James Read

I am a food writer, founder of Kim Kong Kimchi and Chief Trading Officer of The Fermenters Guild. It was while moonlighting from my day job as a journalist that I developed a cauliflower kimchi “vegan zombie brains” for a pop-up Halloween restaurant. This awoke something in me, and soon living, fermented foods took over my life.

My first book, Of Cabbages & Kimchi: A Practical Guide to the World of Fermented Food, was published by Particular Books in 2023. With it, I wanted to show that the world of fermented foods & drinks is neither challenging nor intimidating, but instead a wondrous realm populated by delicious microbe-generated morsels, with incredible histories and folklore behind them. It has been shortlisted for the Fortnum & Mason, Guild of Food Writers and Andre Simon food book awards and received praise from the likes of Nigella Lawson, Fuchsia Dunlop and Mark Diacono. My book has given me opportunities to speak about living foods, from discussing fermentation cultures at Hay to demonstrating how to make pineapple soda at WOMAD Festival. I spoke at bookshops around the UK, joined a panel at the British Library, and held forth at book festivals from Bibury to Wimbledon and fermentation festivals from London to Stoke.

Beyond Of Cabbages & Kimchi I have contributed to other books on fermentation (The Science of Fermentation, DK, 2025) and academic publications (Living Fermented Foods and Drinks, Oxford Research Encyclopedia, 2024), and am currently working on my second book.

Professions

Author, Editor/editorial work, Food and travel writer, Food historian, Recipe writer

Special subjects

Fermentation

Advisory boards / Awards

Chief Trading Officer, The Fermenters Guild

Languages spoken

English

Commercial interest

I run a company, Kim Kong Kimchi which makes baechu kimchi. In order to keep the traditional flavour and rich, deep colour we source sweet, slightly smoky ‘gochugaru’ chilli flakes. While we omit fish products (as would often be found in kimchi) to keep our product vegan, we’ve found that aged ‘aka’ miso provides an excellent umami kick. Some kimchi is jarred after just 3 or 4 days, but we wanted Kim Kong Kimchi to have a richer, more developed flavour, so we allow ours to ferment at carefully controlled cellar temperature for over a week. This considered process led us to create a multi-award winning kimchi and most importantly a product that is loved by customers.