Arline is a Japanese to English translator and interpreter based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Her work increasingly focuses on helping sake brewers - who use koji as an essential part of the brewing process - and koji starter makers communicate the complexity and value of their work.

Arline also gives workshops for beginners and drinks experts, develops sake pairings and focuses on unearthing and curating information about koji and sake brewing only available in Japanese and bringing it to English-speaking brewers, fermenters and supporters of Japanese food culture.

Discover Arline through her Instagram and websites below:

@tastetranslation

taste-translation.com

discover-sake.com

Elliott is the founder and CEO of Symbio Bioculinary, a food biotech startup using precision fermentation and fungal bioengineering to transform food waste into novel ingredients. While working in restaurant kitchens, he became fascinated with fermentation and the power of microbes to transform what we eat.

Symbio works with agricultural and food manufacturers throughout the US to help solve difficult waste challenges and create circular food systems.

Elliott is a 2023 Future Founders Fellow and an Amgen Scholar, with research interests in microbial metabolomics.

Learn more about Symbio Bioculinary at symbiobc.com

Fermentation Specialist & Advocate for Sustainable Eating as a former bean-to-bar chocolate maker, Isabelle became an expert in cacao fermentation, translating this knowledge into my own vegetarian kitchen.

With the arrival of motherhood, her jungle travels became less feasible, leading Isabelle to reorient herself within the food world. Now, as the founder of her own fermentation studio, she inspires individuals to reduce reliance on ultra-processed foods and embrace plant-based meals enriched by the deep, umami flavors of fermentation.

Collaborating with farmers, Isabelle crafts innovative products from agricultural by-products, using techniques like koji to make sustainable, flavorful eating accessible and exciting.

Isabelle can be found all over the virtual universe at:

Instagram: @bella_and_the_yeast

Facebook: isabelle.quirinen

Website: bellaandtheyeast.com/

Jess Eng is a Brooklyn-based food and culture writer whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, TASTE, and Eater. Originally from San Francisco, California, Jess swapped coasts to study Statistics and Folklore and Mythology at Harvard.

After graduating, she traveled to Taiwan’s eastern coast to document local food traditions, which will soon be published in a booklet titled Taitung Eats: Personal Explorations in Southeastern Taiwan.

Last year, she launched Ferments Live (@ferments.live), a podcast, workshop, and storytelling project exploring the vast world of fermented foods. In her spare time, she enjoys curling up with a great novel, dancing, and discovering live music.

Learn more about Jess through her handles:

@goudatalks

@ferments.live (podcast/workshop project)

Johannes Schartner is a Vienna-based chef with three Gault&Millau toques, renowned for his expertise in fermentation and innovative cuisine.

As the former head chef of Das Kraus, he introduced a casual fine dining concept centered on seasonal, regional, and fermentation-driven dishes. Currently, Johannes co-runs Zum Goldenen Hermann, his microbakery in Vienna, specializing in artisanal sourdough bread and innovative baked goods.

Johannes also co-curates Popchop, Vienna's Future Food Festival, where he moderates and hosts the Symposium Day, a platform that highlights fermentation, biodynamics, and forward-thinking food innovation. Notable speakers at the festival include David Zilber, Dr. Johnny Drain, and Eleni Michel.

Follow Johannes’ journey:

@semfmaster3000 (cooking)

@zumgondenenhermann (baking/yeast)

LinkedIn: johannes-schartner

Dr. Julia Skinner is a food writer whose work includes the award-winning book Our Fermented Lives. She also runs Root, a food-focused community and consulting organization offering classes, consulting on creative projects, a weekly newsletter, and more. She's also the founder of Roots and Branches, where she coaches other writers to help them find their voice and share their most important work with the world. 

She is a fermentation enthusiast, who leads engaging community classes and events to help bring the art of fermentation to home cooks and chefs around the world. She has a PhD in Library & Information Science, and uses her background in that space to help others find and document their very own food stories. 

She is also a nature lover, a teacher, and a traveler who firmly believes in finding, and sharing, the magic of everyday life. She has a PhD in Library & Information Science, and lives between Atlanta, GA and Cork, Ireland. 

You can follow her work in her newsletter or find her on social:

@bookishjulia (writing)

@rootkitchens (food)

@yourrootsandbranches (coaching)

Karmah Tabbaa is a dedicated chef and restaurateur in Jordan, passionate about creating meaningful dining experiences. Karmah researches how colonization, globalization, orientalism in food writing, urbanization, and war have influenced the nationalistic approach Arab countries have taken to assert their culinary heritage.

As she contemplates the future, she sees how important it is to preserve culture and traditions. In her extensive research and dot connecting she was able to find evidence for the use of a mold based grain seasoning in Medieval Arab Cookery and hence began to prepare her own.

She could not allow herself to introduce or rather appropriate a seasoning that was not from the region because it went against her values. Once the connection was found she then began her journey with koji and making native amino paste seasonings.

