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odiroot

Isn't cabbage actually pretty inefficient food anyway?

As far as I remember it takes a lot of energy to digest it, barely leaving a positive balance.

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Fermenting it improves digestibility. As does cooking it.

Thanks, but then again I guess it removes some nutritional value and buffs it up with water.

Fermented foods are generally thought to be quite nutritious due to the benefits from the added bacteria.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-parenting/post/ferme...

For an average four-person family, a minimum 350kg of cabbages and 200kg of radishes are required during kimjang. A winter’s supply of the fermented cabbage dish also requires 3kg of garlic and 18kg of salt.

350kg/4people = 87.5kg/person 87.5kg/person / (0.25*365days in a season) = 0.96kg/person per day

That's actually quite a lot (granted I'm assuming the "season" is 1/4 of a year, and at that latitude it could be longer).

For the hell of it, that 200kg of radishes is another 0.55kg/person per day. ~3 pounds of low-caloric food per day might be plenty.

cabbage: 250 calories per kg radish: 160 cal per kg

That's not enough calories to sustain sedentary life in nice weather. It is, however, enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy, and enough of several other vitamins to keep you from other deficiencies. You still need 1-2 thousand calories from some other source.

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