SANDOR KATZ - Wild Fermentation Lacto-Fermentation Workshop, August 21, Shepherdstown, WV

[Guest guest]

Friends - You've got to make an effort to attend

this one!! Saturday, August 21 in Shepherdstown

(location and directions given with your RSVP)

Sandor Katz, the lively author of " Wild

Fermentation, " will lecture on the history, value

and how-to of lacto-fermentation. In the

afternoon, we'll make a 25lb 5 gallon batch of

sauerkraut! Don't miss this one!! (Read the last

paragraph of Sally's review of the book below.)

Contact me via email (igg@...) or phone (304)

876-3382 to assure you a seat at this fun (and

FREE!) event!

-Allan

WHAT: Kraut Making Workshop with Sandor Katz, lacto-fermentation expert

WHEN: Saturday, August 21

WHERE: Shepherdstown, WV

WHO: Contact Allan Balliett igg@... (304) 876-3382

Event is FREE! but reservations are required.

A reception for Sandor follows the workshop.

Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz

(Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2003)

Sandor Katz is a self-described fermentation

fetishist. His fermentation explorations

developed out of overlapping interests in

cooking, nutrition and gardening. He is also an

herbalist and an activist and a writer and a

builder and a craftsperson and a bicyclist and

many other things: a generalist. He is a resident

steward of Short Mountain Sanctuary, a queer

intentional community deep in the wooded hills of

Tennessee. Katz is a native of New York City, a

graduate of Brown University, and a former urban

planner and policy analyst. He has been living

with AIDS for more than a decade and considers

fermented foods an important part of his healing.

(from Sandor's official biography)

Review by Sally Fallon

Those who enjoy making lacto-fermented foods will

love Wild Fermentation. Careful and detailed

instructions for vegetable, legume, dairy, grain

and beverage ferments, plus wonderful authentic

recipes to use them in, make this book a

must-have for all students of traditional foods.

You'll learn how to make milkweed/nasturtium

seedpod " capers, " Japanese nuka bran pickles,

fermented coconut chutney, Cherokee sour corn

drink, Tibetan buckwheat pancakes, plus more

familiar items like sauerkraut, miso, soft

cheeses, sourdough breads, polenta and kombucha.

You'll enjoy making the many lacto-fermented

beverages featured in this book, such as sweet

potato fly and kvass, as well as authentic beers

and wines from around the world including

Ethiopian honey wine in various flavors,

persimmon cider mead, and beer from South

America, Egypt and Nepal. Simple vinegar-based

recipes from colonial America include shrub (made

with fresh berries, vinegar and sugar or honey)

and switchel (made with vinegar, sugar, molasses

and gingerroot).

With Katz' help, you'll learn to be a magician in

the kitchen, for working in partnership with the

microscopic world is nothing short of alchemy.

We've been at war with microbes for too long; the

time has come to recognize them as our friends.

But Wild Fermentation is more than just a

collection of interesting recipes. Katz

recognizes the " insidious processes of

globalization, commodification and cultural

homogenization, " citing the example of French

sheep farmer José Bové, who ended up in jail for

his bold actions against Mc's in France.

" If you tried an action like Bové's in the United

States these days, " observes Katz, " it would

probably be branded as terrorism and land you in

a clandestine military tribunal. "

Katz wisely observes: " We cannot resist the

homogenization of culture by overpowering it. Yet

we must not resign ourselves to it. . . . .

Resistance takes place on many planes.

Occasionally it can be dramatic and public, but

most of the decisions we are faced with are

mundane and private. What to eat is a choice that

we make several times a day, if we are lucky. The

cumulative choices we make about food have

profound implications. "

Earlier in this issue we proposed a novel formula

for defeating the forces of industrialization in

agriculture and food production: drink raw milk.

To this we add: eat fermented foods! Authentic

fermented condiments and beverages will not only

return beneficial microorganisms to your

digestive tract, they will also help return our

wealth to small farms and local communities.

Instead of " trickle down, " how about " bubble up, "

where real wealth produced by farmers and

artisans leavens the whole mass.

Fermented foods are good for our interior ecology

and they can help restore our exterior ecology as

well, by increasing the demand for organic foods

(only nutrient-dense and pesticide-free foods

ferment successfully) and weakening the grip of

the food processing industry.

When eats the witch's food in the

children's classic The Lion, the Witch and the

Wardrobe, he becomes her slave. So too, when we

eat processed foods, we become slaves to the

commodity economy. But foods made by magicians

working with the mysterious ferments of the

microscopic world-these foods make us healthy and

free. Wild Fermentation will serve as a training

manual for thousands of culinary Harry Potters,

working their magic in the tranquil atmosphere of

sacred kitchens.