Kenji Morimoto is a chef, content creator and food writer based in London and author of FERMENT: a cookbook (PanMacmillan; released April 2025).
As a fourth generation Japanese American, his cultural identity was grounded in food. As a child, he was in charge of making tsukemono (Japanese pickles) for family gatherings, learning from and surrounded by elders recreating flavours of home. In 2020, he started his Instagram @kenjcooks to document his interest in fermentation and connecting the dots between diasporic traditions and his own.
Since then, he's led numerous pop-ups and held chef residencies in London (most recently as Ottolenghi's ROVI), appeared on BBC Saturday Kitchen, published long-form essays and recipes in Guardian Feast, Waitrose Magazine, and Delicious Magazine, and spoken on panels at the British Library on themes of community, food, and immigrant narratives. In 2023, he was a finalist for the BBC Food & Farming Digital Creator of the Year Award and in 2025, was a finalist for the Fortnum & Mason Rising Star Content Creator Award.
Award Nominations & Book Accolades
Fortnum & Mason Rising Star Content Creator Finalist
2025
BBC Food & Farming Content Creator of the Year Finalist
2023
Waterstones’ Best of 2025
2025
Blackwell’s International Best Seller
2025
TV & Podcasts
BBC Celebration Kitchen: Wesak Day
May, 2025
BBC Saturday Kitchen
January, 2025
KCRW Good Food with Evan Kleiman (US)
1 November, 2025
BBC Radio London with Robert Elms (UK)
6 July, 2025
The Fermenters' Guild Postcast (UK)
Kenji Morimoto on cooking with ferments, family traditions and rediscovering Buddism
7 November, 2025
Kombucha Kamp Podcast (US)
Fermenting Wisdom with Kenji | Trust Your Gut Podcast with Kenji Morimoto
6 November, 2025
Three Food Memories with Savva Savas (AUS)
Kenji Morimoto, Fermentation King
3 November, 2025
Olive Magazine: The Food & Drink Podcast (UK)
16 May, 2025
Residencies
Tales by Chapter x Kenji Morimoto (Ho Chi Minh City)
19 January, 2026
Aiii Restaurant x Kenji Morimoto (Ho Chi Minh City)
13 January, 2026
Fortnum & Mason Food Studio (London)
Fermentation Masterclass & Dinner
30 September, 2025
Food! Not Famine! (London)
Fundraiser for Save the Children UK
15 September, 2025
Matsudai Ramen (Cardiff)
Fermentation Masterclass & Dinner
27 July, 2025
Ottolenghi's ROVI (London)
Weeklong Residency
13-19 January, 2025
Koya City (London)
Month-long Special
January, 2025
Kombini Kids x Kenjcooks @ Gypsy Queen (London)
October 14, 2023
DELLI Supper Clubbing @ the Truman Brewery (London)
Kenjcooks x Speck
24 March, 2023
Kenjcooks x Melanie McIntosh @ 161 Food+Drink (London)
19 February, 2023
Events
British Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City (Ho Chi Minh City)
Workshop & Talk
18 November, 2025
Jersey Festival of Words (Jersey)
Workshop, Demo & Talk
26-27 September, 2025
ESEA Lit Festival @ Foyles (London)
Demo & Talk
20 September, 2025
Blackwell's (Oxford)
Demo & Talk
14 September, 2025
Farmacy: An evening of microbes, mischief, and mould (London)
Panelist
10 September, 2025
Topping & Company (Ely)
Demo & Talk
3 September, 2025
Edinburgh International Book Festival (Edinburgh)
Table Talk + Workshop
12 August, 2025
ALSO Festival (Warwickshire)
Demo & Talk
12 July, 2025
Librera Bookshop / Second Home (London)
Demo & Talk
26 June, 2025
ESEA Lit Summer Party (London)
Demo & Talk
3 June, 2025
Souschef (London)
Online Demo
14 May, 2025
Urban Greens (London)
Demo & Talk
11 May, 2025
Topping & Company (Bath)
Demo & Talk
30 April, 2025
Topping & Company (Edinburgh)
Demo & Talk
29 April, 2025
Track Brewery (Manchester)
Demo & Talk
28 April, 2025
Ottolenghi Test Kitchen (London)
Workshop & Talk
15 April, 2025
Ottolenghi Test Kitchen Masterclass (London)
20 September, 2023
East and South East Asian Heritage Month: A Conversation @ The British Library (London)
Panelist
11 September, 2023
The Common Press Pride Festival: Pride without Borders (London)
Panelist
20 June, 2023
British Library Food Season: Fermentation: How Cultures shape Culture (London)
Panelist
24 May, 2023
Press
Our Favourite New Cookbooks (Shelf Awareness, Wheeler)
11 November, 2025
Kenji Morimoto's Garam Masala (KCRW)
1 November, 2025
Food Groove: Here are eight global culinary trends we can't get enough of (ELLE Canada, Dosanj)
1 November, 2025
Waste not want not with FERMENT, a new cookbook by Kenji Morimoto (Foodprint, Foxx)
1 October, 2025
The best tomato recipes to make the most of the season (Independent, Twiggs)
12 August, 2025
What can the past teach us about the future of food (Country and Town House, Smith)
1 August, 2025
In Microbes we trust: Embracing the nature of fermented food (The Japan Times, Daly)
20 July, 2025
Why Chefs are finally getting the MSG (Financial Times HTSI, Patalay)
11 July, 2025
The Borough of Taste: Kenji Morimoto (Souschef)
21 May, 2025
Fermenting for Change: Interview with fermenter Kenji Morimoto (Substack, Shockey)
4 April, 2025
Olive's 2025 Food and Drink Trends Report (Olive Magazine, Loyal)
20 Dec, 2024
Take risks and follow your gut (Substack, Kazim)
20 June, 2024
The Microbiome Miracle (Guardian, Sawa)
26 February, 2024
Waste not: in praise of the Korean ferment that puts all parts of your veg drawer to use (Guardian, Ottolenghi)
12 October, 2023
Koji, Culture, and Community (Pellicle, Anderson)
13 March, 2023
Comissions
Guardian Feast (Guardian)
1 October, 2025
Pit Magazine (Pit Magazine)
October 2025
How to make Miso at Home (Foodism)
11 September, 2025
OcadoLife (OcadoLife)
18 July, 2025
ZOE (ZOE)
28 May, 2025
Guardian Feast (Guardian)
3 February, 2025
Delicious Magazine (Delicious Magazine)
June 2024
Boldbean (Boldbean)
April 2024
They taught me to rely on taste instead of recipes (Waitrose Magazine)
October, 2023
Love Bites (Waitrose Magazine)
February, 2023