Sebastian Vargo

Vargo Brother Ferments

Chef/Founder/Owner

Sebastian Vargo. Vargo is a Chicago-based chef who previously worked at Merchant, Dixie, Schwa and Girl and the Goat. Vargo, like the rest of the restaurant industry, was forced to leave his head chef role at Merchant during the Covid-19 pandemic. During that time, he created Vargo Brother Ferments with his fiancée Taylor Hanna, also a Chicago-based chef. Vargo Brothers Ferments is a chef-driven ferments company that sells seasonal ferments using fresh ingredients sourced locally from Chicago community gardens and out of Vargo's backyard garden. Vargo's ferments are an intersection of physical and historic preservation -- some of the flavors he uses plays homage to his upbringing in an African-American household in the Midwest with Southern heritage. You can find him on Instagram @vargobrotherferments

Monday, November 8, 2021

4:25 PM - 5:25 PM PST

Is Fermentation "So White"...or Not?

Hopin

TRACK: Business & Legal Keynote

Miin Chan

PhD student, educator, writer

Sebastian Vargo

Vargo Brother Ferments, Chef/Founder/Owner

Jiayang Fan

The New Yorker, Staff Writer

Kheedim Oh

Mama O's Premium Kimchi, Founder

Mara Jane King

IE Hospitality, Director of Fermentation

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."

Sebastian Vargo

Monday, November 8, 2021

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