When the Minnesota-based Adoptee Hub held its first Kimchi Festival two years ago, organizers expected 500 people. 

More than twice that number showed up, and the festival ran out of kimchi in 45 minutes.

This year, organizers prepared for a crowd. The event, which aims to build community for Korean adoptees and provide opportunities for cultural connection and learning, has a full lineup of performers and food trucks. 

Attendees will also have the opportunity to learn how to make kimchi with the Korean American Women’s Association, taste 10 different varieties of kimchi, and enter their kimchi into a competition for prizes.

The idea for the Kimchi Festival was born from Adoptee Hub’s online kimchi-making classes during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Kimchi is a staple food for the Korean community,” said Adoptee Hub founder Ami Nafzger. “It’s what you eat every single day. With every single meal, three meals a day, you have kimchi with it. What better way of understanding the culture that you were born into, but not raised into, [than] through food?” 

Minnesota has one of the highest concentrations of Korean adoptees in the U.S. The Kimchi Festival aims to foster a safe space for Korean adoptees to explore their cultural identity and connect to each other, Nafzger said. It also celebrates the Korean immigrant community. 

Though it’s one of their largest events, Kimchi Festival is just a small part of Adoptee Hub’s programming. The volunteer-run nonprofit serves as a resource for the Korean adoptee community, and organizes Korean cultural workshops and events, birth family searches, birth family reunification support, and holistic mental health care.

Nafzger said transracial adoptees often experience trauma through their upbringing. “It could be the family telling the adopted child that you don’t need to be Korean. You’re an American. This is who you are. You need to forget about your language. You need to forget about where you came from.” 

With limited services available specifically for adoptees experiencing these traumas, Adoptee Hub addresses these needs through community, counseling, and cultural connection. Upcoming programming includes a one-day Cultural Identity and Self Care Workshop for Korean Adoptees, in partnership with the Korean government this November. 

Max Halverson has been volunteering with Adoptee Hub since 2022. As someone half-Korean raised by his mom who is a Korean adoptee, he sees the importance of Adoptee Hub’s work for those who want to learn and engage in Korean culture but don’t know where to start. 

“Growing up, my mom wasn’t into Korean culture,” Halverson said. “We didn’t really follow it that much. I haven’t been that knowledgeable. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown more curious about Korean culture. It’s half of my makeup. So when I met Ami, I thought [volunteering with Kimchi Festival] would just be a great opportunity for me to make connections within the Korean community.” 

The first Kimchi Festival had such a strong response that volunteers took a year off to plan this year’s festival. They are hoping to attract more than 3,000 to Sunday’s event, which coincides with the Korean mid-autumn harvest festival, Chuseok.

Halverson said his involvement with the Kimchi Festival has strengthened his relationship not only to Korean culture, but to his mom, who has increasingly felt more open to learning about Korean culture. 

This year, he says, both his parents are attending the festival. For Halverson and the thousands of other attendees sitting over a bowl of fermented cabbage this Sunday, Kimchi Festival sparks community, cultural connection, and learning.