The Fermented Man

On January 1, 2014, homebrewer and writer Derek Dellinger began a journey that would change everything he thought he knew about fermented food and beverage. For an entire year, Dellinger ate and drank only products that had been created by microbes. Exploring the vast world of fermentation, he became the living embodiment of its cultural and nutritional power―he became the Fermented Man.In this highly entertaining narrative, Dellinger catalogs his year spent on this unorthodox diet, revealing insights about the science of fermentation as well as its cultural history, culinary value, and nutritional impact. All the while, readers accompany Dellinger as he forages for living bacteria in the modern American grocery store, samples mucousy green Century Eggs in Chinatown, and embarks on an epic quest to Iceland for rotten shark meat, investigating a realm of forgotten foods that is endlessly complex and surprisingly flavorful. With bonus recipes for readers eager to get off the page and into the kitchen, The Fermented Man is an adventure story, culinary history, and science project all in one.

Derek Dellinger is a writer, brewer, and fermentation enthusiast based in the Hudson Valley. He is the brewmaster at Kent Falls Brewing Company, the first farmhouse brewery in the state of Connecticut (and undoubtedly the only brewery in the area spontaneously fermenting beers outside of a barn in an old milk chiller). Derek also writes about homebrewing, fermentation, food, and beer for a number of publications, including his blog, www.bear-flavored.com.