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Firefly Kitchens has dished out fermented goods for a decade as of this 2020.
Firefly Kitchens has dished out fermented goods for a decade as of this 2020.
Photo: Courtesy Firefly Kitchens
Firefly Kitchens has dished out fermented goods for a decade as of this 2020.
Firefly Kitchens has dished out fermented goods for a decade as of this 2020.
Photo: Courtesy Firefly Kitchens
In the midst of an ever-fluctuating food scene in the Seattle area, it’s nice to blow out celebratory candles as another culinary guru hits 10 years of service within and beyond the Emerald City.
This time, it’s not just a chef, it’s not a sole restaurant, and it’s not a single product.
Rather, it’s a whole kitchen serving the span of the west coast.
Firefly Kitchens, doling out jars of fermented goodies like Emerald City kraut, spicy salsa viva, probiotic tonic mixers and elixirs, and Firefly kimchi to promote healthy living and immune system support, hasn’t just battled a fluctuating food and business scene, its continuously done it its own way: the old-fashioned way.
“With modern food, there’s often really few humans in the entire scene of food production. Oftentimes, it’s just machines, air, and packaging,” said founder Julie O’Brien. “But this, this is such an old, traditional, and slow way to do things.”
Fermentation is an ancient technique and natural process through which microorganisms (think yeast and natural bacteria) convert carbs into alcohol or acids, which in turn act as natural preservatives to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria and probiotics.
While this particular technique often takes weeks or even months to complete, fermented foods like those of wine, cheese, sauerkraut, and kombucha, packed with beneficial probiotics, have been connected to an array of health benefits like aided digestion and stronger immune systems.
For O’Brien, she has spent the last 10 years producing a rainbow of products, from myriad krauts to spiced salt rubs, to make food not only look good and taste good, but also leave consumers feeling good.
“It’s everyone’s goal to make their meals look beautiful and taste beautiful, but wouldn’t it be great if somebody also felt good after eating what they make?” she said. “By tossing in a dash of kraut, you’re getting that digestive boost and support, so you’re not hung up on the couch in sweatpants after eating a big meal.”
Firefly Kitchens divvies out krauts, kimchi, tonics, and more.
It all began 14 years ago when O’Brien was enrolled in a nutrition program. As she began fermenting foods for fun, and her father battled colon cancer, two and two came together to produce one.
“This light bulb went off and I was like ‘Oh my God, I could go get 10 different supplements to help aid everything, or I could incorporate a jar of kraut,'” she said. “The probiotics, the enzymes, the fiber, the vitamin C, the minerals, there are so many micronutrients and all around nutrition in a jar of kraut.”
Now, all she’s trying to do, is “put the sexy in sauerkraut.”
“I had no idea what the real secrets of sauerkraut were, I always just thought it was that stuff, you know, at the baseball field that people put on their hot dog,” she said. “That was 14 years ago. Now, we have doctors prescribing our food to people.”
From hot dogs to hospitals, her fermented foods drew attention across the Seattle area.
“The effects of stress branch out into many systems causing disease and fatigue. The body can follow the mind or vice versa. My patients who struggle with stress can have many systems that no longer work together,” said Celeste Sanez, a naturopathic practitioner at Vitalis. “For example, sleep apnea can often be rooted in the lack of gut tone due to eating too quickly, which in return will not promote a good microbiome. Firefly products can often be the most comprehensive tool that I can use. These products support the brain’s affect on the endocrine system, such as sleep and hormonal regulation by stabilizing the function of the gastrointestinal tube.”
Of course, Sanez isn’t the only physician who wanted to speak up on O’Brien’s behalf.
“I have been practicing pediatric gastroenterology for nearly 15 years, and over the course of this time, one thing I’ve learned is how important gut health is to overall, total physical and emotional well-being,” said Uma Pisharody, a physician at Swedish Hospital. “The most common piece of advice I give, not only to these patients but even to my friends and family, is to strengthen our gastrointestinal systems through nourishing our microbiome, by incorporating real foods that are rich in both pre- and probiotics. We’re lucky here in Seattle, to have Julie’s passion, because she makes it so easy with her Firefly products to get these foods in our local markets.”
Now, after 10 years of business, Firefly lights up the Emerald City and west coast via farmer’s markets, an online shopping space, and in Seattle stores like those of Whole Foods, QFC, PCC, and Metropolitan Market.
“I just remember thinking, ‘This food is so vibrant. It’s alive, it’s bright, it’s fresh and it’s illuminating,'” O’Brien said. “When I saw an image of a jar with fireflies floating around in it, it just made sense.”
Firefly Kitchens offers up a “Kimcheese” spread, alongside many other recipes in its “Fresh and Fermented” cookbook.
O’Briens products are vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, sugar-free, and vinegar-free. What’s more, it’s the same kraut stacked atop Beecher’s grilled cheese sandwiches.
While O’Brien anticipates probiotic-infused peanut butter in the near future, her favorite product today remains the Firefly kimchi.
“Your body has an innate desire to heal. It wants to feel better, but it just needs the building blocks, it needs the tools,” she said. “We’re not sitting here trying to tell people, ‘Don’t do this, don’t eat that, change your diet,’ I just feel like everybody has the right to know what healthy eating is. So much information is missing in our world about what health is.”
As O’Brien hits the mark of a decade, after producing a kaleidoscope of probiotic-powered goods and a guiding cookbook to incorporate these goodies into the everyday life, she finds herself nothing but grateful.
“I feel really grateful and I’m really thrilled that we have weathered the storm. We’ve been growing slowly and organically over the last 10 years, and we have these amazing partnerships that we’ve developed with doctors and nutritionists and the farmer’s market community,” she said. “I had no idea what the ripple effect would be. When I started, all I saw was a need to be filled. I didn’t know how passionately I would get sucked in, alongside physicians and farmers, who are also trying to put the sexy in sauerkraut.”
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