Franziska Wick, the founder of the Fermentista Festival and a passionate fermentation teacher, is dedicated to the magic of microorganisms. Over the past four years, she has taught more than 1,000 students. She provides training in public courses, corporate events, and at the Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland. As the founder and program curator of the Fermentista Festival, the largest fermentation festival in Switzerland, she passionately shares her knowledge of fermentation, health, and sustainability.
What inspired you to specialize in fermentation? Was there a key moment?
Yes, there was indeed a key moment that catapulted fermentation into my life out of nowhere. This happened in 2018 in Zurich’s Seefeld district when I attended a sauerkraut-making class. I knew absolutely nothing about fermenting, except that a nutritionist had recommended I support my compromised health with fermented foods. I attended the class without any expectations. That same evening, the microbes were already at work in my jar of salted cabbage – it hissed and bubbled. I was instantly transported back to my childhood; as the daughter of an internist and a medical lab technician, microbes were a daily topic at our lunch table. Back then, we only talked about the bad ones – the beneficial microbes didn’t receive much attention 40 years ago. I’ve been fascinated by bacteria, viruses, and fungi since I was a child, and because I was already writing a food blog and loved cooking passionately by that sauerkraut day in 2018, two of my great worlds collided that Saturday. I quickly decided to pursue a distance-learning course in fermentation in the USA, and, as they say, the rest is history.
How much of a role does fermentation play in your daily life? And on your menu?
For professional reasons, I ferment several times a week since I always prepare a warm meal with ferments for my course participants and offer them many other ferments to taste. Privately, I make sure to eat 1-2 tablespoons of raw, fermented vegetables daily to support my health – more on that below. I also regularly drink homemade milk kefir for the same reason. Homemade kimchi is also frequently used in my kitchen as a flavor enhancer, in everything from pizza to kimchi pancakes and noodle soups, to providing an umami kick to popcorn. Miso and shio koji are also loyal companions, as well as tempeh and sourdough bread. I love fermenting beverages, but I mainly do this for my courses since I shouldn’t consume sugar through drinks for health reasons.
What role does fermentation play in our diet today, particularly concerning health and sustainability?
It’s said that about 30% of our food is fermented, but that includes conventional ferments like yogurt, cheese, salami, bread, beer, wine, vinegar, and subtle ingredients like citric acid – industrially produced citric acid is a mold ferment from corn and is not derived from lemons. However, we are now in a time where another type of ferment is gaining attention – kimchi, unpasteurized sauerkraut, tempeh, miso pastes, sourdough bread, kombucha. Especially since the pandemic, consumers’ desire for healthier and more sustainable foods has been rising, and these ferments have secured a solid place in this category. Plant-based fermented foods fulfill various roles in health and sustainability; their textures and umami notes can replace animal products, unpasteurized vegetables, and beverages provide valuable elements for our health, such as beneficial bacteria, acids, enzymes, and short-chain fatty acids. Fermentation can also preserve regional, seasonal vegetables and fruits, reducing food waste and imports. Additionally, fermenting at home is simply fascinating: you provide the desired microbes with their required environment, and they enhance the food, often without any help from us.
FOOD ZURICH has adopted "Culinary Future" as its vision. What role will fermentation play in the diet of tomorrow? Where do the opportunities of fermentation lie?
Fermentation will play an even greater role in future nutrition than it does today. On one hand, we are confronted with rising numbers of modern chronic diseases; on the other, we are searching for tasty alternatives to animal products that do not rely on numerous additives. Industrially, fermentation will undoubtedly occupy a much larger space in the coming years—the global investments in such companies make this clear. This will occur both in the production of ready-made foods, especially in the area of alternative proteins, and in precision fermentation, where much more is possible and will be achieved. I hope that restaurateurs will increasingly turn to fermentation to offer their guests exciting, sustainable, and healthy menus, and of course, that many people will discover the transformative power of fermented foods for themselves.
What do you advise fermentation beginners to start with?
I recommend beginners start with lactic acid fermentation of vegetables, specifically fermenting vegetables in added brine. This is the simplest way to delve into the world of fermentation and microbes because lactic acid bacteria are the most low-maintenance of all microbes. After that, sauerkraut is suitable for further practice. Yeast beverages like Tepache (wild yeast from pineapple), Sima (lemon drink with sparkling wine yeast), or milk kefir are also easy ferments to start with. It’s a bit more complicated to produce really good kimchi or a well-rounded vinegar. The wild yeast in ginger beer doesn't always behave as it should and requires a bit of finesse. Sourdough bread, tempeh, and making koji rice are among the more challenging ferments. Traditional cheese and meat are then the crowning disciplines.
What highlights can we look forward to at this year's Fermentiation-Highlights during Soil to Soul?
We have put together a packed day where visitors can immerse themselves deeply into the world of fermentation from early morning until late at night. My personal highlights are these two: the keynote by Antoni Gandia, the fermentista and biotechnologist at Planted, who was involved in the development of the fermented Planted.Steak, and the Fermentista Lunch, where fermentista and chef Matteo Leoni will cook a four-course meal for guests featuring many different ferments, while I share background information and stories about these ferments—the guests will wear headphones for this; it's a great, immersive experience. There will be other keynotes, a BYO Fermentation Flash, a fermentation karaoke, and many other opportunities to exchange ideas with the international fermentista community that gathers at our festival every year. Less experienced fermentistas and beginners are also very welcome at all our networking events; we are a great community with big hearts, and we immediately include everyone.
What trends or innovations do you see in the future of fermentation? And how do you believe they will influence the culinary world?
There is an incredible amount happening in this area right now! Fermentation is a key element in the movement towards a plant-rich diet. It allows for the replication of textures and flavors traditionally found in animal products. This is happening both industrially—for example, with products like Planted.Steak or vegan garums—and in gastronomy itself. When Daniel Humm decided overnight to make Eleven Madison Park completely plant-based, he quickly turned to fermentation for alternatives to many animal products, such as his well-known sunflower butter. There is also a lot happening in the No-Low Drinks sector; yeasts are being modified to produce exciting beverages with very low alcohol content. Precision fermentation, in general, and particularly in the area of alternative proteins, is currently gaining a lot of attention from investors. Fermentation, one of the oldest culinary techniques, is experiencing a profound revival and will significantly influence the culinary world, accompanying us into a new era. New flavors, new textures, and new products will emerge from this revival, gradually integrating into people's diets.
One final question on gut health. The microbiome, the community of trillions of microorganisms that inhabit our gut, plays a crucial role in our health. By consuming fermented foods, we can introduce important microorganisms directly into our microbiome, potentially leading to better gut health and overall well-being. How can specific fermented foods be used to improve the microbiome and thus promote health?
This is a very intriguing question, and I must preface by saying that research in this area is still in its infancy—we’ve only been able to study human microbes on a large scale through gene sequencing since around 2005. Twenty years is a very short time in such a complex field. Nonetheless, we’ve already gained significant insights. With our current knowledge, it seems that consuming fermented foods likely doesn’t allow us to introduce new microbes to our gut microbiome. Additionally, with fermented foods, we don’t precisely know which microbes and in what quantities we’re consuming, unlike with a probiotic from the pharmacy.
Despite this, numerous studies today suggest that certain ferments, when consumed regularly, have significant health benefits, such as on the immune system, metabolism, inflammation levels in the body, and brain health. Specifically, these include unpasteurized fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and kimchi, homemade milk kefir, and the two drinks kombucha and water kefir, as long as they are unfiltered, unpasteurized, and low in sugar content. Even a tablespoon of sauerkraut or a glass of milk kefir daily can significantly strengthen our health and microbiome.
