Why Is Fermentation A Trend?

On July 12th, L.A.'s first Fermentation Festival took place in Venice. The event not only showcased a wide variety of items that have been fermented, such as "sprouted almond pâté" and "raw apple cider vinegar," but also allowed interested parties, both young and old, to learn all about the process of fermentation.

Fermentation has been around since ancient civilizations. It is also one of the hottest new food trends. So what's going on here?

While people have been fermenting foods since ancient times, the science wasn't entirely clear. The whole process was sort of magical. It wasn't until the 1830s that European microbiologists looked at yeast through microscopes, showing evidence that it was a living thing. That new science led to the working definition we now have of fermentation: "the chemical transformation of organic substances into simpler compounds by the action of enzymes, complex organic catalysts, which are produced by microorganisms such as molds, yeasts, or bacteria."

But it was only recently that fermentation became a hot, new food trend.

The Fermentation Festival is not the only proof of this. If you're thinking about learning how to ferment on your own, there are currently just about as many fermentation workshops as there are yoga studios -- just search on Google and you'll find one. And you can barely go a week without reading a story about fermentation being used in order to "improve" some food or another. (The latest example: Apparently, you can use beer-making yeast to make chocolate taste better.)

One such company looking to utilize fermentation to give foods an added flavor is the Brooklyn-based team Afineur. According to their mission, they're "crafting better, healthier, and more sustainable food with nature." They just started a Kickstarter campaign where backers can get their first batch of fermented-aided coffee.

"We do the fermentation on the coffee beans just before roasting," Camille Delebecque, the CEO of the company, said. "We tried to really lower the bitterness and let shine the other flavors that tend to be over-shined in coffee like floral and fruity notes."

Despite the fact that it may make certain foods and beverages taste better, the question still remains to be answered: Why is this only now becoming a food fad? "I just think people are coming to peace with the fact that microbes are everywhere," Delebecque said.

Keep in mind that it's only been about 150 years since Louis Pasteur continued to prove the theory that organisms known as "germs" were the reason for the spread of disease. Once that idea was generally accepted, there was a whole lot of effort to stay away from tiny microbes. That isn't exactly the most ideal introduction to the concept. "Microbes can cause disease and people have been afraid of them since the late 19th century," Delebecque said. "That's a century of avoiding microbes, in the U.S., also in the rest of the world."

Helping the trend is the fact that, because of technological advancements, it's easier and easier to produce more advanced fermentation techniques. And that the production and distribution of craft beer is on the rise. And as it's increasingly clear how horrible processed foods are for us, the health food craze brought many fermented foods (like, say, yogurt) to the cultural consciousness. AND as the Internet continues to expand, the world's disparate cultures are more swiftly being influenced by one another, including diets heavy in fermented foods.

But those reasons may be too analytical, too safe. Maybe there's something else happening when it comes to our emotional reaction to home fermenting.

"The word that comes to mind is empowerment," said Lynn Hartman from the Santa Barbara Fermentation Festival (coming up on September 20th). "People are interested in learning to ferment because it empowers them and anyone can do it. It empowers them to create a super healthy food that is inexpensive, connect with nature, be part of a science experiment, share and build community, keep tradition. All for the price of a glass jar, a bit of salt and some veggies or fruit."