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Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
41–50 of 226 posts
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#42I make fermented fizzy enzyme drinks at home all the time, no soft drinks anymore. It has to be all the time as it is a perpetual drink. You buy on of those fancy hipster live enzyme drinks, but you never finish it. Just and juice, sugar, jam - whatever what bacteria like and it continues fermentation. At room temperature. Every two days it is ready again, drink it, feed it. If it is too active, put it in a fridge. I…
> whatever what bacteria like
How do you know what it likes?
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#43This is a conjecture, not a study. Sorry if that seems to be nitpicking, but I see too many "studies" like this. A study is supposed to report the truth of something that the author studied. But this is an idea that the author liked and explored, and then wrote up. Maybe we can keep calling these studies, and come up with another term for fact based studies. And not "theory" please, that word in a scientific context…
This study strikes me as promotional material with a science flavour. It helps foster the desire for fermented food, ie its a means to shift premium product off shelves. I fancy some kimchi or kefir myself, having read it!
Unfortunately, I think even serious studies have this flaw (of being beholden to funding). The person or group providing the funding need to get a return on their investment. Ie even those more serious studies are a form of conjecture, with only a subset of data being approached, or some important element being excluded.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#44I make fermented fizzy enzyme drinks at home all the time, no soft drinks anymore. It has to be all the time as it is a perpetual drink. You buy on of those fancy hipster live enzyme drinks, but you never finish it. Just and juice, sugar, jam - whatever what bacteria like and it continues fermentation. At room temperature. Every two days it is ready again, drink it, feed it. If it is too active, put it in a fridge. I…
>fizzy enzyme drinks Do you mean kombucha? Kefir?
No, I mean enzyme drink. They are called differently all over the place. They are similar to kombucha, just without all that disgusting shroom in a jar thing.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#45I make fermented fizzy enzyme drinks at home all the time, no soft drinks anymore. It has to be all the time as it is a perpetual drink. You buy on of those fancy hipster live enzyme drinks, but you never finish it. Just and juice, sugar, jam - whatever what bacteria like and it continues fermentation. At room temperature. Every two days it is ready again, drink it, feed it. If it is too active, put it in a fridge. I…
> whatever what bacteria like How do you know what it likes?
Same thing as humans like, sugar.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
From wikipedia: Up to 500 whole auks are packed into the seal skin, beaks and feathers included. As much air as possible is removed from the seal skin before it is sewn up and sealed with seal fat, which repels flies. It is then hidden in a heap of stones, with a large rock placed on top to keep the air out. Over the course of three months, the birds ferment, and are then eaten during the Arctic winter, particularly…
Well...that is certainly something. I am still bewildered as to how the method was discovered. Taking valuable seals and birds to run multi-month experiments does not seem like it would make you a popular fellow. Best case scenario, you discovered a way of making what sounds a vile, but technically edible, flesh paste. The extended quote from the Wikipedia page notes some people have died from preparing it improperly…
I am still bewildered as to how the method was discovered.
Hunting cultures often have periods of surplus. Most likely this wasn't so much deliberate fermentation as an attempt to store their surplus; the fact that it turned well was a happy accident.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#47[flagged]
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
The excellent book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (Harold McGee) has sections on major food groups, along with some incredible stories of how those foods have been preserved in the past — many of which involve some sort of fermentation. I recall one story about birds being encased inside a dead seal, which was then buried for a time (looking that up now, I think it's Inuit 'kiviak'). It's a…
I must be missing something. That sounds like encasing some rapidly rotting meat inside more rotting meat. A significantly less appealing turducken. It would take some strong convictions to turn multiple meals now (seal + bird) into a future meal that could potentially be stolen by scavengers.
Think about hakarl: icelandic rotten shark. It stinks to high heaven: I'm not kidding, a colleague brought a small sealed cup to the office and opened it. The whole floor (where 80+ people were seated) stank like crazy.
Regular shark meat is poisonous. But if you bury it in the sand and leave it for 6 weeks, the toxin decomposes and humans no longer die from it. But it stinks.
How hungry must have those Icelanders been that they tried this?
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#49Fermented foods, especially yogurt, kefir, buttermilk are vital for good health. People buy probiotic pills etc. But all it takes is to buy a tub/can of Greek yogurt. The best snack there is. Medicine is food, food is medicine.
Have you tried fermented fish? It was very good when I tried it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prahok I would imagine you are also getting omega-3 from the fish.
Come, eat shark. Shark good. Shark make brain big.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#50I make fermented fizzy enzyme drinks at home all the time, no soft drinks anymore. It has to be all the time as it is a perpetual drink. You buy on of those fancy hipster live enzyme drinks, but you never finish it. Just and juice, sugar, jam - whatever what bacteria like and it continues fermentation. At room temperature. Every two days it is ready again, drink it, feed it. If it is too active, put it in a fridge. I…
Interesting! How can you tell it's too active? It gets bubbly?