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    Fermentation jar

    From the university magazine Zett

    The workshop offered by the Sustainability Dossier, โ€œFermentation Stories. An evening of knowledge sharing, collaborative practices and tastingโ€, explored the culinary arts and social relations. Photograph: Taiga Nakazaki

    Published on 03.08.2023

    Author Milena Giordano

    • Campus

    On the tables stand large bowls of finely chopped vegetables which we reach into with our bare hands. We stuff sliced carrots and cauliflower florets, ground turmeric root and dried lemongrass into preserving jars. In so doing, we exchange no amount of microbes. An hour and a half ago, I didnโ€™t know the two dozen or so people present. Now weโ€™re discussing taste buds and childhood memories, how our grandmothers made sauerkraut or when we drank kombucha for the first time. Meanwhile, we fill the fermentation jars with colourful bits of vegetables. Fermentation, one of the oldest methods of preserving food, is in vogue again.

    Hosted by the Sustainability Dossier, the workshop also addressed โ€œsocial fermentation.โ€ Such social connections occur when people prepare, taste and perceive food together. Social fermentation refers to the process of using microorganisms such as yeasts and bacteria to foster social interactions and build communities. Filling a fermentation jar thus not only contributes to appreciating handmade foods and traditional techniques. It also encourages people to tackle challenges together and share resources. At home, looking at the row of jars on my shelf not only reminds me of what a cherry tomato fermented for weeks tastes like. It also recalls the sense of community that was created on that occasion.


    MILENA GIORDANO

    Milena Giordano is a research associate at the Sustainability Dossier.


    Sustainability at ZHdK

    The Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) is specifically committed to sustainability in teaching, research and operations.It offers an environment that promotes the development of visions and solutions for a sustainable ecological, social and economic transformation. ZHdK is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, to which Switzerland has also committed itself with the Agenda 2030, and aligns the culture of sustainability lived at the university with this. Sustainability is anchored as a goal of the university in the Strategy 2019-2023.

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