We love it when people get interested and enthusiastic about food. That could be growing it in a backyard garden or containers on a porch, or doing some countertop fermentation and brewing kombucha. Or even making and nurturing your own sourdough! In reviewing our past posts, we’ve realized that part of our assumption is that if you’re buying our sourdough breads and pastas, you’re already into and familiar with fermented foods.
But what if you’re the person who has the joy of introducing a new friend to a new fermented food? And it happens to be fermented? What do you say? How do you approach it? This post is for those of you who find yourselves in that wonderful position!
Getting Into to Fermented Foods
Our place to start this post is by asking you to remember how you first got into fermented foods yourself. There are a lot of different ways! Cast back — when did you first try beer or wine? Did a friend introduced you to kombucha at a summer backyard party?
Maybe a high pressure job lead to gut issues and looking for a way to ease uncomfortable digestive symptoms. So your doctor recommended probiotics. Maybe you inherited a special fermented culture. Or you grew up making sauerkraut as just one of those seasonal family things you do…
Maybe travel or a first date led to the first try of fresh kimchi or miso, or a local grocery store was promoting new products and that featured local pickled beets and onions that sounded interesting. Or you moved to a new small city where the tip for great bread was a local sourdough bakery…
There are honestly so many ways we can encounter fermented foods today. It’s been a joy to see the resurgent interest in sourdough and fermentation over the last 15 years here in Canada and in B.C.
Introducing someone to new fermented foods
So however you first learned about fermented foods, think back to how that experience went. Did you have any specific questions that came up? Worries? Fears? Concern about the smell or what the taste of the fermented food in front of you might be like?
Reflecting on your own experience might give you an anchor point for understanding how someone might react to you introducing them to a new weird food. Or maybe not. Either way, your best bet is to know what you’re bringing and be ready to answer questions.
Making the Introduction
As you likely know, there are a lot of different fermented foods out there. You might start by drawing on experience that someone already has with common ones, like beer and wines and take the conversation from there. You might start by sharing a recipe or recipe book with a friend. Some of this will be knowing your friend and how they learn best. And some of it might be acknowledging, “Hey, this might seem weird, but I’m excited about x, y and z and want you to try it, too.”
There are a lot of right ways to get someone into fermented foods and bring a new food into someone’s life. Of course – you know your friends or families best, and need to be aware of any allergies and food intolerances. Both so you don’t accidentally make someone ill, and so that you can respect that they might not being open to trying something new. And that’s okay, too.
For those who might be game to try, sometimes, a straightforward, “Have you ever tried…?” is a good way, to go, too! Or volunteering to host a dinner where you cook your favourite sourdough pasta! You can start the conversation after the compliments start rolling in! Or maybe it’s a birthday and you know a foodie who would appreciate a few well-chosen edibles as part of a gift.
Go Forth and Share!
We think sharing in the joy of good foods is one of the best parts of life. We love good foods that bring people together, and we love being a part of that for someone. Hearing about your stories of sharing our products as gifts and making a positive difference in someone’s life brings us joy.
Above all, have fun. Food should be fun as well as nourishing. We’ve found it can be super rewarding to introduce someone to their next favourite food. In this case, it might just turn out to be fermented.
Back to news
