Our Story

I enjoy complicated flavors that enhance the inherent elements of food through deliberate selection of natural ingredients and careful preparation. I love to cook  using foods with no additives or chemical preservatives. When everything is natural, healthy and most of all, tastes great, when there is knowledge of thoughtful cooking, this creates an enjoyable dining experience that makes people feel healthy and happy. 

I also love to use food I grow in my garden and select from farmers markets the freshest ingredients.  I regularly preserve vegetables through a natural process I have been using since I was a child. 

Fermentation can be traced back to Early Man. It’s become a way of preserving a superabundance of food and allows us to eat natural foods year round. Funky Beans does not contain any additives and is vegan.  I have been sharing my fermented black beans with friends from all over the world.  Funky Beans is both a condiment and can be made into a sauce.  It can be served on rice, noodles, salad or sandwiches.  It can also be cooked with seafood, meat, vegetables, soups, and tastes great on a morning bagel.  Funky Beans will enhance the flavor of any international cuisine.  

When Monty Levenson, master shakuhachi maker, ate dinner at my parent’s apartment in ChongQing and enjoyed my fermented bean condiment, he called them Funky Beans. The  description became the name! 

I have been making this particular condiment ever since I immigrated to the United States in 1991 to share with family and friends.  Over the past 32 years, Funky Beans has become my  signature gift to friends.

The unique flavor of Sichuan Mala-style fermented beans can be combined with the multicultural supermarket our world has become.