Karmah can be found on Instagram at:

@karmah.food

@karmahskitchen

Toronto native Kevin Jeung began his culinary career at sixteen years old, when he took a job washing dishes at a local restaurant. He would go on to earn a degree from the French Culinary Institute in New York City and train at a range of noted restaurants around the world, including Gramercy Tavern, Per Se, and Mugaritz. Kevin's longstanding relationship with noma dates back to the earliest days of the restaurant’s fermentation department.

In 2019, following a period cooking in his hometown, he joined noma full-time and rose to the role of Chef of Research and Production for the fermentation lab, a position that sees him collaborating closely with René, the members of the test kitchen, and the team at noma Projects.

Kevin shares the creative process behind the Fermentation Lab at noma, and how koji is being used to generate new ingredients to feature on the menu.

Find him on social media:

@jeungkev

@nomacph (noma)

@nomaprojects (noma Fermentation Lab)

Meijie (Mei) Liao is a California-based recipe developer and writer behind Day With Mei (daywithmei.com).

Her work explores Sichuanese fermentation traditions as a medium to preserve her heritage as a second-generation Chinese-American immigrant.

Through her social media videos, Mei blends science and oral storytelling to demystify Sichuanese ferments, taking viewers into doubanjiang factories or inside her 120-year-old paocai jar.

Mei’s social media handles:

Instagram: @daywithmei

TikTok: @daywithmei

Youtube: @daywithmei

Substack: @uglypantry

Yi-Cheng Hsieh (Ozzy) is the third-generation black soybean sauce brewer of “Yu-Ding-Shing”, Taiwan. He is also the founder and chef of “Future Dining Table”, a series of food events connecting local farmers and consumers with vegetarian/plant-based cuisine, using Yu-Ding-Shing’s artisanal black soybean sauce.

Besides promoting black soybean sauce brewing culture of Xiluo, Taiwan, Future Dining Table aims to introduce the terroir of Yunlin county (Midsouth Taiwan), inviting experts from different fields to lead discussions about agriculture, placemaking, and regional revitalization. The ultimate goal is to make Taiwanese black soybean sauce worldwide.

Follow Ozzy’s journey at:

@futurediningtable

Payal Shah is the Shepherd of Microbes at Kōbo Fermentary. She is not a chef or a food scientist or even a microbiologist, but a trained psychologist who just likes to eat and dive deep into rabbit holes to explore the wonderful world of fermentation.

Inspired by her grandmother, Payal has been fermenting for over 20 years and has been curating, guiding and tending to the Indian fermentation community. She is neurodivergent and this equips her with the breadth and depth to demystify fermentation (among other things) to make it accessible, un-intimidating and relatable.

She has a special interest in the rich heritage of Indian ferments and especially rice and grain wines.

Learn more about what Payal is up to at kobofermentary.com or on her Instagram at @kobofermentary

Peter Barrett has been growing, foraging, fermenting, preserving, curing, and cooking as much of his own food as possible for nearly 20 years - and teaching others to do the same.

Peter runs Flavor Freaks alongside Rich Shih, which is a page for avid fermenters to share their passion and expertise to help everybody cook healthier, more delicious food. Visit their website at flavor-freaks.net

Follow Peter:

Substack: @thingsonbread

Instagram: @cookblog

Eric grew up in Arlington MA and graduated from Connecticut College in 2019 with a degree in Environmental Studies and International Relations. Eric became interested in regenerative agriculture when he was introduced to the school's campus Garden, SPROUT, his freshman year.

Eric has experience in farm based education and farm management from his prior work at SPROUT and Green City Growers, an urban agriculture company based in Somerville MA. Some of Eric’s favorite things to grow are carrots, lettuce, and eggplants. One of his favorite meals to cook is eggplant parmesan because it reminds him of community dinners at SPROUT.

Eric is looking forward to teaching more people about where their food comes from and creating some tasty recipes in the process. In his free time, Eric can be found gardening at home, snowboarding and longboarding, kayaking, or playing guitar.

Jennifer has over twenty years of experience building programs for museums, gardens and farms. Prior to relocating to Mystic, CT, Jennifer was the education director at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.

She was also the Vice President of Children’s and Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden where she worked for nine years and was the education director and interim director of the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo.

Jennifer has degrees in environmental biology and museum studies. She lives in Mystic with her husband and three young children. Her favorite thing to cook is caramel apple crumble.

Hayley grew up in coastal Southeastern Connecticut her whole life, and recently graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Environmental Studies.

Before joining the Yellow Farmhouse team, she worked as a college admissions counselor, kids camp director, and climate department manager for multiple years. She loves to write on mostly any topic with specialties in endangered species, marine conservation, and renewable energy.

In her free time, Hayley enjoys the beach with a good book and iced coffee in hand; she also volunteers her free time for local land trusts and environmental non-profits. Her favorite meal to make are homemade mini pizzas using Naan bread, fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce with her dad - followed by a few rounds of ping pong!