future.

“We will develop the festival into an event that people around the world can enjoy together, thereby creating new values,” said Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)