From Sauerkraut to Miso: How Fermentation Changed the World

10/05/23 • 39 min

In recent years, more and more fermented foods like kimchi, probiotic yogurt and kombucha have hit supermarket shelves in America, along with news of their purported health benefits. But where did fermentation come from, and how did this ancient practice help change the landscape of our world?

Today, on If This Food Could Talk, we are taking a deep dive into the art and science of fermentation – a food practice with a universal history. One that is deeply intertwined with the evolution of humanity itself.

We’ll meet New York Times bestselling author and fermentation expert Sandor Katz, and follow his journey from New York City to the hills of Tennessee. Along the way we’ll discover how fermentation has changed the landscape of our world. And we’ll hear why Sandor believes reclaiming these ancient practices may have an important role to play in our collective future.

We’ll also speak with James Beard Award winning chef Ann Kim, about the traditional Korean fermentation practice that helps her celebrate her heritage.

Hosted by Claudia Hanna

Episode Guests:

Sandor Katz, fermentation expert and author of New York Times Bestseller “The Art of Fermentation”

Ann Kim, James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur. Owner of Pizzeria Lola, Hello Pizza, Young Joni and Sooki & Mimi

Recipes:

Authentic Tzatziki

Make your Own Yogurt from Scratch!

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We’ll also speak with James Beard Award winning chef Ann Kim, about the traditional Korean fermentation practice that helps her celebrate her heritage.

Hosted by Claudia Hanna

Episode Guests:

Sandor Katz, fermentation expert and author of New York Times Bestseller “The Art of Fermentation”

Ann Kim, James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur. Owner of Pizzeria Lola, Hello Pizza, Young Joni and Sooki & Mimi

Recipes:

Authentic Tzatziki

Make your Own Yogurt from Scratch!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Swimming in Olive Oil: An Ancient Love Affair

In the Mediterranean, olive oil is more than an ingredient. It’s a way of life. For thousands of years, the humble olive has been used for everything under the sun. It’s been made into a cooking oil, a holy offering, a balm, a bite-sized snack, and even sunscreen. Today, we’re taking you to the ancient Greek isle of Crete to explore the early life of one of the oldest living olive trees in the world and to uncover its sacred relationship with the Minoan people. We’ll then follow olive oil’s influence from past to present with a guided tasting from an olive oil sommelier. Plus, we share a few tips on how to choose and store your olive oil, and a roasted olive recipe that will be the star at your next dinner party.

Hosted by Claudia Hanna

Episode Guests:

-Diane Kochilas (Cookbook author, Host of My Greek Table)

-Tassos Kyriakides (Olive Oil Sommelier & Associate Professor, Yale School of Public Health)

-Anaya Sarpaki (Archaeologist and Olive Oil Preservationist)

Recipe:

Roasted Black Olives

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Next Episode

Long Live Leftovers: Chef Jacques Pépin on the Joy of Thrifty Cooking

As a child in eastern France, Jacques Pépin learned never to waste a scrap of food. Raised during and after the rationing of WWII, he watched closely as his mother, Jeanette, built a successful career as a restaurateur by the skin of her teeth (and her chickens). Today, Jacques is a beloved celebrity chef. And yet he’s never forgotten what he knows about keeping food, and life delicious, without squandering ingredients or time. Jacques sits down with Host Claudia Hanna to explain how what he calls “miserly” cooking became his philosophy and his superpower. He shares how this approach has served him in the humblest, and the highest, of kitchens, and how you can apply it in yours, too. Plus – over Jacques’ long career, there have been some pretty radical changes in people’s attitudes about food waste. Food Historian Helen Veit joins us to explain why what we eat, and what we throw away, has changed so much in just a few generations.

Hosted by Claudia Hanna

Episode Guests:

Jacques Pépin is a chef, author, television personality, educator, and artist, and has starred in twelve acclaimed American Public Television cooking series. His dedication to culinary education led to the creation of the Jacques Pépin Foundation in 2016. He is the winner of sixteen James Beard Awards and author of more than thirty books, the most recent of which is Jacques Pépin: Cooking My Way.

Helen Veit specializes in the history of food in the U.S. Her first book, Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century was a 2014 James Beard Award finalist.

Recipes:

Claudia’s Homemade Caesar Dressing

Leftover Hacks

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