Agile City Member Spotlight: Eddie Kim – Gomo Kimchi

Every great dish has a story, and for Eddie Kim, that story starts with family. As the founder of Gomo Kimchi, Eddie has turned a traditional Korean staple into a local sensation. We caught up with him to discuss the inspirations that drive Gomo Kimchi and a few fun facts beyond the label.

 

Who are you and what do you do? 

My name is Eddie Kim, and I’m the founder of Gomo Kimchi. Originally from Seattle, WA, I’m a Korean American poet/writer/kimchi maker. I make vegan and non-vegan kimchi based off my family recipe for wholesale. Most of the businesses we collaborate with are small, local shops who also share a mind toward community. At present, I personally handmake each piece of kimchi we sell, so our offering is limited and made with care. As such, we’re mindful of the people we work with. We also offer kimchi-making workshops and will soon offer Korean food cooking demos on a limited basis.

 

How long have you been a tenant at Glue Factory and what attracted you to the building?

I’ve been in the Glue Factory for about a year. The boys from Frankie Coffee suggested I check out the space while I was in for coffee one day, so I reached out. I was immediately attracted to the community-minded mission of the folks at Agile City and the Glue Factory. I love how Fraser and Abigale are serious about what they are trying to build but also laid back and open-minded in terms of what that might ultimately look like. They want to help artists and like-minded businesses grow while eschewing the commercial-minded, cut-throat approach that can come with such spaces. This works for me because I’m honestly not overly fond of the business end of what I do. Since arriving, I couldn’t be happier being surrounded by talented, warm neighbour’s who help foster such a strong sense of community and collaboration.

 

How did you get started in Kimchi making? Tell us about your story.

I was having lunch with my family at my mom’s house when I realised none of the younger generation knew how to make any of the dishes we were eating. It made me sad to think the following generation would miss out on such an integral part of our upbringing and a vital way we create spaces for ourselves, how we create home in places where we’re usually considered strangers. So, I asked my gomo to teach me how to make her kimchi. At first, she said “No.” Gomo said I didn’t really want to know, that it was too hard. I kept pestering her over year until she eventually taught me. Even then, I had to strap a camera to my head because she kept doing all these things on the side, almost in secret, and she did everything by taste, so I needed a video reference.

I came to Glasgow for love. My wife, Maggie, is from Glasgow, but we met in Korea while we were both living there. About a year and a half later, I found myself moving here. We just had our first baby seven months ago. We started off at farmer’s markets and doing pop ups. Then, we got a shop on Allison St in Govanhill where we made the kimchi and offered a small menu of Korean comfort food (taught to me by my mom). Rick Stein visited that shop, courtesy of food writer Ben Mervis, which helped spread the name a bit. Local legend, Julie Lin, has also been incredibly supportive during our journey. She kindly posted about us once and it tripled our online following overnight. I couldn’t manage doing both kimchi production and running the shop, so we recently shut that side of the business down. It was for the best, but I do miss Govanhill.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m originally from Seattle (technically, Brier), but I also grew up in Kotzebue, AK, which had a big influence on me. I’ve also lived in varying capacities for varying periods in Fairbanks, AK; Sweet Briar, VA; Seoul; Bad Godesberg; and Dang-jin. I’ve been a freelancer (proofreader/copy editor/content writer/ghost writer, blah, blah, blah), professor/adjunct (English language and essay writing), creative writing teacher, bartender, shipping/receiving clerk, start-up stooge, and now kimchi maker entrepreneur. When I’m not spending time with my family or making kimchi, I write as much as I can, and I send out work regularly. Still hoping to publish a book or half dozen one of these days. In typical fashion, I have about a dozen different projects ongoing or in mind.

 

How do you plan on combining your passion for Kimchi and poetry?

Kimchi and poetry are similar practices for me. They both require patience, attention to detail, and are ways of preservation, as well as ways of understanding and processing the world. I have a plan to offer a kimchi/poetry workshop, in which people will get some insight into the kimchi-making process and work on poems. The idea is to use some of the processes to incite poems by exploring food-associated memories, but the poems need not be about food. Food will merely be the doorway. I’d like to host more writing workshops in our space at the Glue Factory, in some form or another, going forward as well. What that looks like, I’m not quite sure yet. Outside of family/friends, writing is most important to me, and I identify as a writer first, kimchi maker second. I’ve recently joined a small writing group that will meet at the Gomo Kimchi Glue Factory studio. I’m really excited about this writing group, which we’ve playfully labeled “Ramyeon Writers.”

 

Do you have any upcoming projects you want to highlight?
We have our first kimchi workshop at the end of the month, which sold out in about 12 hours, but we hope to offer regular workshops roughly once a month, rotating between kimchi, Korean food demo (meat), Korean food demo (vegan), and kimchi/poetry workshops. I would also like to offer a platform for other writers to potentially host workshops through us, as well as other food folks. Keep an eye out for word on the cooking demo soon! It will be held in March. I’m also working on speculative creative nonfiction book project, which is a memoir exploring family and notions of home and immigration based around Gomo Kimchi. I hope to start querying agents for that in the next few months (but I don’t really know what I’m doing when it comes to such things, ha).

 

How do we purchase kimchi and what businesses can we find Gomo Kimchi in?

Gomo Kimchi is currently available by the jar at the following businesses:

Glasgow (Southside)
Shawlands Continental (vegan and non vegan)
The Green Goose (vegan only)
Three of Cups (vegan only)

Glasgow (West End)
Sushi Riot (non vegan only)
Roots, Fruits and Flowers (vegan only)
KRK (vegan and non vegan)

Edinburgh
Dig In (vegan and non vegan)
Portobello
Root Down

If you’re interested in carrying Gomo Kimchi, you can contact us via email: gomokimchi@gmail.com or DM. If you want Gomo Kimchi available in your neighborhood, please send us any business suggestions and we will reach out to them. However, the best way is to request it from your local shop as well. We reach out to businesses regularly, but that has marginal success and slow follow up. What really motivates a vendor is when customers regularly ask for products.

 

Where can we find out more about your business/company and your work?
You can find more information about Gomo Kimchi via our social media @gomokimchi on Instagram and Facebook. We also have a website: www.gomokimchi.com, but I’m probably gonna get rid of that in exchange for a Substack, or something like that, in the near future, as the website is expensive and I don’t do quite enough with it to justify the cost. If you’re interested in my writing, you can find my work smattered around the internet or via my Instagram page’s Linktree: @eddie.j.kim.

 

 

We want to thank Eddie for taking the time to answer our questions! If you’d like to get in touch with Eddie, we have linked his social media and contact information throughout this blog.

 

If you’d like to find out how to become a member at the Glue Factory or Civic House, and be a part of the community, feel free to check out our Coworking page.