Of Cabbages and Kimchi

A playful and accessible guide to fermenting at home James Read is on a mission to smuggle bacteria into our kitchens. In Of Cabbages & Kimchi, he takes the ten greatest 'living' ferments - fermented foods that are neither cooked nor pasteurized - and places them under the microscope, before cooking with them in all their delicious versatility. From the fiery funk of kimchi to the velvet tang of kefir, James describes the microbial process, then shares his recipes for recreating these wonders in your own kitchen - no specialist equipment required. Alongside his recipes, James investigates the extraordinary cultural and historic backgrounds of fermented foods, exploring how the microbes that bring them to life have developed alongside our culinary evolution. Featuring over fifty recipes - including Mushroom and Sauerkraut Pierogi, Chilled Radish Noodle Soup and Green Chilli Fermented Salsa - and packed to the brim with Marija Tiurina's gastro-surrealist watercolour illustrations, Of Cabbages and Kimchi will help you create, understand and appreciate fermentation's bubbling magic.

James Read is the founder of Kim Kong Kimchi, a company that's made tens of thousands of jars of kimchi distributed through hundreds of stores across Europe. Kim Kong Kimchi has given James the opportunity to build his own walk-in remotely-monitored fermentarium, write an array of fizz-related spreadsheets and address audiences from London's Chinatown to Copenhagen on the wonders of fermented foods. He adores research, reading peer-reviewed papers on microbiota, hunting out ingredient origin myths and running A/B tests on fermenting pineapple cores.