Gut Instinct

WORDS GILLIAN MONAHAN | IMAGES ASHLEE DECAIRES & BRYDIE THOMPSON

“I want sauerkraut to become as popular as peanut butter,” laughs Marea Verry. She’s only half joking. Marea is the force behind GoodBugs, a Waikato company leading the way in bringing innovative new fermented products to market.

A mother of four, she’s also a fresh-faced ambassador for the benefits of nutrient-dense fermented foods. “Eating fermented foods like sauerkraut is the single best thing that you can do for your immune system,” she says.

Experts increasingly agree that regular spoonfuls of the salty-sour cabbage condiment could change your inner world. Packed full of probiotics—or good bugs—traditionally fermented sauerkraut is rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

This simple shredded cabbage side dish is alive with lactic acid bacteria and other microbes that may benefit your body and brain, improving digestion, skin, eye, and heart health. Some studies have shown that probiotics in fermented foods may even help to combat depression and obesity.

“Sauerkraut juice is a great hangover cure too,” Marea smiles.

Interest in gut health is growing, and so is this Hamilton-based business. Two and a half years after GoodBugs started, Marea’s garden shed and her company were transformed in February by the installation of a huge refrigeration unit.

Temperature control is crucial to fermentation, so this cool new development means that as business booms for GoodBugs, Marea can consistently produce high-quality products and supply them year-round.

Handmade in small batches using wild fermentation methods and spray-free local Waikato produce, GoodBugs offers seven different flavours of sauerkraut and two award-winning spicy Korean kimchis, including the vegan concoction Marea has named ‘Kiss Me Kimchi’. GoodBugs is one of the only companies in New Zealand producing fermented pesto. Made with regeneratively-grown, nutrient-dense herbs, spray-free local garlic, certified organic seeds which have been activated, and organic virgin olive oil, it’s a firm favourite with customers.

The pesto provides an easy entry point for kiwi families into the world of fermented foods. That’s important to Marea, who is on a mission to raise awareness of how healthy and delicious fermented foods can be. “Often people know that fermented foods are good for them, but they don’t know what to do or where to begin,” says Marea.

“Sauerkraut juice is a simple way to provide a probiotic boost to any meal because it can be used in place of lemon juice or vinegar. Or you can put a dollop of sauerkraut in salads or on top of your fish and chips. We add kimchi to our cheese toasties too.”

A hot dog seller in Washington DC gave Marea her first taste of sauerkraut more than twenty years ago. Since then Marea has become increasingly interested in fermentation and nutrient-dense foods. She is now the local chapter leader of Hamilton’s Weston A. Price Foundation, a non-profit organisation that provides education on traditional food farming and the healing arts.

The Foundation needed a teaching garden for its regular Saturday workshops, so three years ago a 60m2 organic, permacultured urban garden modelled on Koanga Institute methods was set up in the Verry family’s backyard.

It is a regenerative natural approach that puts nutrients back in the soil and The VerryWell Garden is thriving as a result. Beautiful blue borage flowers are buzzing with bees in Marea’s “messy” garden which is growing nutrient-dense food for her family as well as plenty of basil as a back-up for GoodBugs.

As a mum, she is motivated by good nutrition. “I come from a food perspective. What is the healthiest thing to stick in my body or my kids’ bodies?”

That’s why Marea uses local suppliers for GoodBugs who share her approach to food farming. She sources organic vegetables from Tomtit Farm from Tamahere and spray-free cabbages from Pirongia Mountain Vegetables.

There are other Waikato connections too: last year she launched GoodBangers, combining GoodBugs sauerkraut with Paeroa-based Frank’s Sausages and Hamilton bakery Volare’s sourdough buns.

Hot dogs got her hooked on sauerkraut and Marea’s hoping that they will do the same for others.

In the future, Marea would like to develop a range of GoodBugs sauces for healthy hotdogs, as well as go back to teaching people how to ferment their own products at home. “It’s kind of where I came from,” says Marea. “GoodBugs started when I was teaching people how to make sauerkraut and people were asking me, ‘when are you going to sell it?’.”

Covid-19 put the kibosh on most of her 2020 classes, but Marea plans to run more in 2021. It’s all part of her vision to build a new kind of food culture in New Zealand: one where families enjoy mouth-watering, health-supporting fermented foods in every meal, every day.

So why is she still doing classes when GoodBugs sells the stuff? “Because people still buy it,” she smiles.

GoodBugs is sold at the Cambridge, Hamilton and Tauranga farmers markets, local cafes, selected stockists, and online at goodbugs.co.nz

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Gillian Monahan

Hailing from Hamilton, Gillian has spent the last twenty years working in communications roles for travel companies around the world. She returned home from Melbourne when the Covid crisis hit and is now enjoying rediscovering her favourite country in the world: New Zealand.