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i salute the light within your eyes where the whole universe dwells. for when you are at that centre within you and i am at that place within me, we shall be one. - chief crazy horse, oglala sioux, 1877

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Fermenting Vegetables with Sandor Katz



this is sandor katz; he wrote the book "Wild Fermentation." this is a very important food issue.

as western culture has "advanced", we have left behind many healthy traditions, like leaving behind brown rice or whole wheat brown bread. throughout history an idea developed: the more processed something is or the further away it is from it's natural state, the more valuable it is. thus white rice is preferred over brown and white bread over whole wheat, even though the closer a food item is to it's natural state, the HEALTHIER it is!!!!

another aspect of this issue is: we have tried, in western culture, to get as far away from bacteria as possible. all bacteria. i think it had to do with our discoveries of various micro-organisms that do cause us difficulties, so we distanced from all little bugs that we were unsure of. the problem is this... some of them are good for us. some micro-organisms help us maintain a healthy balance in our bodies. fermented foods are a traditional tool for preserving foods through the winter and for regularly exposing ourselves to helpful bacteria.

i've heard there are studies that link western culture's problem with immune-system health issues with a lack of healthy bacteria. that makes sense to me as i watch the television ads (and my mother) clean everything possible with bleach and all sorts of other crap and westerners continue to get sick with lupus, chronic fatigue, multiple schlerosis, etc.

check out "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Katz or "The Book of Ferment and Human Nutrition" by bill mollison for far more information.

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