Honorary Reporter Foteini Chatzoudi from Greece
Photos = Jo Webster 

The Global Kimchi Ambassador program of the Seoul-based World Institute of Kimchi (WIK) promotes the spicy condiment globally while highlighting the culture and traditions connected to it.

One of this year's ambassador appointees is Jo Webster, based in Somerset, England, a Ph.D. student in fermented vegetables at the University of Surrey of the U.K. and Teagasc (Agriculture and Food Development Authority) of Ireland, having earned a master's in nutritional medicine from the university. She is a clinician, as well as an educator in fermentation and plant-based medicine and is conducting research into fermented vegetables.

The following are excerpts from an email interview with Webster from March 12-21.

Briefly describe your background.

I used to be a lawyer but have always been interested in health. Ten or so years ago, I read the book "Gut" by Giulia Enders and it lit something inside me after I realized that microbes are an essential and malleable interface, connecting us with each other and our food and natural environment. I devoured all the scientific information I could and retrained as a nutritionist and medical herbalist. I promote accurate information on what ferments and medicinal herbs offer in support of human health and I encourage people to incorporate them into their lives through my clinical practice, educational events and social media.

Jo Webster creates a seasonal ferment using vegetables in her kitchen in Wells, Somerset, England, in March 2018.

What is your personal connection with kimchi?

When I first started fermenting, I was a little intimidated by kimchi. I like to do things "properly" and soon discovered so many different kinds of kimchi styles and methods of making. I had been experimenting with drying vegetable ferments in my kitchen and that led to me starting a Ph.D. on the nutrition profile of freeze-dried lacto-fermented vegetables. I soon realized that kimchi is the most researched vegetable ferment, so kimchi and how its nutritional profile shifts when it is freeze dried became the key focus of my PhD.

I also spent time in Korea in 2025 and learned so much about kimchi and other ferments from the people and place from which it originated.

Why did you apply for the Global Kimchi Ambassador program?

While working with WIK researcher Lee Wooje on my kimchi research, he told me about the program. Its aims align well with the kimchi work I'm doing, and I was excited to have the opportunity to work more closely with the institute to help kimchi get the attention it deserves globally.

Jo Webster in her herb and vegetable garden, where she grows plants to support her fermentation and herbal practice, in July 2020.

As a newly appointed ambassador, how will you promote kimchi?

I will continue with my Ph.D., which has involved giving presentations at national and international conferences. I hope to give more presentations over the coming year. I teach nutrition and use such sessions to promote ferments such as kimchi. I've been invited to speak at the Wells Food Festival (in Wells, southwestern England) in October. I plan to run a kimchi stand, and with 14,000 people attending the festival, I hope to open many more eyes to kimchi.

I also founded World Ferment Day (Feb. 1) to increase consumption of ferments and build a global platform to promote the wonders of fermented foods, including kimchi.

What message do you have about kimchi for people around the world?

If you don't yet have kimchi in your life, you're missing out on one of the great joys of life. If you don't like chili, you can try white kimchi. Over the next two years as a global kimchi ambassador, I hope to help people, particularly in the West, embrace kimchi as the delicious, enlivening and health-supporting food it is.

jcy0531@korea.kr

*This article was written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.