The Art of Fermentation 20 Sep 12 Many of East Asia’s best known
foods, such as soy sauce or kimchi, are the result of carefully
perfected recipes that ferment raw ingredients with yeasts,
molds and bacteria to create wonderful flavors. However, the
original homemade or artisan versions of these products, often
made in a myriad of regional varieties, are increasingly being
lost to industrial brands. To draw attention to this loss,
Korean Slow Food members organized the “Asian fermented foods
and food culture' conference on September 14. “Korean, Japanese
and Chinese cultures each have a rich tradition of fermented
foods, with key products that are known to the world, however
they also share the same problems of traditional artisan
production, which means quality healthy products are being
replaced with processed imitations,” said Soo Jin Park, Slow
Food Busan Convivium leader and organizer of the conference that
included participants from each country. During the one-day
conference, producers spoke about thei