What a fermentation expert eats for breakfast - Kirsten Shockey

A 🔥 warm cup of miso followed by a colourful and lively plate. Plus, my thoughts as a nutritionist on the health benefits

Oct 23, 2025

"Eating more fermented foods each day is more about remembering they are in your fridge and making them a habit, more than anything. For me, starting my day strong with a lot of color and fermented foods, works well because breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I love this series by Jeanette, as I think looking at what others eat can inspire us to get out of our own ruts. I hope that, for you, reading this, you come away with the idea that anything in bowls can become a rich playground for adding ferments. Thanks, Jeanette, for including me. "

- Kirsten K. Shockey

This is the second installment of a series on what wellness pioneers eat for breakfast.

I’m always curious to learn from others about this meal, because half your day’s nutrition is in there if you eat 2 meals a day. A third if you eat 3.

Here is the first one I ran, more coming soon…

Today’s post is free for all to read - do share if you know someone else who would enjoy it too, Jeannette

If you don’t already know her, Kirsten K. Shockey is considered THE leading female author, educator, pioneer of the global modern-day food fermenting movement.

The book she wrote with husband Christopher, Fermented Vegetables HERE, is probably the bible of plant fermentation.

(There are also some great recipes on what to do with them including a chocolate sauerkraut cake with a velvety texture and great taste, really!!) Look…

The 10th Anniversary Edition of the book, and THAT cake I made last week

While living on 48 acres in the mountains of southern Oregon in the US for 27 years, bringing up 4 children, she has learnt to ferment almost any fruit or vegetable through trial and error.

It all started with an “abundance” of produce that needed preserving to avoid waste - starting with a glut of apples from six 100-year-old apple trees (cider), to cheese from the goats.

Her book makes fermenting any plant easy for a home cook to master. From a cabbage-based lemon dill sauerkraut, to preserved lemons, and curtido, a carrot and chilli fermented slaw.

But why bother?

Fermenting vegetables are powerhouses of nutrition. The process can inflate the vitamin and mineral content, and live probiotic bacteria which makes them easier to digest.
A Stanford University study showed that 6 servings of fermented foods a day can increase diversity of the microbiome (our gut bacteria) and reduce inflammation in the body (more so than just increasing fibre in the diet).

High inflammation is connected with conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and many more.

So let’s see how Kirsten starts her eating day. Notes in italics from me, Jeannette.

soup in white ceramic bowl — A warm cup of miso which contains “postbiotics” for immune health. Photo by Ryutaro Uozumi on Unsplash

“I’m a savoury person so I like a savoury start – a warm cup of miso to wake up the digestive system.

I enjoy it!

I’ve never been the person with the glass of water and lemon thing.

This morning’s was a wonderful chickpea miso that I made last year.

(Miso is a paste made by fermenting different soy beans, chickpeas, barley, or rice, popular in Japan).

Sometimes I will have a red miso, a dark miso or a white miso. They’re all so different in flavour.

I just put a teaspoon in a cup and mix with boiling water. Or sometimes I’ll mix with warm chicken bone broth for some collagen. Sometimes herbs on top.

If you’re counting ferments, my miso is the first of the day.

If buying miso, I like small producers’.

In the US, if you’re looking for one that is available right across the country, there’s one called Miso Master Organic.

Then I’ll have a big breakfast. I’m a morning person and hungry at that time of day.

I once heard, breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper.

I do that.

I remember when I was a kid in Germany we had a very rich breakfast.

Some evenings I just have a yogurt, or a piece of avocado on toast. Or even nothing.

I tend to eat seasonal, and I’d describe the diet as Mediterranean.

I’ll often have a one-pan shukshaka-style egg and vegetables breakfast (see below).

It doesn’t take a tonne of time. I braise a pan of vegetables until cooked, sometimes add some leftover beans from the day before, drizzle over some olive oil, sprinkle with fresh herbs.

I have a lot of bell peppers at the moment both red and green. I might sauté those with some tomatoes, and add some fermented lemons.

And then I’ll crack some eggs to simmer in there till cooked through.

Sometimes I’ll add some fermented chilli sauce or cheese such as feta.

It can look random but tastes really good!

Usually, I also have a shot of kefir on the side with some fruit blended in.

I sometimes also have baked potatoes or sweet potatoes on the side, some toasted walnuts, fig kimchi, a home made chill oil with fermented chillies in it, and some black bean natto Nyture Natto NYC.”

Kirsten’s shakshuka-style breakfast (after a cup of miso)

Commentary from me, Jeannette

Nutritional therapist BSc Hons, mBANT, CNHC

I love that Kirsten wakes up to a 🔥 warm cup of miso - what a great idea!

If you’ve been sweating in the night you replace lost electrolytes with miso (and the bone broth too if using) to ease creaking joints and get the brain going.

Miso has also been shown to be anti-carcinogenic and reduce radiation in the body so another great reason to start the day with it.

I wouldn’t worry that the miso has hot water/broth on it. Yes, this could kill live probiotic bacteria, but your microbiome and brain will probably still benefit from the “postbiotic” cell remants left behind.

Everything you need for a healthy microbiome (which interracts with the brain and immune system for health) is in Kirsten’s shakshuka.

Lots of colour (aka plant polyphenols), fibre and fermented live probiotic foods are all combined.

The eggs add in some protein, which helps with satiety and bone/muscle/even brain health (neurotransmitters are all made of protein).

I like that Kirsten is using sheep’s feta cheese. It’s more environmental than if you choose a cow option, and if unpasteurised delivers probiotics.

Interesting to hear Kirsten frontloads her day’s eating. Increasingly studies show that is a great way to eat for longevity.

(My book The 10 Hour Diet explains more about eating earlier in the day and the benefits from blood sugar balance to heart, and immune health).

To reproduce a breakfast like this at home - you could use THIS Ottolenghi shakshuka recipe as a base. Cultured Collective sells authentic kimchi and kraut in UK supermarkets. This is the miso I use in the UK by Clearspring available in health food stores. There is an easy recipe for making fermented lemons in Kirsten’s book.

🍋 Fermented Vegetables 10th Anniversary Edition by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey Orders. HERE (affiliate link).

🎓 For successful fermenting, there’s a treasure trove of paid-for tutorials on the online Fermentation School including Kirsten’s 30-day challenge to eat/make some daily.