Jane Jenkinson - Founder
We need to talk about Jane...
Jane Jenkinson is the founder and fermentation educator behind Wholefood Family, with a deep passion for food, flavour, sustainability and the science and magic of fermentation.
Jane's journey into fermentation began at home, with a desire and need to nourish and support her son's gut microbiome. You can read more about that story on our About Us page.
What started with a home fermentation station soon grew into a fascination with the science, possibilities and incredible potential of fermented foods both for flavour and health benefits.
Jane is endlessly curious, always experimenting, questioning and learning. She loves understanding the science behind the process, discovering new possibilities and, perhaps most of all, sharing what she learns along the way.
Jane believes knowledge is meant to be shared, not kept under lock and key. Traditional skills and food knowledge are worth preserving, practising and passing on. Her approach to education is about giving people the understanding and confidence to experiment, make their own discoveries and keep these traditions alive for generations to come.
For Jane, fermentation is more than a business. It's a hobby, a career, a purpose and a lifelong fascination. She'd be doing it regardless.
Wholefood Family has been a family undertaking from the beginning, with Jane's husband and three boys instrumental in shaping the business and bringing it to life. In 2018, Jane opened her purpose-built Kvassaria, taking her passion from the home kitchen into small-scale food manufacturing. Today, her handcrafted, wild-fermented products reach customers across Australia and internationally.
Jane also loves bringing people together through workshops, community events and all things fermented. We imagine attending one of her events is a little like being in the audience when Oprah gave away those cars. Remember that?
Jane: "You get good gut health! You get good gut health! EVERYONE gets good gut health!"
Originally from South Australia, Jane now calls Newcastle, NSW home, where she lives with her husband, three sons, two dogs, a cat and a small but growing chicken population.