SEASON 3.2: ROT

Rot might be the season we’re the most excited to dive into. On the surface ‘rot’ isn’t a very straight forward ingredient but in our view it is not only an ingredient but also a mode of preparation and it is crucial to understanding our food and drink systems.

Many of the oldest food traditions include curing and fermenting which are methods of controlled rot. Mushrooms grow from rot and new studies into their biology and uses may provide answers for the future of food and drink. Food waste, a byproduct of mass food and drink production, creates rot where there could be food. Rot is ever present in our food and drink systems even if we do not speak of it explicitly.

This season we will be discussing Rot from various angles: the science behind it, the organisms that thrive on it, the communities (microbial and human) that develop from it.

Reading List:

Interview: Dough Bierend

Listen to Anna discuss the relationship between rot, mushrooms and soil with Doug Bierend, author of In Search of Mycotopia.

Interview: Charlotte Cook

Chloe discusses beer brewing and creating fermentation recipes with beer brewer and writer Charlotte cook.

Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

If you are into romance and the ‘rot’ of capitalistic greed, this is one for you.

Mushroom at the End of the World, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Following the story of a rare mushroom, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing finds how a mushroom can teach us how to survive.

Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake

Biologist Merlin Sheldrake dives into the world of mycological study through foragers, scientists and theorists.

What is cheese?

Anna’s other publication, Cheese magazine, is entirely focused on a fermented good. This fun romp through the past asks the important question: what is cheese!?

To Make Cheese, Start with Grass, Apoorva Sripathi

Co-founder of Cheese magazine, Apporva looks at an unlikely city for cheese, Chennai; the Tomme de Semmancheri is the result of a relationship between place, production and people.

David Zilber: A Fermenter's Guide to the Universe - The Institute of Black Imagination podcast

Chef, Fermenter, Food Scientist, Photographer, and New York Times best-selling author David Zilber. David is the former Director of Fermentation for “NOMA” Copenhagen

Sandor Katz, anything - podcasts he’s on, books he’s written, articles he’s quoted in. To start you off, here he speaks to Alicia Kennedy

We aim to update this reading list on a continued basis