We love fermentation over here in Vibrant Wellness Journal, and one of the reasons I got started with my own fermentation revelation was Sandor Katz, a long-time fermentation advocate and expert. The New York Times just published a cool short film about him, and I just have to share it here! It’s so exciting to watch the master make fermentation happen at his workshop and home in Tennessee.
Years ago I read The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements, Katz’s book about how people are reclaiming food culture. Eschewing processed foods and building community around raw milk, farming, dumpster divers and road-kill consumption, the characters in Katz’s book showed readers how to defy the model of corporate food and take it back! The book was wildly entertaining, and while I’ve not taken up any of the projects in the book besides vegetable ferments, it inspired to me to learn more about the food movement and how people everywhere are taking food and nourishment into their own hands.
Here’s my short review of the book from a previous post on Green Living Ideas about the most inspiring food books:
I found [The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved] via a dear friend who introduced me to many life-changing concepts. Casey (along with a few others) was my sweet, progressive, fun neighbor for many years at my Hawaii cottage. Danny, Casey, Pete, and Brooke were growing food, making coconut milk, homemade bread, homemade tempeh, and using jars for food storage in the days when I was still making muffins from packages. This book might serve the same purpose in your own life, just in case you might lack progressive, homesteading neighbors in your ‘hood. This book covers many subjects, both new and vintage: issues around raw milk procurement, the joy of eating roadkill, the fun of homemade fermentation projects, dumpster diving, and underground food-sharing groups. He also has a book about all types of fermentation, which I just found at a used book store (so look for a review soon!). Find this book at Powell’s here, and check out Katz’s site here.
Katz has since released a book entitled The Science of Fermentation (2012), a long-awaited follow-up to his first book, Wild Fermentation. Both cover the wide array of foods that can be fermented (fruits, veggies, grains, beans milk, meat, everything!), and in his new book he gives the reader more information than you ever thought possible about fermented foods. Here’s the snippet from his website:
The Art of Fermentation is the most comprehensive guide to do-it-yourself home fermentation ever published. Sandor Katz presents the concepts and processes behind fermentation in ways that are simple enough to guide a reader through their first experience making sauerkraut or yogurt, and in-depth enough to provide greater understanding and insight for experienced practitioners.
While Katz expertly contextualizes fermentation in terms of biological and cultural evolution, health and nutrition, and even economics, this is primarily a compendium of practical information—how the processes work; parameters for safety; techniques for effective preservation; troubleshooting; and more. With full-color illustrations and extended resources, this book provides essential wisdom for cooks, homesteaders, farmers, gleaners, foragers, and food lovers of any kind who want to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for arguably the oldest form of food preservation, and part of the roots of culture itself.
Learn more about Fermentation!
Read an article about Katz from NPR
Get wild fermentation recipes, and follow SandorKraut on his website, Wild Fermentation
Get started with homemade fermentation: Homemade Sauerkraut, Homemade Kimchi, Homemade Kombucha, Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt (Vegan)
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