Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Building and maintaining culture through wild fermentation in communities of color

2^nd International Conference on Food Security and Sustainability

June 26-27, 2017 San Diego, USA

Melina McConatha

Lincoln University, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

The proposed research poster examines the practice of wild fermentation as it relates to sharing and maintaining aspects of culture. Wild fermentation can be defined as a process in which an agent causes an organic substance to break down into simpler substances and form products like sauerkraut, kimchi and kombucha to name a few. The key research findings illustrated in this poster share the indigenous practice of wild fermentation around the globe that maintain and transmit culture through bringing groups together, maintaining cultural traditions of the past, creating food outside of the agro-industrial complex and supporting local and sustainable food systems. These practices are rich with community building techniques that are not fully understood or documented in academia. Culture is often defined as the art of collective human intellectual achievement. We hope, in this project, to share the revolutionary agricultural practices that has been maintained and undervalued across time in communities of color in an effort to re-center its history and challenge the cultural appropriation of this art. This poster shares the intellection cooperation in communities of color across the globe that make wild fermentation a key component in the connections to the other forms of life that are around us and that constitute a just and culturally competent food system.

Biography :

Email: mmcconatha@lincoln.edu