Economics of Fermentation

By Charles Eisenstein. Originally appeared in Wise Traditions Magazine.

My brother John and I share a hobby of brewing lacto-fermented sodas – root beers and ginger ales – which we share among family and friends and occasionally sell at health food conventions. Often we are asked, "Where can I buy this?" Our answer is "Nowhere." Unless you are lucky enough to run into us at the Weston A. Price Conference, chances are you will never see lacto-fermented soda for sale anywhere.

Our personal reasons for not "expanding our operation" are deeply relevant to the conflict between craft and commerce in food production. Usually I make soda in 5-gallon batches. The process is fairly time-consuming, but it fits in well with other chores and there is no obligation to brew a certain amount at a certain time. Since I enjoy brewing several times a week, I produce a surplus – far more than our own family can drink. To expand to a commercial level, though, would mean changes in the way I brew, because as it stands I can only net about $20 per hour of labor. To be commercially viable, I would need to exploit efficiencies of scale by buying better equipment: a bottle-washing machine, bottler, larger fermentation vessels, etc. Then it is no longer a kitchen hobby; it is a business that must consider shipping, legal licensing, labeling laws, sanitation regulations, accounting, etc.

The Compromises of Commerce

So far so good. Some people are naturally inclined towards business. There are more and more small foodcrafting businesses these days, and I am happy to pay a premium for their products. But it is more than a matter of hobby vs. business – there are certain compromises one must make to bring production past a certain critical volume. The critical volume for fermented foods is especially low, because the product is alive and working. Lactofermented soda keeps fermenting in the bottle, for instance, leading to foaming and spraying when you open it, or even dangerous exploding bottles, if you leave them out long enough. There is a good reason that mass-marketed soft drinks are dead. In fact it is a necessity in the context of national brands, centralized production, and mass distribution. To change the way food is produced and processed inescapably demands changes in the way it is distributed and sold.

The compromises one would have to make to sell fermented soda on an economically viable scale are constant refrigeration and scary warning labels, or pasteurization, or plastic bottles. None are acceptable to us, for ecological and health reasons.

Similar compromises apply to most of the fermented foods that have survived the last century of food industrialization. Pickles and relish are no longer fermented at all, but preserved in vinegar and sterilized with heat in the canning process. Wine is treated with sodium metabisulfite before fermentation to destroy wild bacteria and yeasts that make the results less predictable. Beer is usually pasteurized or microfiltered to kill or remove living yeast. Yogurt survives, but it just isn't as good after the first day; the same is true of bread. Sauerkraut is usually pasteurized. To be sure there are niche brands, available in health-food stores, which are still living foods, but then freezing or refrigeration is necessary. This is rather ironic, since a major motivation for fermenting foods in the first place was to preserve them, in the days before refrigeration.

To make our soda with pleasure and without compromise limits us to a production level of ten to twenty gallons a week. This is sufficient to supply perhaps five or ten households. From this realization, a new (or rather very old) economic model of food production suggests itself.

Read the rest...

Great article!
Thanks for posting this. I agree wholeheartedly about the limitations of scale in the production of food and drink (especially fermented and alive food and drinks).

There seems to be a certain "natural" scale for different foods and drinks. It is a range, above which something has to give. Usually to go beyond the upper limit requires changing the product altogether or sacrificing quality. Also there is an economics and ethics to it. When you are brewing batches for yourself and friends you are willing to pay 2 dollars more for organic cane sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup...but if you are a business brewing 1,000's of gallons you might not be able to afford that cost difference (just an example). If you are brewing for anonymous consumers you might not worry too much about the ingredients you put in, if you are brewing for yourself and friends then you better worry about what you put it!!!

I totally agree about what you've said about there being a natural scale for the production of different foods and beverages. Fermented and cultured foods were traditionally artisanal products, made in small batches with great care. There is tremendous natural variation between different batches. When these foods are made on a larger scale, it becomes necessary to standardize them, which usually involves destroying the health benefits that make them so desirable in the first place.

Laurel Blair, NTP
www.dynamicbalancenutrition.com