In a world increasingly disconnected from its food sources, fermentation evangelist Sandor Ellix Katz stands out as a champion of microbial culture—literally. Author of groundbreaking books like The Art of Fermentation and Wild Fermentation, both books I own, Katz has helped usher in a global revival of age-old food practices. His work is not only culinary but deeply ecological, spiritual, and political—highlighting how fermentation preserves both nutrients and traditions in an age of ecological collapse and over-industrialized food.

At Green Prophet, where we’re constantly exploring the beautiful dance of ecology, culture, and innovation in the Middle East and beyond, we spoke to Sandor Katz about the ancient roots and modern relevance of fermentation—especially in water-scarce regions like ours. Here is our Q&A.

Karin Kloosterman: In the Middle East, ancient fermented foods like labneh, pickled turnips, and date wine have long been part of daily life. Do you think fermentation could be a tool for ecological resilience in water-scarce, climate-stressed regions like ours—and if so, how?

Sandor Katz:
In every region of the world, fermentation is an ancient practice, an essential way in which people in varied climates and topographies have been able to make effective use of available food resources. Fermentation enables many foods to be preserved without refrigeration, breaks down toxic compounds in certain otherwise inedible foods, and enables some foods to be eaten with much less cooking, saving fuel. Fermentation is most definitely a tool for ecological resilience.

Kloosterman: From a microbial point of view, borders are meaningless. What does that say about our shared biological and cultural heritage when everyone is busy these days laying claim to their own unique heritage?

Katz:
I’m not sure I agree with the premise of your question, since all microbes, like every cell, have membranes that function as borders. But cell membranes, like all borders and boundaries, are never absolute—they are selectively permeable. Life processes require some degree of permeability for access to water, oxygen, minerals, and food, as well as the release of metabolic by-products.

Many varied microbes inhabit each of us, like every multicellular life form in existence, and they respect neither the autonomy of our individual bodies nor political borders. Specific microbial communities in different environments can vary quite a lot; yet their presence is ubiquitous. Our coexistence with the microbes present on our food is inevitable, yet the unique ways in which people in different parts of the world developed to work with this biological reality (that was not specifically understood until recent times) are distinctly cultural. Different cultural lineages have produced many distinctive fermented products. And yet so many of them are similar. Culture is never fixed; it is always evolving and always being influenced.

Kloosterman: Could fermented foods—rich in microbes—play a role in healing not just the gut but also trauma, memory, or even the land itself? Have you come across any stories that link fermentation to emotional or ancestral healing?

Katz:
Certainly microbes play a huge role in healing land and water, and as we learn about the important connections between gut microbes and brain chemistry, in healing human traumas as well.

Kloosterman: In a time of ecological collapse, techno-solutionism, and AI-driven agriculture, do you believe fermentation can re-root us in slowness, decay, and human-scaled knowledge? What’s one radical thing you wish more young eco-activists knew about microbes?

Katz:
I know that the ecological destruction and catastrophes activists are focused on are vast in scale, but in thinking about strategies we cannot overlook microorganisms. Microbes may be small, but they are numerous, they are powerful, and they are resilient.

Kloosterman: Give us a short overview on what’s keeping you busy now and how we can access your latest book/project.

Katz:
My latest project is a natural history of fermentation, which will be published next year by Timber Press. I continue to teach in varied locations, and you can find out where on my website www.wildfermentation.com.

Get Fermenting: Favorite Recipes from the Green Prophet Kitchen

At Green Prophet, we’ve celebrated Middle Eastern fermentation traditions for years. Here are a few of our favorite starter recipes:

• Labneh (strained yogurt):
  This is something my children would make in their Waldorf kindergardens, after making bread. Rich in probiotics and easily made at home by draining plain yogurt through a cheesecloth. Add olive oil, za’atar, or mint for a Levantine twist. Or try kefir.

• Sumarian beer:
  Beer used to be made by women, before it became big business. Travel around the ancient times by making a simple beer loved by our mutual ancestors.

