Kingston food truck mixes local sourcing with fermentation

Iggy’s Alive & Cultured has teamed with longtime friends Pam Buitenveld & John Delp, the chefs behind Kingston’s former farm-to-table restaurant Mossback, to bring unique street food to town with a food truck.

The seasonally evolving menu is built to highlight Iggy’s live fermented products and utilize the pair’s long-established relationships with local farmers and producers, a news release states.

“We’ve known them a long time,” said Iggy’s general manager Paul McClellan. “They had been using Iggy’s products at Mossback. The vision was we wanted to show people how good food could be if it was local and included these fermented elements. They had been super familiar with what we are doing and are creative people. We are just so happy to be working with them, they are having so much fun.”

The food truck is open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., located between The Yard Fitness Club and the Kingston Financial Center. Iggy’s production facility is also located nearby.

Twelve years ago Ilgvar “Iggy” Daga founded Iggy’s Alive & Cultured, a craft fermentation house focused on local agriculture and community. Iggy’s is known regionally for its acclaimed Honeybrew Kombucha, Beet Kvass, globally-influenced sauerkrauts and pickles, and fermented hot sauces, per the release.

Iggy’s Food Truck opened February 15 and McClellan said business has been “better than we expected. People have been so excited about it. For the people who followed Mossback, they are really excited to see Pam and John back. 20% of our business has been return customers. It’s going to fit our community and provide something that people have been missing and it’s going to inspire people for their own cooking and eating habits.”

Fermentation enthusiast Dashka Blyzniukova contributes soul-warming Ukrainian food, including the national dish Varenyky, stuffed savory dumplings topped with cabbage, sour cream and dill, the release says. Mossback’s cult-favorite Kimchi Pancake is being reimagined as a deep-fried Kimchi Waffle, with fermented ginger mayonnaise, hot honey and fresh scallion.

“It’s all centered around local offerings,” McClellan said. “John has all these connections from the Mossback days of these local providers. That menu comes from what’s locally and seasonally available and how we incorporate something with this craft fermentation.

“We’re directly in contact with farmers,” he went on to say. “We’re taking stuff that’s been grown with great skill and tenaciousness and then we’re elaborating it into fermented food and drink. Our chefs are turning that into food served directly to people. It’s all those points connecting farms to customers and consumers.”

Eventually, McClellan wants to expand the outdoor seating area and add some live music for entertainment.

“We want to get in a rhythm with this and develop the community around it, ” he said. “If I were to say anything about Iggy’s, it’s community-centric. We work with people we love to work with. We’ve been so fortunate to have a loyal and inspiring customer base. Being in Kingston feels like the right place at the right time.”

Evolution of Iggy’s

Iggy’s was founded in 2012 on Bainbridge Island, before moving its headquarters to Kingston in 2022. Previously, Daga was part of a project called the Food Shed, a cafe located at a barn outside of Kingston, where he collaborated with Buitenveld. The emphasis for that project was using the farm-to-table process.

“It started out as sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables because Iggy saw a lot of produce going to waste at the farmer’s markets and knew he could take something that might not be super pretty and turn it into a delicious product,” McClellan said about the early days of the business. “Later they added the fermented hot sauces.”

Iggy’s also sells its products at over 350 locations in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Local stores where products are offered include Indianola Country Store & Deli, J-C’s Grocery & Deli in Suquamish, WILLOWTREE Market and The Marketplace at Pleasant Beach on BI, along with Town & Country Market locations in Poulsbo and BI.

“We definitely see room in the market for these craft-made ferments,” McClellan said. “People are still learning about fermented food and beverages. A lot of people know what sauerkraut is but not everyone’s been exposed to these kinds of craft ferments.”

The business crafts its brews with organic teas, herbs, botanicals, and veggies sourced from local farms, using extended slow-fermentation times and in-house extractions, Iggy’s website states.

“The beverages are probiotic…and beneficial for your gut. People are making a lot of gut health connections in peer-reviewed research where our immunity, cognition and overall long-term health really benefit from eating fermented foods and drinking fermented beverages,” McClellan said. “Athletes love it for performance.”

For more information, visit iggys.com