An In-depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from Around the World
The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz is an in-depth guide to the art and science of fermentation. From kimchi to kefir, this book explores the history, health benefits and techniques of fermentation, providing invaluable insight for beginners and experts alike.
Fermentation. It’s a word you've probably heard, and if you’ve ever eaten bread or cheese or drunk beer, you're familiar with the products of this vital process. But what does fermentation actually mean? To answer that question, we need to go all the way back to the origins of life on our planet.
All of Earth’s life forms need energy for their cells to create macromolecules, their building blocks. The way a cell obtains this energy is through its metabolism. The very first living organisms, certain kinds of bacteria, had anaerobic metabolisms – that is, they didn’t need oxygen to convert nutrients into energy. Another word for this process? Fermentation.
As time went on, new kinds of metabolism would develop from these fermenting bacteria, leading to life on Earth as we know it today.
The key message in this blink is: Fermentation transformed our planet.
As biologists Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan put it in their study of microbial evolution, Microcosmos, bacteria actually invented all of life’s essential chemical systems.
Take our oxygen-rich atmosphere – the precondition for the existence of complex life-forms like animals, plants, and fungi. This was created by fermenting bacteria.
How did they do it? Well, during the first couple of billion years of life on Earth, these bacteria interacted with one another. It could be a struggle to the death, with one bacterium destroying another. But it could also be a complex, two-way relationship that transformed both bacteria. One product of this second type of interaction was a new kind of metabolism.
Over time, certain microbes evolved to produce, or photosynthesize, energy from sunlight. The byproduct of this nutritional strategy was oxygen. As the number of these microbes grew, the planet’s atmosphere was oxygenated – and transformed forever.
At this point, the first aerobic – or oxygen-dependent – cells entered the evolutionary fray. It appears that their relationship with older, anaerobic cells was initially that of predator and prey. Over time, though, these former foes learned to coexist. Aerobic cells took up residence inside anaerobic cells without destroying them – an arrangement that allowed both parties to profit from each other’s metabolisms.
It was this relationship that paved the way for the emergence of eukaryotes – the complex organisms which, at a cellular level, make up the building blocks of all human, animal, and plant life.
The Art of Fermentation (2012) is an award-winning exploration of fermentation – a biological process that offers a key to understanding our species’ evolution and culture. From the emergence of life on Earth to alcohol-loving bats and the art of making sauerkraut, Sandor Katz leaves no stone unturned in this gripping account of the natural and human history of fermentation.
If we are to enjoy surpluses of food, then we must have strategies for preserving them in the presence of our microbial ecology.
Ich bin begeistert. Ich liebe Bücher aber durch zwei kleine Kinder komme ich einfach nicht zum Lesen. Und ja, viele Bücher haben viel bla bla und die Quintessenz ist eigentlich ein Bruchteil.
Genau dafür ist Blinkist total genial! Es wird auf das Wesentliche reduziert, die Blinks sind gut verständlich, gut zusammengefasst und auch hörbar! Das ist super. 80 Euro für ein ganzes Jahr klingt viel, aber dafür unbegrenzt Zugriff auf 3000 Bücher. Und dieses Wissen und die Zeitersparnis ist unbezahlbar.
Extrem empfehlenswert. Statt sinnlos im Facebook zu scrollen höre ich jetzt täglich zwischen 3-4 "Bücher". Bei manchen wird schnelle klar, dass der Kauf unnötig ist, da schon das wichtigste zusammen gefasst wurde..bei anderen macht es Lust doch das Buch selbständig zu lesen. Wirklich toll
Einer der besten, bequemsten und sinnvollsten Apps die auf ein Handy gehören. Jeden morgen 15-20 Minuten für die eigene Weiterbildung/Entwicklung oder Wissen.
Viele tolle Bücher, auf deren Kernaussagen reduziert- präzise und ansprechend zusammengefasst. Endlich habe ich das Gefühl, Zeit für Bücher zu finden, für die ich sonst keine Zeit habe.
Hol dir mit Blinkist die besten Erkenntnisse aus mehr als 7.000 Sachbüchern und Podcasts. In 15 Minuten lesen oder anhören!
Jetzt kostenlos testen
Blink 3 von 12 - Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit
von Yuval Noah Harari
