Fermented food specialist, Dr Caroline Gilmartin, will be opening Every Good Thing at Wapping Wharf in early October. It will be taking over the space previously occupied by CUPP Bubble Tea, who are planning to focus on their four other stores.
Every Good Thing will be Bristol’s first shop wholly dedicated to fermented food, moving out of Caroline’s kitchen and into the harbourside community. Caroline has a background in microbial genetics, but pursued a career first in health service management, then in holiday cottage management, before falling seriously ill with suspected pneumonia in 2014.
A friend offered her some milk kefir grains to aid her recovery and, despite being sceptical at first, Caroline gave them a go. She felt so much better that it reawakened her interest in microbiology, leading her to start researching the link between the gut and what we eat, and experimenting with a range of ferments.
She used workshops and demos to spread the word about making and managing your own kefir and ferments – and so far, she has sent at least a thousand sets of Every Good Thing kefir grains out to customers. Caroline has also written a book – A Practical Guide to Fermented Foods – which will be published in October.
Caroline says: “Several years later, and my family are more than ready for me to take my venture out of our kitchen, where the smell of kimchi can be overpowering at times! I am very much looking forward to opening at Wapping Wharf, a part of the city that I love. I am delighted to be in such excellent company with some of the finest independent traders in the city.
“Fermented foods are not new: it’s been used as a method of preserving food and making it more nutritious and delicious for thousands of years. Today, we know for absolute certainty that the population of microbes that lives in our guts is the key to our health and well-being.
“Scientific research will always underpin the work done at Every Good Thing so customers can have complete confidence in everything that we offer.”
At the Wapping Wharf shop, you’ll be able to buy cultures and equipment, as well as having access to advice, demonstrations and workshops to help you to make your own ferments at home. Every Good Thing will also sell both milk and water kefir, kombucha, their renowned kimchi, plus curtido, sauerkraut, chilli sauce, kefir grains and kombucha scobies.
On Mondays and Tuesdays the shop will operate as a production kitchen and workshop space, and for the rest of the week will be open for the purchase of ferments and equipment, as well as for any ferment-related questions.
Read more about Every Good Thing here.