Due to great success in 2023, this workshop returns to the festival: join us and learn all about traditional and authentic Korean fermentation!

In this Kimchi workshop by Mina from House of Fermentation, you will be guided through making a unique kimchi recipe from Jinju, South Korea. Additionally, you will learn about the differences between fermentation methods worldwide, kimchi variations, and kimchi recipes.

All participants will work together to complete one large batch of kimchi, which will be shared at the end of the workshop, just like in Mina’s childhood when all the neighbors would come together to make a huge batch of kimchi to feed the entire village.

With the Korean kimchi recipe, the fermentation process continues practically forever. You can open the jar as often as you like to take some kimchi out; it will keep fermenting. Making kimchi is a craft that relies on the harmony between ingredients, microorganisms, nature, and us, humans.

During the festival, the traditional Korean ‘Hang ah ri,’ a 2000-year-old cooling instrument still in use in Korea, will also be exhibited. You can taste naturally fermented kimchi that has been fermenting for about 3 months in the Hang ah ri. This Hang ah ri, made by the government-registered (and protected) craftsman Choong-Ghil Hwang, was imported directly from South Korea by Mina in 2021 through crowdfunding.

Mina was born and raised in Jinju, South Korea. She studied nursing at university, which helped her research and verify the traditional recipe. She moved to the Netherlands and in 2019 started House of Fermentation to reintroduce the legacy of kimchi making and pass on Korea’s rich cultural heritage.