Toward a Global Ecology of Fermented Foods

Abstract

The control of microbes in food has been as important to human societies as the domestication of plants and animals. The direct or indirect management of microbes has been critical to food safety, ensuring nutrient availability, and developing desired sensory characteristics in food. Fermentation is more universal than is agriculture inasmuch as it is practiced by agricultural societies, pastoralists, and hunter-gatherers. In addition, fermentation likely predates agriculture, potentially by hundreds of thousands of years. However, we lack a general approach to understanding of (a) when and why technologies associated with fermentation emerged and (b) how those technologies and the microbes associated with them diverged once they emerged. Here we offer a framework for the study of the diversification of fermented foods in and among human societies. In developing this framework, we draw heavily from research on language and more generally cultural diversification.

Exploring the Microbial Diversity of Novel Misos with Metagenomics

“…While the role of S. epidermidis in food is still unknown and can be treated as a possible contamination from handling, it is possible that, as with S. saprophyticus, S. gallinarum, and S. kloosii, S. epidermidis may be not a contaminant, but a typical and even beneficial part of the ecosystem of certain fermented foods. It is common for certain strains to circulate innocuously between human bodies and fermented food ecologies (Dunn et al, 2021;Reese et al, 2020), and growing research around the emerging concept of the holobiont (Faure et al, 2018;Simon et al, 2019)-reconceptualising individual organisms as ecologies formed of the 'host' and their microbiota-provides a promising framework to further investigate and normalise these microbial circulations from bodies to foods and back again. When it comes to this particular species, more studies are needed to understand its behaviour and potential in food and to establish the conditions of its safety.…”

Russian market of fermented kombucha beverages

“…В процессе ферментации данные продукты приобретают уникальные вкус, текстуру, внешний вид и функциональность по сравнению с исходными ингредиентами, из которых они вырабатываются [1]. Несмотря на многолетнюю известность, данная категория продуктов высоко ценится и в настоящее время: например, годовой объем продаж только ферментированных напитков превышает 2 трлн долларов [2], а объем мирового рынка комбучи, по прогнозам, к 2027 г. достигнет 10,45 млрд долларов [3].…”

Disappearance and survival of fermented beverages in the biosphere reserve Tehuacán-Cuicatlán, Mexico: The cases of Tolonche and Lapo

“…Research programs have recently addressed the production methods, preparation tools, consumption rituals, frequency, and other issues related to fermented beverages. This has led to some outstanding studies that have contributed to the revival of traditional fermented products (Madej et al, 2014;Flachs and Orkin, 2019;Herrera Cano and Suárez, 2020;Kraus et al, 2022), their consideration as part of local biocultural heritage (Chaves-López et al, 2014;Puerari et al, 2015;Puerari et al, 2015;Tamang et al, 2016;Pérez-Armendáriz and Cardoso-Ugarte, 2020) and their relevance for diversifying diets (Chileshe, 2019;Bultosa et al, 2020;Dunn et al, 2021). Nevertheless, several social and economic pressures have promoted changes in values and cultures in the last decades that have resulted in the almost extinction of several of these products.…”