• Preserved lemons:
  For a taste of Sinai and Egypt. This easy-to-make and easy to use spice uses the entire lemon. Just make sure they are organic. Get the recipe here.

Whether you’re fermenting on a balcony in Beirut or your basement in Boise, embracing microbial culture is a revolutionary act. In a time of upheaval, Sandor Katz reminds us that transformation—of food, land, and self—often begins with the smallest life forms.

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As a daughter of a garbage collector and reseller, and grand-daughter of a garbage dump manager, I am pretty thrilled to find other garbage collectors appreciate the value in things thrown out. Garbage collectors in Ankara, Turkey, see things the same way and have collected books thrown out in the trash and have created an underground library for all the books. They use the library before and after their shifts.

Initially, the books were only for employees and their families to borrow. But as the collection grew and interest spread throughout the community, the library was eventually opened to the public in 2017. Locals now give books directly to the library.

“We started to discuss the idea of creating a library from these books. And when everyone supported it, this project happened,” said Çankaya Mayor Alper Tasdelen, whose local government oversaw the opening of the library.

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In this day and age, with the superpower of Google, you can locate any recipe, and find infinite recipe ideas, online. So what’s the point of owning a cookbook? Aren’t cookbooks a little outdated?

The answer, in my opinion, is no. An analogy could be made comparing “real books” to “E-books,” such as those purchased for Kindle. With a three-dimensional, weighted book, you can enjoy the feeling of flipping through the pages, keep it in a specially designated spot, and appreciate what it’s given you as you see the subtle wear and tear over the years.

And what makes a cookbook even more desirable is if it’s a work of art. Beirut Cooks is the first book by Pascale Habis, a Beirut-based design expert. It is what The Daily Star called Habis’ “love letter to the city [of Beirut] and its people.”

On its beautifully designed pages are recipes contributed by 37 individuals, all Beirut locals, professional chefs and amateur cooks alike. A few names stand out from other circles – for example, Rabih Keyrouz is a well-known fashion designer, Bernard Khoury a prominent architect – but the aim of the cookbook is to highlight the home cooking of everyday people.

Home cooking is easily cheaper, fresher, and more honest than cooking you’d get when dining out. Recipe ingredients are likely to be bought and used more promptly, not frozen or allowed to turn bad, and many items like fresh produce can be homegrown.

While local and organic ingredients are not often used in the restaurant industry, they should be readily available and highly considered by those shopping for home.

Due to the mixed pool of recipe-donators and the aesthetic mind of its creator, Beirut Cooks boasts a special look at the diversity of Lebanese cuisine on tastefully formatted pages.

Beirut Cooks was published by Rawiya Editions and can be purchased online or found at all major bookstores in London, Paris, Lebanon, and throughout the Middle East.

Images of Pascale Habis and fresh ingredients found on the Beirut Cooks website.

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A great collection of short stories inspired by the ecological crisis which are honest, creative and sometimes really funny

I don’t know if it’s just me but whenever someone recommends a book that is for charity or even a song that is ‘worthy’ – alarm bells go off. Alarms that tell me to stay away and to avoid contact at all costs. ‘If they want money, then just ask and don’t put us through the hassle to reading drivel written by virtuous people or music designed for hippies with only the strongest stamina’ I reason. As such, you can imagine my delight when I did actually read a book of climate-inspired short stories which is not only giving all the royalties to the ‘Stop Climate Chaos Coalition’ but is also genuinely worth recommending. This can’t happen often – or I hope not, as I might be missing out on some great stuff.

There are 21 stories in ‘Beacons – Stories For Our Not So Distant Future’, one of which is a graphic short story, with contributions from the UK’s greatest short story writers. There’s a story with a time machine, one with a Scottish Chief, a story about a vanilla sundae with hot chocolate sauce, one about suicide-inducing TV presenters, Marco Polo, about children, death, unfulfilled love and loads more about people navigating a quickly shifting landscape where the norm is no more.

