Summary
Fermentation is one of our oldest methods for preserving food. All around the world people have been transforming food with the help of microbes for thousands of years. The problem is, this simple method has had an identity crisis. We tend either see it as a fashionable fad, or a strange science. But there are people who want things to change. So in this programme Sheila Dillon meets 'The fermenters'. Ukranian food writer and chef Olia Hercules, who grew up with fermented foods; Roopa Gulati, using fermentation to explore her Indian heritage; entrepreneur Deborah Carr, whose fermentation business is going from strength to strength; and seasonal chef Tom Hunt who is putting seasonal ferments back on his restaurant menu. In 2016, It's time to rethink fermentation.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, you've downloaded a podcast of the food program. |
| 0:04.0 | Welcome to our world, from cooking to culture, politics to pleasure. |
| 0:09.0 | We hope you enjoy it. |
| 0:10.0 | The whole process of fermentation is so magical. |
| 0:15.0 | There's an element of the undiscovered about it and although it's based on scientific principles, |
| 0:21.0 | you don't know what's going to happen. We had one week of glorious |
| 0:26.2 | sunshine, so I thought this is it, sterilized the jars, chopped up the mangoes, |
| 0:31.7 | repaired the overgines, toasted and ground the spices. |
| 0:35.0 | And when I came down in the morning, the air hung heavy, it was as if there was something alive. |
| 0:41.0 | And in less than 12 hours, the milk had gone off in the fridge in a |
| 0:45.6 | sealed fridge the cheese tasted funny there was something hanging in the air |
| 0:51.6 | that turned all the other foods in our fridge and I thought |
| 0:56.6 | gosh that's magical. Fermentation where magic and science meet. In today's program we're celebrating the magic |
| 1:05.6 | and trying to understand the undiscovered in live foods. What it is that |
| 1:10.8 | produces really great taste. |
| 1:14.1 | We've lived so long with the idea that to be safe, |
| 1:16.2 | food must be as sterile and dead as possible, |
| 1:19.8 | that it's a challenge to get serious |
| 1:21.8 | about the opposite idea. |
| 1:24.0 | Four years ago, we made our first program |
| 1:26.1 | on the Fermentation Revival. |
| 1:28.0 | Since then, things have moved on. |
... |
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