Pao-Yu Liu and James Read talk to Polly Russell

This fermentation-filled tasting session explores fermentation in different cultures and how to get started on your fermenting journey. Fermentation may be all the rage today, but fermented food has been an essential feature of diets around the world for millennia. Pao-Yu Liu grew up in Taipei City, Taiwan and moved to the UK at 21. A self-taught fermenter, she started practising these ancient techniques when diagnosed with diabetes at 37. She founded Pao Pop ‘N’ Pickles in 2017 to produce unpasteurised, lacto-fermented pickles and sauces in London. Author and fermentation producer James Read explains how to get started in his book Of Cabbages and Kimchi: A Practical Guide to the World of Fermented Food. Polly Russell is a food historian and curator at the British Library.