Fermentation has been used for millennia to improve the quality of food. As we will learn in class, fermentation can extend the shelf life of foods, improve taste (although taste improvement is subjective), and increase bioavailability of vitamins and other nutrients. Over the past several years, there has been increased interest in using microbial fermentation to create new meat alternatives and/or to improve the flavor of meat alternatives. You can read more about some of these efforts in an article published by the Washington Post or on this website from the Good Food Institute. There is also this scientific review on plant-based meat analogs and fermentation that provides even more details. However, fermenting foods to create “meat alternatives” has a long history. Tempeh, nattō, and chòu dòufu are all examples of protein-rich fermented soybean products that can be consumed as an alternative to meat. Producing condiments like that enhance palatability and umami through fermentation also has a long history; examples include miso, soy sauce, fish sauce, gochujang, murri, sumbala, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce . During the semester, I look forward to discussing with you the role that microbes play in production of traditional fermented foods while also exploring how microbes continue to contribute to the development of new foods through fermentation. What are your thoughts on how microbes contribute to food production? Do you have a favorite fermented food?
Image credit: Sakurai Midori, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
