I’m Writing a Fermentation Cookbook!
If you missed last week’s episode of FermUp you may have missed my big announcement. Feel free to head over there to listen, and make sure to scroll the list of past episodes for plenty of things you will want to check out. I’ll wait…Oh, hi! You’re back! So now you know the story! I’m writing a book! I’m pretty excited about it. For those of you who didn’t bounce over to listen just yet, the book will be out next year and it is all about vegetable fermentation! Since this is a particular area of interest for me in my very broad array of fermented pursuits, and since it gets to be a pretty unabashedly health-oriented book, I could not be more eager or excited to wrap up and get these goodies to you! The project is relatively new, so while I did want to let you all know what I’ll be working on for the next several months, I’m going to save the bulk of the details for later!
Net Cost Market is Badass
One of the most exciting parts about writing the book has been the incentive to explore for inspiration. And if you are trolling for inspiration pickles where do you go? Well, if you’re in a major American city, you hit up the ethnic markets. I live in a part of Philly where the native cuisines of Mexico, Italy and Vietnam are all very well represented. Within 5 blocks of my home, there are too many country- or region-specific food markets to count. But the pickle palaces of my Eastern European heritage are all found in the northeastern part of the city. So yesterday, my husband and I took a trip to the pickle paradise, also known as the Russian/Eastern European chain grocery store, Net Cost Market. Such an unassuming, and may I say, shitty name for such an awesome spot. If you are of Polish or Ukrainian descent (like me!) you will immediately feel at home there whether or not you speak a word of the mother tongues. It doesn’t matter that the only words from your grandmother’s native language that you know are are kapusta or pierogi or gumpke. You’ll get it. You’ll get the enormous pickle bar, with approximately 798 kinds of cucumber pickle, many fermented, and everything from fish heads to lettuce heads soaking in brine. You’ll cotton to the blintzes stuffed with farmer’s cheese, and to the piroshka. You’ll dig the deli counter that exclusively showcases smoked fish and caviar. You may well understand the need for innumerable brands of milk kefir and varieties of feta. You will completely grasp the need for every possible vegetable to have been pickled, and it will not seem strange that there’s a giant pickle aisle (canned pickles) next to the giant pickle bar (lots of fermented pickles).
I Love my Grandmas and my Grandmas’ Grandmas
Though the pickle aisle wasn’t stocked with fermented pickles (they were canned for shelf-stability), standing under those pickle-strained shelves made me feel very connected to my grandmothers, and to the tradition that they didn’t pass along to their daughters. I can never know why this tradition omitted a whole generation, but I can be glad and grateful, as I felt in Net Cost, to be reconnecting with this practice, and through it, with my grandmothers and their cuisine.
Fermentation Connects Me to my Pickled Roots
Maybe these foods are so delicious to me because it’s in my genetic make-up to crave them. I’ve never had to ferment out of necessity. My family will make it through the winter just fine if they don’t have sauerkraut or pickled beets to eat in January and February. I choose this path because I choose to eat local vegetables all year round and I want to consume them in their safest and most nutrient-rich form. I ferment because I enjoy gardening and eating extremely flavorful foods. I ferment because I think it makes a personal statement against massively damaging, enormously-scaled industrial agricultural practices that are destroying our planet and our bodies. Whatever reasons I had for starting this practice, and for making it a part of my life, I felt so happy in that grocery aisle yesterday, thinking how, although it may have skipped a generation, these traditions were not lost. In a way, the work I put into this craft, the exploration of the practice, those are ways to pay homage to my grandmas and their grandmas; they are beautifully delicious ways to connect to my own heritage.
PS- These were by no means the only Ukrainian delights we picked up at Net Cost, lest anyone be offended by our limited choices.
Heather Pine says
I am SO HAPPY you’re writing a book on fermentation! I just started on the fermentation of vegetables leg of my Cooking Like the Old Days adventure and I love your site & blog. Cannot wait to add your book to my personal library and to the collection of the public library where I work. Good luck & congratulations!
Heather
Amanda says
Thank you so much, Heather! That is very kind of you! I’m really enjoying the process so far! Good luck on your Cooking Like the Old Days adventure. Is this documented somewhere? Sounds like fun reading!
Becky says
Hooray! I can’t wait to get my paws on it!
Ann says
Congratulations! I’ve felt for a long time now that you should have a book. Your approach to fermentation is so comforting and easy-going. I refer people who ask me about fermentation to your site as a first stop. I guess next year I will be able to add your book to my recommendations too! Good luck!
Peter says
This is awesome news! I love your blog, and you’re quite an inspiration to me. I’m so happy you’re getting to write a book.
Amanda says
Thanks so much, Peter! So far it is a fun and very labor-intensive process! I really appreciate the words of support!
Lucas says
Looking forward to it. Got bit by the pickle bug lately and have been enjoying your posts!