Ji Hye Kim

Miss Kim

I grew up in Seoul, South Korea in a home where my Mom made everything from scratch and the seasons decided what we ate and she preserved. My appreciation of and approach to traditional Korean cuisine came from my Mom, my obsession with ancient culinary texts and fermentation is of my own making! When I was 13, we left Seoul for New Jersey. I came to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan. After an alarmingly successful East Coast stint in the healthcare industry, life brought me back to Ann Arbor. Zingerman’s is what has kept me here. Ancient cookbooks are what I turn to in order to translate Korean culinary tradition to the terroir of Michigan. I firmly believe that to be able to interpret (or play with!) tradition, you must begin by studying it intensely and understanding it deeply.