On this weeks episode of Cutting the Curd, Anne Saxelby and Sophie Slesinger are talking with Sandor Katz, author of the book The Art of Fermentation. Tune in to hear about how bacterial cultures are reflections of our cultural identity! Anne, Sophie, and Sandor also discuss the war on bacteria, and how it is completely antithetical to boosting ones immune system and can be seen as harmful to ones health. Sandor praises the merits of fermented food and beverage, such as wine, salami, sauerkraut, and our favorite- cheese! Hear about how the work of Louis Pasteur has made it difficult for modern cheesemakers to produce raw milk cheeses. Learn more about urbanization and how it initiated a need for sterility. Grab a block of your favorite fermented cheese and tune into this episode to find out more information about the health benefits of fermented foods! This episode has been sponsored by White Oak Pastures. As a group, these cultured foods or fermented foods, are more than incidental culinary novelties. They are really at the core of our cultural identity. The word culture itself comes from the Latin word for cultivation- and so theres the sense that culture is a form cultivation, beginning with cultivating the soil for the food we eat, and on through all the other things we have learned to cultivate in different ways. -- Sandor Katz on Cutting the Curd