Here’s what you need to know (in a format inspired by the short stories):

1. You need to read more stuff by Adam Marek, David Constantine, Liz Jenson and A.L.Kennedy. Holly Howitt and Jem Poster were pretty good too. They all have great stories in the collection, but that’s obvious isn’t it.

2. There are only two, maybe 3, stories which are duds which isn’t bad considering there are 21 stories in the collection.

3. The editor has done a great job. It also seems that all the writers all have taken the theme seriously and thought hard about the issue of climate change before putting pen to paper/hand to keyboard(?).

4. I have been informed by a reliable friend that my criticism that most of the authors mention the weather is unfair as this collection is about climate change.

5. I love short stories and also happen to know the editor Gregory Norminton so I might be a tad biased. But only a tad.

6. Helen Simpson, who has written a great short story collection on climate change titled ‘In Flight Entertainment’, is missing from the collection. Maybe she was all out of climate stories. Who knows.

7. All the stories are new commissions. No reprints, no nothing – all in all, you get your money’s worth.

8. The editor decided to put together the book to support the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition back in 2007. The collection has been a long time coming but I think the final product was worth the wait.

9. It’s only £8.99/ $14.99 and you can buy Beacons – Stories For Our Not So Distant Future here.

10. If want to read another great collection of environmentally inspired stories after you’ve read this collection, you could do worse than to read Verso’s ‘I’m With The Bears’ which was reviewed here.

Title: Beacons – Stories for our not so distant future
Editor: Gregory Norminton
ISBN:9781851689699
Publication Date: 07/03/2013
Binding:Paperback
256 pages

For more book reviews see: 
A No-Nonsense Guide To Climate Change by Danny Chivers
Book Review – I’m With The Bears
Earth Architect Nader Khalili’s Book: Racing Alone

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Chocolates are fattening and the flower industry is often horribly destructive to the environment, so your special eco-friend is unlikely to be impressed with these last minute valentine gifts. (Unless of course you care to make Miriam’s carob balls, which will convert even the most committed Nestle addict.) This year for Valentine’s day, why not surprise your girlfriend by planning ahead? Here are a few creative and perhaps unconventional ideas.

1: Books

What women want has plagued men since they stopped pummeling them over the head with clubs. It wouldn’t be fair to generalize, but many emancipated women today – who have more going on than what shade of polish to use on their toenails – often want to be valued for their minds. To show that you appreciate your loved one’s beautiful eco-mind, why not surprise her with a copy of an environmentally-themed book.

You could try:

Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman, a good starter book that covers many of the most important environmental themes that every informed citizen should be aware of. Or, if your girlfriend is already super savvy and wants to take the next step, perhaps try A Good Life by Leo Hickman, a guide to living ethically. There are literally hundreds of new books on the shelf, but for serious environmentalists, used books are by far the better option. Also, be sure to check up on your partner’s wish list so you don’t  give her something she has already read.

2: DIY Project

I’m going to take a lot of heat for this, but I would swoon over dead if my (future) partner brought home a recycled, do-it-yourself project that we could do together. Maybe a groovy new  coffee table made out of recycled materials, or some kind of upcycled arts project – like something that might come out of Junktion Studio perhaps.

Not only will this inspire quality time together, but joint creativity often brings the best out of couples. Of course, if your girlfriend is not artistically inclined and would only get frustrated by her inability to do the project, skip to idea number three.

3: ETSY

She may not be so skilled in the DIY or arts department, but that doesn’t mean you can’t melt her heart with a carefully-selected  piece from Etsy.

Everything is handmade and supports every day people who have infused their creations with love and patience. You can find jewelry, wool products  such as Paula Leven’s bags, and all kinds of art. Be sure to familiarize yourself with her style, don’t get anything too off-the-wall – since art selections are often deeply personal; and if you do go a little wrong, she will nonetheless treasure this thoughtful gift for life.

4: An Outing

If, like me, your sweetheart enjoys the outdoors, you can’t go wrong by planning an outing. Something different. Depending on where you live, you might decide to go on a bike ride along the Mediterranean, or in wine country.

