Elisa Fusi shares her love of fermented foods and the interesting history that surrounds this ancient preserving method. Fusi explores the elimination of fermentation in the American food system and the subsequent consequences of resorting to over-processed, over-pasteurized food. This unique insight into an overlooked food culture may have many reconsidering what they incorporate into their daily meals.
Curated FROM Our Friends at MATADOR
WORKING AS A VOLUNTEER on organic farms around the world, I enjoy picking my fruits and veggies, preparing my own food, and preserving them without freezing and/or canning. For thousands of years, our ancestors used fermentation to create foods with nutritional value far superior to that of the things most of us eat nowadays “” the Sumerians worshiped beer; in the Arctic, fish was fermented to the consistency of mush; African tribes drank sorghum beer and ate fermented millet porridge.
Bill Mollison, one of the founders of permaculture and author of The Permaculture Book of Ferment and Human Nutrition, wrote that we probably co-evolved with the microorganisms used in culturing foods, which we have carried with us wherever we’ve migrated. We are always in a mutual relationship with most of these microorganisms, and they play a key role in the balance of our body, especially working for the digestive system…Continue Reading
Photo by Stacy Spensley
