KAREN WANG DIGGS (Chief Fermentation Officer) is a classically trained chef and instructor, inventor, fermentation expert, author, and Certified Nutrition Consultant. She teaches in San Francisco and throughout the U.S. and considers herself an ambassador of good bacteria. Her mission is to help people, animals, and our planet thrive by introducing more good bacteria into our microbiome through fermented foods.

Karen studied at the California Culinary Academy, then worked in Hong Kong at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and other restaurants there. Seven years later, she returned to San Francisco ready for a shift from the crazy restaurant world. She enrolled at Bauman College to earn her certification in holistic nutrition and got hooked on fermenting. Her fascination with traditional fermentation crocks, combined with her work as a nutritionist encouraging clients to ferment their own foods, led her to an innovative idea: shrinking the large crock-moat system to fit on top of a wide-mouth mason jar. She went on to invent the Kraut Source and ChouAmi, simple, small home fermentation devices.

Karen is the author of The Kraut Source Recipe Book, Happy Foods: Over 100 Mood-Boosting Recipes, and Sleep More, Eat More, Weigh Less. She is at work on her latest book, 10 Super Asian Women Who Shaped History.

Fermented food that describes Karen the best: Jun. Because she loves that it’s made from honey and it’s gentler than kombucha.