Arts
Vocal Minority Gets New Director
The Real Problem(s) with Bondage Erotica
Fermented Foods Carry Culture and Health
Fermented
Foods Carry Culture and Health
by Walter Zeichner
Wild
Fermentation: Chelsea Green, 2003 |
You
and I, all humans, live in symbiotic relationship with countless micro-organisms.
They're on the surface of our skin and they're inside us. All food and
drink that we take into our bodies has micro-organisms in it. We ingest
a variety of food and drink which are intentionally fermented or cultured
in some way courtesy of friendly micro-organisms. Some of the more common
such items are beer, bread, yogurt, cheese, and tempeh.
Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix
Katz is an interesting and useful how-to manual about making fermented
and cultured foods. Over 100 recipes are included in this 180-page book,
ranging from how to make your own miso (a salty, soy-based Asian condiment
and broth-base) to a number of fermented dairy products such as kvass
and various cheeses. There are pickle recipes, and a number of wines and
meads, all explained simply, and more.
Part of what's fun about this book is not
just the recipes but the conversational tone and first-hand anecdotes
about making fermented food. The subtitle of the book, "the flavors,
nutrition, and craft of live-culture foods," really says it. Katz
writes with a reverence for life and for food that gives life, and for
the pleasure that food can bring, feeding our joy as well as our bodies.
The beginning of Wild Fermentation
explores, in very readable prose, the history of fermented foods from
cultures around the world, and the health benefits that can be derived
from cultured foods. Perhaps Katz's greatest achievement is that he looks
at how industrialized mega mass production of food affects nutritional
quality, the environment, the economy, and how human societies that have
evolved in part around food are disrupted by the food production methods
of modern times, and he presents it as information, not as a diatribe
or a sermon. Katz then proceeds to offer lots of recipes, something for
everyone from relatively unknown (in the US) Japanese Nuka Bran Pickle
to the more familiar sourdough breads. This book has enough recipes to
keep a cook busy and gastronomically satiated for some time. I am going
to try my hand at making Mead, honey wine, using the recipe in Wild
Fermentation.
I had an opportunity to speak with Sandor
Katz, the author of Wild Fermentation. I found him to be personable,
intelligent and articulate, with a definite sense of humor. Sandor said
he was glad to have his book receive attention in the GL press. He told
me that apparently someone has come up with the idea that one way to prevent
transmission of HIV through breast milk is to make yogurt from the breast
milk before feeding it to baby. The bacteria that turns milk to yogurt
apparently kills HIV. There was a story on CNN recently about a lactobacillus
that kills HIV in the mouth. Sandor cautioned that he is not proclaiming
that any miracle cures will result from eating cultured foods. We agreed,
though, that cultured foods can definitely have a positive effect on one's
health.
OITM: Have you come up with any interesting new fermented foods since
writing the cookbook?
Sandor Katz: Yes absolutely. The fun of doing food demonstrations is talking
with people, hearing about their cultural traditions, exotic foods, variations
on familiar foods. A woman shared her grandmother's sauerkraut recipe
version from Poland which has fried potatoes and onions layered in with
the chopped cabbage before fermentation. The realm of cultured foods is
huge, the book just scratches the surface. It's an infinite field of inquiry.
OITM: What is the most weird-sounding yet delicious thing you've ever
eaten?
SK: Sautéed cicadas in butter and garlic. They're crunchy on the
outside, squishy on the inside. Bugs are full of protein... and are eaten
around the world. I'm really a food adventurer.
OITM: How do you integrate your political worldview with the reality of
life in the US?
SK: I was born in the US. I'm against nationalism. If I lived in another
country I'd be suspicious of that government too. I hate what's being
done in our name. I sometimes go to demonstrations to bear witness. I
mainly express my politics through participating as little as possible
in the consumer culture. I try to live off the land.
Katz
lives at the faery sanctuary in Short Mountain, Tennessee, where he did
a lot of the research for the book. His dedication to a beloved ACT UP
comrade, and his acknowledgement page filled with names of loved ones,
friends and family, humans and animals, even acknowledging having AIDS,
all brought home to me how much Katz is writing about community, the seen
and the unseen world, the microscopic. All life is in community, whether
it's you and your neighbors, or the beneficial flora and fauna in your
gut, or the pathogens that make people ill, or the fermented food and
drink that help to sustain you. Katz has written a book that covers a
lot of ground while still being, essentially, an incredibly practical
and useful cookbook.
Walter Zeichner is a psychotherapist, bodyworker, farmer, witch, and
political activist of conscience who lives in Bolton.