Fermly Recommends: Fermentation As Metaphor

If you ever catch a whiff of brewing and think, “This smells like philosophy,” then you are not alone. In the book Fermentation as Metaphor, Sandor Ellix Katz reflects on how fermentation connects to change, interconnectedness, and the beauty of controlled rot. Through essays and lyrical musings, he delves into how fermentation reflects political resistance, personal growth, queer identity, and the necessity of transformation in times of stasis or suppression. He detours into death and decomposition, but with charm à la Mr. Rogers. 

As opposed to the brewing process, where fermentation can be considered the technical endpoint, this book invites the reader to engage with community, risk, and uncertainty. For many, looking at the current brewing landscape, this kind of perspective can be grounding and galvanizing with richly aromatic prose. Fermentation is described not just in smells and flavors, but in emotions, memories, and systems. Parallels are drawn between microbial ecosystems and human ones, celebrating their wildness and resilience while in constant flux. 

One line stands out:“We are all constantly fermenting, in our guts, in our communities, in our imaginations.”

Reading this book is like doing a sensory panel on the soul and civilization.