From craft beers and sourdough bread to kimchi, coffee, tea, and cheese, fermentation is a popular topic in both food and health circles. In Our Fermented Lives, food historian and fermenting expert Julia Skinner explores the fascinating roots of a wide range of fermented foods in cultures around the world, with a focus on the many intersections fermented foods have with human history and culture, from the evolution of the microbiome to food preservation techniques, distinctive flavor profiles around the globe, and the building of community. Fans of fermentation, chefs, and anyone fascinated with the origins of various foods will enjoy this engaging popular history, which is accompanied by 42 recipes adapted from historic sources, including sauerkraut, corn beer, uji (fermented grain porridge), pickles and relishes, vinegars, ketchup, soy sauce, Tepache (fermented pineapple drink), vinegars, beet kvass, and more.
 

Food historian and fermentation expert Julia Skinner takes a deep dive into the fascinating cultural history of fermented foods, examining how bread, coffee, tea, alcoholic drinks, vinegars, fermented vegetables, herbs, and spices were first introduced and their inextricable connection to the evolution of human health, food tastes and preservation techniques, and the development of community across many cultures and periods.

"Skinner illuminates the deep past through recipes and stories that tether the foods of today to those of our ancestors. And in doing so, she paints a vast and expansive picture of just how intractably linked fermentation is to the human endeavor." -- David Zilber, The Noma Guide to Fermentation

“In Our Fermented Lives Dr. Julia Skinner weaves a tapestry of fermentation’s place in the human experience. At its heart fermentation is preservation. Skinner deftly entwines ancient history with timely conversion of food security lacing throughout the story of flavor, health, and culture—both large and microscopic.” ---Kirsten K Shockey

"​Our Fermented Lives is an incredibly necessary book in not only understanding the ins and outs of fermentation for home cooks to professional chefs, but also an important lens for learning how food evolved over the course of human history. Food is a fundamental part of how humans evolved and adapted to their natural environment, formed relationships, and constructed societies -- and fermentation played a key role in so many facets of these transitions over time. Julia has done a great job of combining practical, hands-on knowledge with historical context and anthropological themes for this treasure trove of a fermentation book!" --Jenny Dorsey, professional chef, writer, and founder of Studio ATAO