SCENARIO PLOTT:
Let us take a look at an invisible but indispensable protagonist in our nutritional cycle: bacteria! Bacteria colonize every square centimeter of our skin, from armpits to toes. They feel particularly comfortable in our intestines, which, with an estimated trillion bacteria, are among the most populated places in the world. Let us now dive from the world around us deeper into the world within us.
„Who am I and if so, how many? We see ourselves less as an individual, but rather as a multiorganism with only about 10% of human cells. Bacteria are no longer perceived as pathogens, but as useful helpers. This change is also reflected in our eating culture. In gastronomy, the cultivation of bacterial strains plays a role in the design of the menu. In addition to the “Nutriscore”, there is now the Bacteriometer: Food is no longer labelled solely according to its fat, sugar and salt content, but also according to its bacterial strains.
With every meal, we do not only nourish ourselves but also our bacterial community, the so-called microbiome. It is comparable to a garden that needs to be cared for and nurtured – we reap what we sow. Each microbiome is as unique as a fingerprint and has an influence on the development, prevention and therapy of diseases. Through the enteric nervous system connecting brain and intestine, the microbiome also controls our psychological well-being. Consequently, our intestinal bacteria can be specifically influenced and promoted through nutrition. And we make use of this.
Whether at home or in the Community Ferment Lab: traditional microbial food processes such as fermentation are experiencing a revival. Ready meals and solid meals are increasingly being replaced by probiotic snacks, which have a positive effect on our microbiome. What is sweet? What is savory? Consuming significantly less meat, our society still does not want to do without the taste kick „umami“. Local resources are exoticized to such an extent that fermented lupine replaces avocado. A feast for our palate!
With every meal, we do not only nourish ourselves but also our bacterial community, the so-called microbiome. It is comparable to a garden that needs to be cared for and nurtured – we reap what we sow. Each microbiome is as unique as a fingerprint and has an influence on the development, prevention and therapy of diseases. Through the enteric nervous system connecting brain and intestine, the microbiome also controls our psychological well-being. Consequently, our intestinal bacteria can be specifically influenced and promoted through nutrition. And we make use of this.
Whether at home or in the Community Ferment Lab: traditional microbial food processes such as fermentation are experiencing a revival. Ready meals and solid meals are increasingly being replaced by probiotic snacks, which have a positive effect on our microbiome. What is sweet? What is savory? Consuming significantly less meat, our society still does not want to do without the taste kick „umami“. Local resources are exoticized to such an extent that fermented lupine replaces avocado. A feast for our palate!“
HEALTHY FOOD IS HEALTHY SHIT.
This important resource has long been talked about only behind closed doors. Feces as a reliable source of health data is increasingly recognized in society, fecal transplantation is slowly gaining acceptance. So, what if human waste becomes a commodity in a bioeconomic society?
The „HEALTY SHIT DEPOSIT BAG“ shown below visualises human waste as a deposit value, that can be returned to local urban agriculture (such as the URBAN FOOD MARKET) or pharmaceutical companies, where it will enter it´s second life as fertilizer or a novel form of „bacterial food“. Healthy nutrition has a twofold benefit. It positively influence the gardens in and around us. Every bowel movement is harvest time. So the loop is closed.
LIVING ARTIFACTS | BACTERIAL STRAINS:
KOMBUCHA MOTHER
The Kombucha mother, the so-called „tea fungus“, is no longer a bizarre sight in the Microbiocene. It is not a single fungus, but a symbiotic community of bacteria and yeasts, i.e. a S.C.O.B.Y. This is the English acronym for „Symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast“. For Kombucha drinks, release the SCOBY for a week on cooled black tea with plenty of sugar. Like many other ferments, kombucha drink with a pH value of less than 4 is quite acidic, cf. sauerkraut, but has a stomach acid regulating effect similar to lemon.
„UR-TEIG“ / Jurassic dough
Before the age of the microbiocene, the sourdough culture, in Germany often called „Hermann“ , was probably the last bastion of cultivated fermentation. However, it too had died out in almost all bakeries, beset by monocultural beer and baker‘s yeast. The culture exhibited here is 154 years old, obviously very resistant and has its own hashtag: #corneliusthesourdough! It consists of about 40 bacteria and yeasts and is therefore able to better break down the complex carbohydrates of all common cereals and make them more digestible.
MATSONI YOGHURT
Matsoni is an original Georgian yoghurt culture. Unlike most thermophilic yoghurt cultures, Matsoni is mesophilic and thrives at room temperature. So you do not need a „breeder“.
Like other yoghurt and kefir cultures, Matsoni helps break down lactose, making dairy products much more digestible for everyone except allergy sufferers.
ASPERGILLUS ORYZAE SPORES
Aspergillus oryzae is the most important mould in East Asian cuisine. The spores are used to „inoculate“ a carbohydrate-rich substrate, usually rice. In the process, the fungus produces amylase and protease, with which large quantities of starch and proteins can be converted into various sugars and amino acids.
After two days at about 38°C, the substrate is completely coated. One then speaks of Koji.
CHILLIES
All plants are densely populated with yeasts, which are only prevented by the skin from getting hold of the sugars inside. If you get close, you can see the yeasts on the chilli pepper.
Even better visible would be this white layer on red cabbage for example. But the yeasts would have reached their destination after a few days. If, on the other hand, salt is added and fermented in the absence of air (anaerobic), you get „sour pickled“ or „lactofermented vegetables“.
KOJI
Koji is the substrate coated with Aspergillus oryzae, usually rice or barley. Because some of the complex carbohydrates are already broken down and converted into simple carbohydrates, koji tastes sweetish. It is also used in this form in the kitchen, but even more frequently as a starter for countless fermented end products, in which protease often plays an important role in the conversion of protein into amino acids. The best known ferments based on Koji / Aspergillus Oryzae are: sake, soy sauce, miso.
FERMENTS
BACKGROUND FACTS:
The scenario is accompanied by real strains of bacteria, which play an important role in the fermentation of food, and some sample ferments. They shed light on the millennia-old culture technology of fermentation and question what role it will continue to play in the future.
The speculative „Bacterial Seedbombs“ continue to explain the role of bacteria in our food culture and speculate about new approaches to food supplements in the form of healthy „snacks for in between“ or as “digestife“ after meals. The speculative Seedbombs (yellow and pink artefact) was actually turned into an edible Artifact in collaboration with Inés Lauber and Edible Alchemy.
The Heathy Shit Artefact concludes the story of the Food Fictions exhibition and brings a tabooed resource back to light, leading back to the beginning of the food cycle.
This scenario was developed with the kind support of the Bacteria Baristas Alexis Goertz and Jonas Grube from „Edible Alchemy“ , who equipped the exhibition with living artifacts (bacterial strains) and text descriptions.
