FERMENTATION 2021
Sunday, November 7, 2021
Qimin Yaoshu: Lessons for Today from 5th Century China
Qimin Yaoshu ("Essential Arts for the People's Welfare"), an agricultural treatise first published in 540 CE, details in 92 chapters how a 5th/6th century estate in North China would have been managed. Beyond its value as a working history for agricultural practices, the Qimin Yaoshu contains numerous recipes for cooking, fermentation and other preservation practices including the first complete recipes for making Qu, or what has become more widely known today as Koji. Join Mara King in a deep dive into the Qimin Yaoshu. What does it mean for a food system to have an agricultural guide? Delving in to the recipes in the Qimin Yaoshu, what do these guides for creating fermented foods from 5th Century China teach us about building robust and low waste systems today?
Monday, November 8, 2021
Is Fermentation "So White"...or Not?
This year, two articles helped propel a conversation on diversity among fermenters: Miin Chan's Eater article "Lost in the Brine" (which explores cultural appropriation in fermentation) and Jiayang Fan's New Yorker piece "The Gatekeepers Who Get to Decide What Food is 'Disgusting'" (which highlights how Westerners' views of "disgusting" food require immigrants to assimilate to local food culture). Listen to these two writers and a trio of BIPOC producers as they debate the topics of diversity and cultural appropriation among fermenters, and discuss who gets to determine what "tastes good."