Our Mission

Photo by Adam DeTour/Catrine Kelty

Welcome to MicrobialFoods.org, a scientific resource for producers, purveyors, and enthusiasts of artisan microbial foods.

The growing interest in fermented foods has been fueled by a large number of excellent how-to guides. But information on why fermentation happens and the microbiology behind these artisan foods is generally hard to access. This site is a forum for the synthesis and distribution of current knowledge and research on the microbiology of fermented artisan foods.

We will be updating this site frequently, and plan to include information on a wide variety of microbial foodstuffs, from fermented dairy products to pickled vegetables, kombucha, fermented meats, and naturally leavened bread. Our experience and research has focused primarily on cheese, and thus the material will undoubtedly show a dairy bias.

The site is organized into several sections:

Feature Articles are longer pieces that examine timely topics, exciting new developments, and unsolved mysteries in fermentation.

Science Digested pieces provide concise summaries of important research on microbial foods. In addition to introducing the science, these summaries will emphasise the practical implications of the findings.

Microbe Guides provide concise summaries of the biology of important microbial groups in fermented foods. These pieces provide notes on appearance, functions in foods, and approaches for management.

Techniques is a ‘how-to’ section with methods for gathering information to help producers engage with their fermentations.

Profiles introduce readers to producers, researchers, consultants, and sellers whose livelihoods bring them into contact with microbial foods on a daily basis.

Are there particular topics you’d like to see us cover? Or do you have other ideas for this website? If so, please Contact Us.

Thanks for visiting the site!

Bronwen Percival and Benjamin Wolfe