Why should you eat fermented foods?
Stanford Fermented Food Conference, ponderings, fall schedule, and more
At home: The tree frogs are coming in.
Last night when I went to fill the dog’s water a frog hopped in the water bowl. Yes, I jumped. Two days ago, I noticed one on the window, legs and arms akimbo as they do. I assumed I was looking at its belly and was outside, having climbed off the nearby tree. As I got closer, it was inside. I have no idea how it got inside. And why? Did we actually get enough rain to make frogs want to dry off?
I had an abundance of figs. Fermented Fig Chutney and Fresh Fig Kimchi happened and so far I am tickled by the flavor. If all continues to taste as it does recipes will be coming your way.
Last time I wrote I promised an overview of the Fermented Foods Conference at Stanford in early September. I realize it is just that promise that has given me writer’s block on getting the post out the door and into the mail. There is simply too much to distill it into one post and a series to rehash it doesn’t do the experience justice either. Instead, I feel that over the next few months and beyond, I will explore topics or recipes with you as I delve deeper into some of the research and experiment more in my own kitchen.
There was a magic created during the two packed days of this conference that I haven’t experienced before at a conference. Was it the moment in time? Was it that particular combination of humans, like a specific culture of microbes, that created something that worked well? Maybe a little of both. At the end of the conference, I was talking to some research scientists, and they enjoyed that they weren’t presenting to peers, as per normal. Instead ,they were presenting to chefs, scientists from disciplines other than their own, from food science to medical research to anthropologists, clinicians, food makers, educators, and enthusiasts. I think this was exactly part of it. The energy was effervescent—truly bubbling with inspiration and connection. Scientists gaining perspective from chefs, makers navigating the hard sciences, and passionate people looking at their own work through different lenses—sometimes agreeing and sometimes not.
I came away with even more conviction that we should be eating these foods, but let me back up a moment and ask:
Why do you eat fermented foods?
Or, if you don’t yet, why do you want to eat fermented foods?
This begs for another post, “What is the definition of fermented foods?” After all, chocolate and coffee often have fermentation as part of their processing. Traditional charcuterie is a fermentation-based curing, but does that make all salami a fermented food? For the sake of this conversation, let’s stick to the ones that are at the top of mind: yogurt, kefir, kombucha, miso (and friends), kimchi, sauerkraut, and the whole gamut of lacto-fermented vegetables and pickles.
There are many reasons to eat these foods vs other choices, but in broad strokes, I see three main motivators. The first, probably the most important, but least thought of in our modern industrialized food system, is preservation. Fermented foods preserved the seasonal abundance—hard stop. These foods kept humans alive in the lean times. This is why I came to fermentation. When we had goats and cows, we had gallons and gallons of milk. Preserved milk is cheese, yogurt, kefir, and more.
The next is flavor. We eat what tastes good and our collaboration with microbes transforms sometimes bland or unappetizing ingredients into something with depth and complexity. (I am looking at you, soybeans. Have you ever had a plain cooked soybean? Likely not, but soy sauce, miso, or tempeh? Probably because in this form, soybeans are umami-rich.) This was the next driver in my love for these foods as it combined with the first need to preserve. This time vegetables. Lacto-fermented low-acid vegetables are pickles, sauerkraut, hot sauces, chutneys, kimchis, salsas, and more. Pressure-canned low-acid vegetables are sad, squishy, and limp.
The third reason is health. We have strayed far from these foods that were once the way humans ate, and science is starting to realize that may have been a mistake, at least for the multiverse of our gut. We are just beginning to understand a bit of how our digestive system works, and the big ah-ha over the last few decades is that it is not us. The microbes are doing the work to break our food into all the parts our body can use and needs.
We could probably add that they are fun and deeply satisfying to nurture these foods as you make and age them, this can be an amazing meditation and connection to life, but I think that still gets down to flavor, preservation, and even health (including mental.)
The conference was opened by Justin Sonnenburg, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford. His research examines the impact of the gut microbiota on health and disease. He is particularly interested in developing methods to enhance health through diet.
He laid the foundation for the next few days by reminding us “fermented foods have shaped human biology.”
When I teach, I have often said something similar. “We are all here because our ancestors fermented their foods.” I say this to not only alleviate fear but also because I think it comes down to understanding that, for all our efforts to separate ourselves from nature, we are very much part of it. Our bodies evolved with these foods that are processed by and the foods evolved with us. Humans have been purposely fermenting for a long, long time. And evidence suggests that even earlier, we were enjoying fermented fallen fruit, turning to alcohol, by eating it off the ground. So much so that genetic adaptation to alcohol happened 10 million years ago. Primates do this, and recently, science has termed this scrumping, which is a clue to how humans also began drinking alcohol. We are just scratching the surface in our understanding of the interactions between humans and microbes. And like the chicken and the egg quandary, those of us who are nerdy about food fermentation often joke, did we domesticate the microbes, or did they domesticate us?
Ponderings aside. One of the biggest takeaways is quite simple: we need these foods. The microbes create metabolites, which are small chemical products produced while the microbes are metabolizing. These metabolites play a role in the health of our immune system. For example, metabolites produced by lactic acid bacteria calm the immune system down. This is where the understanding has moved way beyond we need probiotics and for those probiotics to be alive in our food. Those microbes simply being part of the foods production is enough. Those metabolites are what help preserve the foods, create the flavor, and keep us healthy.
Less talk more action
If you just want to get to some hands on check out this Fleeting Flavor post. Last week I did a guest post over at Flavor Freaks about preserving green coriander and other small flavor delights. This week I will be using this same method to make green fennel seed pickles.
Out and About: Fall workshops
On Saturday, at 2 pm, I will be speaking locally at Fermentopia a two day ferment forward market place, local to me in Phoenix, Oregon.
The following weekend I am partnering with Ceremony in Talent, OR, you may remember meeting Tina and Cody earlier this year. We are putting on a two-evening workshop. The first night is hot sauce and the second night is kimchi. Sounds like a hot date night doesn’t it? I have been teaching fermentation for a long time. I’ve learned the students that make fermentation a practice in their world are often the ones that have had multiple chances to ferment with someone. This is why I am trying more and more to do multi-day workshops. I have found after the first session students come back the next day with the questions that bubbled up overnight as their brain took all the information in.
I head to Hamilton, MT October 25 and 26 for Angi and Erin’s Bacteria Bazaar. I will be teaching vinegar making on Saturday and having fun with fermenting with vegetables on Sunday. My friend Sandor Katz is also teaching and I am truly excited to meet the rest of the presenters. The line-up is incredible.
Finally in early November Christopher and I will be teaching in the Sacred Valley in Peru. It will be a multi-day workshop Fermentation of Place, in which we both learn and explore local farms and makers. Earlier this week TFS posted about it here.
I hope to see you at one of these events.
Parting shot
How fascinating to read about "scrumping". Here in Cornwall, cider made from wind fallen apples is traditionally called Scrumpy. I wonder if this is where the name came from! Brilliant post, jam packed with information!
Gut Health was the reason I began experimenting with the fermentation process. I did not like the look, smell or flavor of my fermented end products. It was all so foreign to me. I loved the magic of fermentation so I kept on going. It did not take long to fall in love with the things that I originally found gross. These days I ferment for the deep, mysterious flavors the process offers. I crave my mustard kraut and hot dill pickles. The possibilities are endless - the other reason to give it a try and keep on going.