Kimberlie Le: Prime Roots
Bay Area, San Francisco (soon to be nationwide!)
Faux meats have come a long way, especially in the past few years. From the never-ending battle royale between Impossible Meat and Beyond Burger to consumers being savvy, utilizing flour, mushrooms and all of the beans - peas, soybeans, you name it - it can be turned into meaty textures, sans the meat. Busboy isn’t a vegan publication but once we were introduced to Prime Roots, this was the first time we actually could envision a meat-free future. Kimberlie Le is the brainchild of this brand and their products are made from Koji, a fungus that is a superhero. It is used in the making of alcoholic beverages such as sake and shochu and also used to ferment soybeans to make miso and soy sauce. Le was able to tap into the power to utilize Koji to create hyper realistic deli meats, pate, to even pepperoni that curls! The best part? This meat doesn’t taste faux at all, it tastes so real. What is the phrase the kids are saying? Tofurkey walked so Prime Roots could run, and boy is it running.
Full name, age, where are you from?
Kimberlie Le, 27, born in Edmonton, Canada but lived in California (northern and southern) nearly my whole life.
Was food a big part of your upbringing?
Absolutely, my mom is a chef and my family traveled around the world a lot and a lot of the time, we would travel without an itinerary and went just to eat and explore new flavors and foods.
What are your earliest memories of dining out?
This is a random one, but I will always remember a Chinese restaurant in Edmonton called Tin Tin’s where they had the best Peaches and Cream Shrimp (it's a Chinese-Canadian dish) - think, Honey Walnut prawns but better. We were one of the very few Asian people at the time in Edmonton and I remember feeling very at home going to a Chinese restaurant since the food has a lot of flavors from foods I ate at home and elsewhere.
If you could give a piece of advice to someone who wanted to pursue your career, what would it be?
I started Prime Roots over 5 years ago without an end product in mind, I just knew I wanted to build a company to do good in the food system and make delicious food and also knew that we could use koji to create a very diverse amount of products - our dream from Day 1 has been to take over the meat case to drive the most impact.
What do you think working in this industry has taught you?
The food industry is about making good food, but more than that, it's a people business. The food system is extremely large and all players from producers to distributors and retailers need to work closely together to drive change and make sure good food is served/available for all eaters. I've also learned that the industry can be at times a bit archaic in terms of how things are done and the general philosophy but it's important to stand your ground and educate in an inclusive way while also treating all with kindness and meet people where they are in general - whether it be consumers or industry folks.
What's your favorite dish to make with Prime Roots?
I absolutely love making a charcuterie board to enable endless combinations and opportunities - all our products from the deli slices to the charcuterie items
In terms of composed dish - I love banh mis since the pâtés are some of my favorite products we make and you can use both the meats and the pâtés to make a delicious sandwich that is jam packed with flavor (of course don't forget the pickles and jalapenos).
What is your favorite place to go out and eat at and what are you ordering?
This is a hard one. I think my go-to place for many years now has to be Ippuku in Berkeley. It's the place I go when I need to take my mind off things, or the place I go to celebrate. It's a charcoal yakitori spot that is dimly lit with amazing food and drinks.
I love all the skewers they have from bacon wrapped mochi to grilled camembert with honey to Tsukune which is ground chicken with egg yolk (surprise, I'm not vegan - in fact I love meat so much which is why I started Prime Roots). I have never met a dish I did not like here.
You’re on a desert island, what are the 5 kitchen items you need to run your business?
Funny to think about, we probably could run our business on a deserted island.
We would need a fermentation vessel (large jars or a beer fermenter is fine)
Would love the Instant Pot blender since it can cook and mix and cut
Stove and pots and pans to cook the food
Stocked pantry with seasonings to make sure the food tastes good (and if this is too much, I'll take a spice rack)
Koji! We just need to bring a starter/mother over and just continue to grow it.
What would you include in a charcuterie board w/ Prime Roots?
Anything and everything! Nuts, jams, fresh fruit, crackers.
