Fermentation: How Food Finds a New Life

In the ‘90s, every Korean household had three large pieces of furniture: a bed, an upright Yamaha piano, and a kimchi refrigerator.
 
The kimchi fridge was a fixture in my home as well. Large and grey, with a smooth plastic exterior, standing just above the hip. Its doors didn’t open outward—they lifted from the top, much like how our ancestors lifted the lid of onggi (tall clay pots) or unearthed kimchi buried underground. Kimchi fridge was a constant presence in our homes, quietly fermenting, evolving, and finding its way onto our table every single day.
 
As a child, fermentation fascinated me—it seemed to defy nature’s logic. Left alone, vegetables mould and rot into something inedible. Yet through fermentation, they transformed. So, for a long time, fermentation felt like decay being controlled.
 
However, my perspective on fermented food shifted profoundly when I began learning from the Grand Master of Kimchi. One afternoon, she led me into her walk-in kimchi fridge. Surrounded by walls of kimchi at various stages of fermentation, I noticed something remarkable—the food was alive. Bubbles rose gently, jars expanded slightly from the gas released by thriving lactic acid bacteria, and a quiet, unseen transformation was taking place within.
 
Today, this perspective feels more important than ever. We live in a world dominated by ultra-processed, lab-engineered food, designed to drive endless consumption. Bland, predictable flavours flood supermarkets, masking the incredible richness that food should offer.
 
But artisanal fermented foods offer something different. Choosing them is a refined protest—a pushback against homogenised, lab-engineered monotony, and an assertion of our right to food bearing the living fingerprints of its makers, infused with vibrant stories and heritage.

So when you eat, you’re not just feeding your body; you’re declaring who you are and what matters to you. Are your choices quietly conforming to an industrial convenience, or setting yourself apart as someone who demands live, authentic nourishment?

Every bite is a statement. Make sure yours speaks of taste, intention, and a standard worth aspiring to.