The Revolution Will Not be Microwaved: Speaking with Sandor Katz

Sandor Ellix Katz is the author of Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods [3], and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements [4]. His work has become enormously popular, helping bring the ancient rituals of fermentation to new generations of people hungry for a connection with these life processes.

In our interview, Sandor talks about his journeys across the US, where he encountered food activists of all kinds, all of whom are interested in fermentation. Not only with food, but with regards to the social aspect of the word ferment, to stir, bubble, and activate change. Thus his second book is about all the ways people are taking food back from large corporations and are reviving food systems locally, all the ways people are finding to preserve the health of the earth, the health of people, and the health of localized economies.

His first book, Wild Fermentation, has been especially notorious for getting people excited about fermenting food. I didn't know anything much about fermentation before I read his book, and certainly didn't think much of it. But before I was done reading it, my life had been changed, and my head (and later my kitchen) was brimming with fermentation ideas. Wild Fermentation has the special quality of being one of those rare books that changes a lot of peoples lives. It serves as a gateway to the world of living ferments, and it's something that has to be experienced to really understand. I can't recommend Sandor's books highly enough. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Sandor is currently touring around, and will be visiting Southern Ontario in September. Check out the events page on his website [5] for more information about how you can attend one. Also see his general site, wildfermentation.com [6], for more information about him and his work.

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