[Sca-cooks] Fermented/Pickled Food and Passion

[kingstaste at mindspring.com]

	While not period, I was at a lecture yesterday by Sandor Katz, author of
"Wild Fermentation".  His website is www.wildfermentation.com .  He is
writing another book on Food Activism.  He brought some very aromatic
saurkraut that was delicious, although he answered a question from the
audience that went something like "I did a lot of fermentation after I
bought your book last year until my roommate complained that I was stinking
up the whole place".  His response was that many people like products such
as cabbage that had been fermented only a couple of days, resulting in
increased lactobacillus but still retaining a crunchy, fresh taste and
hardly any smell at all.  (He said he prefered the stronger flavors
himself).
	He was quite passionate, and I asked him a question that I hoped would help
me answer a question that I had been getting lately - "Why are you so
passionate about food?".  I said it was difficult to answer without going
straight for the negative - monocultures, laws against saving seeds,
Round-Up resistant genes in progenitor stock, etc., etc.  I asked how he
would answer it using positives, to motivate especially younger people into
being more interested in where their food comes from.  He had made a comment
earlier about bringing people back to the community food table, which I
liked, but his answer to this was great.  He said to appeal to the sensory
nature of fresh food.  Imagine you are in a field of fresh berries in June.
The sun is hot, the berries are lush and aromatic, and you get this greedy
urge to grab a whole handful and stuff your mouth full of them so that
juices run down your face and the flavor explodes in your mouth.  You only
get that when a food is fresh, local, and at the peak of its season.  When
you start shipping foods that are picked green and trucked across the
country or the world, or buying packaged, pre-processed foods, you never get
that sort of experience.
	I thought this was a great way to appeal to people that never thought about
their food, but certainly understand sensuality - especially young folks!
	Ok, I know I've gotten away from the fermentation track, but I just wanted
to share his website and info, and that beautiful image of enjoying the
simple pleasures of life, and why they instill passion among us.
:)
Christianna