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JORDI DALAMAU CHAIR (Col. 14.515)
How did an engineer end up making kombutxa?
I have always said that I was an engineer long before I had a degree. As a child, I turned off the light in my house and fixed the microwave. I graduated and even had my own office in Tarragona and I had a great time.
The fact is, I have a genetic problem with my liver. It is a malfunction of the liver that has 5% or 10% of the population and is called Gilbert Syndrome. This name is used to label you and when you have bad bilirubin in a doctor's office no one gets nervous. The liver goes slow to remove the toxic from the body itself and it is normal for this parameter to come out.
Not only is bilirubin not eliminated but also paracetamol or alcohol. As I got older I was tired, had contractures, headaches heavy indigestion. You think everyone was going through it that way and no.
How did you solve these health problems?
As I got older, I got into therapist hands and tied it all up to the liver issue. If you don’t make the job easier for him, bad. He changed my eating patterns and on the last day told me to introduce fermented to detox. He gave me fermented between them the kombutxa. I went to introduce others, such as sauerkraut, kimchy or kefir the ones that were most easily achieved.
I went to the herbalist and did not find the kombutxa. This encouraged me to get it and take it.
How did you go about getting it?
With the restlessness we engineers have, I started doing it myself at home. Also, it was the first time a food had an effect on me as if what medications do. The cause and effect was evident in this case. I don’t remember if the first day or second, it was relatively fast. Then I started at home making pots and researching. I gave them to my friends even. The taste surprised them a bit but people clung to the feeling of well-being. Everyone was detecting her. That was in 2014, in 2015 I said let’s try it. In other places like the US or Australia you find it as a soda here you couldn’t find it. In 2016 we sold the first bottle. It was like a hobby, we spent the night packing and at the end of 2016 we took stock and said “either box or belt” or we professionalize it or we can't be working for 17 hours. I closed the engineering office and devoted myself to it. I get more and more the feeling that I haven’t changed professions. When I have to fill out a form I always hire an engineer. He is nothing more than an engineer.
Did the fact of being an engineer help you in this project of making a factory and dedicating yourself fully to kombutxa?
It has helped me a lot. I would tell you that if I hadn’t had this training, if I had been a biologist for example, I wouldn’t have set up this business. I wouldn’t have made the leap from making a hobby my business. The engineering part has helped me more than what I could know about fermented. I’ve learned a lot but since it’s still a science topic I don’t see it as far removed from electricity or fluid mechanics, it’s still science. It’s like a part of science that instead of relying on machines, I depend on microorganisms to see it fully aligned. In addition to being an industrial technical engineer I am an engineer in organization. I had never exercised in organization, I had training there in a drawer and now they are the two sides that I am continually putting in place. From the bottling line you look at it from the mechanics to how to optimize these processes. All the knowledge you are acquiring has been aligned and you do not see an application in it on a daily basis. I had been experimenting in the kitchen, I had even made a machine for low temperature cooking and when this project appeared everything was tidied up. It was good for me to be an engineer, to have training in organization, all the knowledge of cooking helped me to scale them in a production plant. It was to close the circle. Suddenly everything was aligned and he faced.
What is your company?
Our company is MunFerments and right now we work with two brands one is Kombutxa and another for a very specialized channel called Munkombucha. Right now we have the production plant located in Mataró. In 2016. taking advantage of the fact that we made this life change by leaving our profession and with what we felt comfortable we took the opportunity to make a total change. We went to live in Mataró where my wife was from. You can find out more on our website www.kombutxa.com
Why would you recommend kombutxa?
I always say that, in general, I like to summarize the properties. It is not a medicine, it is a functional food that has properties. It is probiotic, it is digestive and it is detoxifying. For all this I recommend to all people who want to improve their health from food. If you drink kombutxa exclude something else from your intake. As the intake of organic acids and nutrients is more important you make a radical change. Basically you make a statement of intent, if you drink this and you like it there is no going back. If you drink kombutxa out of conviction this is incompatible with other unhealthy drinks. I recommend to all people who believe that there is an influence on what you eat and how you feel. Until the age of 40, I understood that I had to take ibuprofen periodically every 2 or 3 days, and since December 31, 2014, I have ignored it. For me it is not a sacrifice. In the end I realized that if I eat this way I feel better. For me it compensates me more on the palate and the result is to give up processed drinks. It is still a process, whether we can do it or not.
Where can we buy it?
From our website to shops like herbalists, supermarkets like Veritat, the Carrefours bio section in bars and restaurants and more and more places. We are in 5,000 points of sale throughout Spain and is still a specialized channel product. It’s getting easier and easier for herbalists to have it.