Image credit: Gintare Valasinaite

Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish of salted and fermented vegetables including cabbage. Kimchi is a probiotic as it contains beneficial live gut microbes, such as Lactic Acid Bacteria. Kimjang is the Korean cultural tradition where communities gather in late autumn and early winter to prepare large batches of kimchi together – an act that symbolises sharing, belonging and connection.

In December, our researchers Dr Jennifer Ahn-Jarvis and Dr Rokas Juodeikis organised the institute’s first Kimjang event at the Quadram Institute for staff and students across Norwich Research Park, as part of the Fermented Foods Research Network and supported by the Quadram Science Voice.

Fermented Foods Research Network

“The idea for a Fermented Foods Research Network started during an internal Food Microbiome and Health meeting . A group of us, including Rokas and I, were talking about kimchi recipes and we had the idea of starting a Fermented Foods Research Network across Norwich Research Park.”

Together, Rokas and Jenn started the network to connect researchers across the research park with shared interests across multiple disciplines.

Rokas says, “So far, we’ve had two meetings. The aim of our network is to spark project ideas between researchers who are interested in fermented foods. We have a lot of expertise on Norwich Research Park across nutrition, host and microbe interactions with the plant side at the John Innes Centre, and the gut microbiome side here at the Quadram Institute.”

It was during the second Fermented Foods Research Network meeting where the idea for a Quadram Kimjang began. Jenn explains, “During the meeting, I asked who knows how to make kimchi and only a couple of people knew. Then we started talking about learning to make kimchi. That’s when I had the idea that we could do a Kimjang event.”

Building connections across Norwich Research Park

The Kimjang took place in the Quadram cafe on a Saturday in mid-December.

Jenn explains, “The timing of Kimjang is important and very seasonal. It happens all over Korea starting mid-October. The week we did it in December was probably the last week. Our Kimjang was well-timed and we had a gorgeous winter day for the event.””

The event drew more than 60 participants from across the Norwich Research Park — from researchers at the John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory to nurses from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Attendees included early career scientists, senior academics, friends and family with their hands full of cabbage and kimchi spices.

Rokas reflects, “It was wonderful to see people from different backgrounds — clinicians, plant scientists, microbiologists — all chatting and working side by side.”

“During the event I explained to people what Kimjang means.,” says Jenn, “Kimjang is not just an act of making kimchi but the fact it helps strengthen community. In Korea sometimes a whole village will take part and there will be hundreds of people. It’s like a festival and everyone makes their kimchi together and catches up with each other.”

She adds, “We thought that Kimjang could be a way to bring the Norwich Research Park community together. During the event, you could see people sitting making kimchi together and chatting. It was nice to bring people together, you could see clinical people talking to science people.”

Dr Alice Brewer, Research Coordinator from the John Innes Centre who attended the Kimjang says, “It was such a nice atmosphere and really lovely to talk to people from across the research park.”

Sparking scientific collaborations on fermented foods

As well as making kimchi and bringing together the research park community, the Kimjang event ignited potential scientific collaborations.

Jenn explains, “The Kimjang went well and it was interesting to see the science ideas that it sparked too. I was talking to a scientist about if we could sequence kimchi broth and see which microbes are there.”

Rokas says, “We often think about fermentation in the gut here at the Quadram Institute, but fermentation happens in fermented foods too.”

He continues, “There’s a couple of people who already have had small projects about fermented food. We want to bring people with complementary skills to investigate key topics about fermented foods. We’re keen to get more into that research space. We’re hoping to run another networking event across the research park soon.”

Growing a network food, science and culture

Emily Smith, Programme Manager for the Food, Microbiome and Health research programme concludes, “It’s great that the idea for the Fermented Food Research Network and Kimjang came from a couple of our researchers during one of our research programme meetings, who have since taken the concept forwards and turned it into a reality, all credit to them. It has captured the hearts and minds of many across the Research Park, and we hope to take the concept further forward as we plan future research projects and programmes.”