London-based food writer and content creator Kenji Morimoto has released his first cookbook, Ferment: Everyday ferments and pickles, and how to eat them. The book, featured as the cookbook of the week, serves as a comprehensive guide to the world of home fermentation, offering both foundational techniques and creative recipes to use the results.
From Childhood Fascination to Global Inspiration
Morimoto's journey with fermentation began early. At just nine or ten years old, he saved up to buy a plastic pickle press from Japan. "Pickling was something that I was so enamoured with as a child. I was probably quite a weirdo," Morimoto admits with a laugh. He compares the process to the magic he found in Harry Potter, describing it as "the ability to put random bits in a jar, and trust the process, trust the microbes, and then, magically, things happen."
His professional path initially led him through a global finance career, with postings in Mumbai and Hong Kong. It was his time in India, starting in 2011, that profoundly shaped his culinary perspective. Faced with limited access to traditional Korean ingredients like gochugaru for making kimchi, he adapted, using locally available Kashmiri chili powder. This experience became a key inflection point, leading him to question and redefine concepts of tradition and authenticity in food.
A Cookbook of Two Halves: Fundamentals and Feasts
Ferment is structured as "a book of two halves." The first section demystifies various fermentation methods, including lactofermentation, kimchi-making, miso, pickling, kombucha, and Korean cheong (fruit preserves). The second half provides 50 recipes designed to showcase these homemade or store-bought ferments in complete dishes.
Morimoto emphasizes adaptability and reducing waste. His "cornershop kimchi" recipe, for instance, swaps traditional napa cabbage and daikon for more commonly found sweetheart cabbage and red radishes. Similarly, his versatile "zero-waste green paste" can be crafted from almost any combination of leftover herbs and aromatics.
Featured Recipes from Ferment
The cookbook highlights several approachable recipes. Readers can try their hand at a weeknight miso pesto pasta salad, elevated with chili crisp balsamic roasted tomatoes. The star of the show, however, might be the visually striking and aptly named "sauercaccia"—a fluffy focaccia generously topped with a vibrant, ruby-red chili, orange, and coriander sauerkraut.
Another featured recipe is the chili, orange and coriander sauerkraut itself, which serves as both a standalone ferment and the key ingredient for the sauercaccia. This blend of flavors exemplifies Morimoto's creative, cross-cultural approach to traditional techniques.
Now based in London, Morimoto describes himself as a "third-culture" adult, whose style is informed by his Japanese American upbringing in Chicago and his extensive travels. His work, which gained a following through his Instagram account @kenjcooks, continues to explore how fermentation connects people and places, proving that this ancient practice has vibrant, modern applications.