Or bundling up in something warm and going for a long, refreshing hike that will not only reinvigorate your body, but will catapult you out of the hustle and bustle of fast life that can often drain your love. Just taking the time to plan something special will let her know how valuable she is to you.

5: Dinner

Maybe both you and your partner are so busy that you don’t have time to take out the whole day to do something, or maybe you have been married for a long time and have babies such that merely getting out of the house for a meal would be an amazing treat.

In that case, why not take your eco-conscious loved one out for a delicious vegetarian meal.

On the other hand, if you are a typically urban couple and eat out all the time, surprise your sweetie with a home-cooked meal. Miriam always has tons of recipe ideas, starting with Baba Ghanoush, which – coupled with a glass of organic wine – should end on a very satisfying note!

:: images via Spixey, longhorndave, liquene, Felix Francis

More valentine ideas from Green Prophet:

Give “LOLI” Organic Sweets to Your Valentine This Year

KAPARA’s Upcycled Gift Ideas (and last year’s giveaway)

How Fair is That Rose, Dear Egypt?

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As most artists and writers know from experience, inspiration can strike at any moment – while driving the car, while brewing the morning coffee, or in the shower.  Sultan Saeed says he owes his inspiration for the title of the book to the online game, World of Warcraft.

Sultan Saeed was playing the game with a friend, when the pair encountered some noxious (though simulated) birds in an uncharted dungeon.  Perhaps because he is an animal lover, or perhaps because he had already worked out in his mind some strategy for success in the game that required the use of the birds, unharmed, Sultan Saeed started shouting at his friend, “Leave the Birds Alone!”

He is quoted as saying, “This incident has stuck with me all these years, so I decided to name my first book after it.”  The title found him; he didn’t have to search for it.

Readers, though, can take this quote and assign to it some deeper meaning (maybe by considering it the perfect maxim to combat harm inflicted on birds from wind turbines?).

A single thought dominates each page of Leave the Birds Alone.   Here are four examples:

“Qualities qualify you, more than qualifications.”

“Always pay attention to the small details; they are the hardest to find when missing.”

“One mistake can lead to another, yet not as much as one solution leading to another mistake.”

“Don’t say your life is peachy, as others may be looking to make a cobbler out of it.”

Furthermore, each page is graphically designed in accordance with its aphorism.  For example, the second example quote from above (“Always pay attention…”) is written over and over, covering one line after the next, in very small font.

Sultan Saeed announced, “I don’t say this book will change your life or this book is going to help you become a millionaire, rapper, cowboy, space jumper…But I would say this book doesn’t insult intelligence or flatter stupidity. It’s just me sharing my thoughts.”

His goal in publishing this work was to amuse readers, and I think Leave the Birds Alone will continue to accomplish that.  It is available for Kindle on Amazon, and hard copies are being sold, but only in Abu Dhabi.

::The National

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We all know that eating sustainably, and eating local is good for the planet and good for the economy. Now that your New Year’s resolutions to eat better have come into effect, check out your local bookseller for seven recycled titles that will help bolster your New Year’s food resolutions. These titles are largely published before 2012 but still relevant.  Dig in.

1. Eating Animals (Penguin, 2011)

Part memoir, part science: novelist Jonathan Safran Foer’s takes a philosophical look at how we justify what we eat . Prepare yourself for an epiphany.

2. Manifestos on the Future of Food & Seed (South End Press, 2007)

Food activist Vandana Shiva edits a collection of papers from advocates of the slow food movement, organic farming and local eating.  A choppy ride, but in the end these varied views (from the likes of Prince Charles and Michael Pollan) make a solid case for food deindustrialization.

3. Animal Vegetable Miracle: Miracle of Our Year of Sustainable Eating (Faber & Faber, 2007)

A chronicle of the year that author Barbara Kingsolver and family went to the woods, unlike Thoreau, to eat deliberately. Their radical experiment to “go locavore” explores my mom’s old gem “you are what you eat”.

4. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Penguin Press, 2006)

Michael Pollan explores modern American eating: dubious trends with far-reaching influence. If you like your wake-up calls loud and clear, crack this binding.

5. New Book of Middle Eastern Food (Alfred E. Knopf, 2000)

Claudia Roden’s original 1973 classic updated and expanded.  Culled from 30 years of extensive Middle East travel, she’s concocted simple prep methods for over 800+ regional recipes from Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.  Read it for the recipes, but also for the riveting stories behind this extraordinary food.

6.  Book of Jewish Food (Alfred E. Knopf, 1996)

Oy, Claudia, again with the 800+ recipes?

Here’s the story of the Jews told through the story of their cooking, with emphasis on development of both Ashkenazic and Sephardic cuisine. Ms. Roden’s stories are as delicious as her recipes.

7. Appetites (Counterpoint Press, 2003)

It’s sad to tag this as an “anorexia” book. Sadder still that its author died before publishing more of her sagacious take on the modern female experience. Caroline Knapp’s memoir of her war with self-image expands to explore wider cultural messages. It’s a powerful call to all women to learn what it is to “feed both the body and the soul”.

Top image of books on a bun by Shutterstock

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On my first free Friday in Amman, I walked to the downtown end of Rainbow Street and turned left to find the merchants of Souk Jara just beginning to set up shop.  Souk Jara is Amman’s tidy Friday Market, and walking casually down the wide grassy lane, with abundant kiosks on either side – not to mention sampling watermelon slushes and other fresh fruit smoothies from the food stands down a perpendicular path – is a pleasant way to start the weekend.

While most vendors sell handmade jewelry or hand-painted kitchenware, Ahmad Kamal Azban sells copies of the books from the program he and his friend Tony Michael Anqoud created.  When I encountered Azban that Friday, he gave me a winning sales pitch about his products.

Diwan Baladna, or “Our Country’s Meeting Place,” is a set of two informative books on Arab-Jordanian life.  The first is on culture, the second on language.  The books were published in January 2010 and May 2011, respectively.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a source for learning about Arab culture as light and humorous as the first book.  Chapters are divided according to major aspects of life in the Arab world, including greeting behavior, the influence of the evil eye, wedding and funeral traditions, and even the practice of pigeon-keeping!  An impending second edition boasts fifteen new topics.

Then there is the language book, which is promoted as “The Unprecedented Spoken Arabic Dictionary…separated by topic and covering every conceivable eventuality” and an assemblage of “the best portions of all the major language programs in Jordan.”

What makes it unique is its focus on colloquial expressions and casual tone.  As an Arabic student, my school studies are restricted to fusha, or formal Arabic.

Diwan Baladna, on the other hand, teaches the vernacular as well as popular “metaphors, metonymies, signs, and similes.”

Azban authored these books in the hope that foreigners, Westerners especially, would gain better understanding – and avoid misunderstandings – of Arab-Jordanian life.  “As a Jordanian, I want to bridge the gap of understanding between my own culture and that of our Western friends.  Diwan Baladna is a resource that can do just that,” writes Azban on the product page.

For those who are in Amman but not able to make it to Souk Jara and meet Azban himself, Diwan Baladna books are sold in Books@Cafe, Wild Jordan, and the Good Bookshop.  They are also available in E-book formats.

A valuable guide and easy read for those interested in the Arab world, the Diwan Baladna culture and language set is a wise purchase.  Even King Abdullah approves; in Jordan, the King’s Academy uses the materials for its new Arabic culture course.

::Diwan Baladna

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This fall Egypt’s Bibliotheca Alexandria will celebrate the tenth anniversary of its opening. It is one of the region’s grandest and most beautiful libraries. Although it currently holds only one million books there is room for expansion. Bibliotheca Alexandria has shelf space for over eight million books. This library has become a public center of learning and activism. It recently hosted the Natural Sciences Earth and Sun Festival, with public programs about the environment and conversation. The facility’s library for the visually impaired offers monthly computer literacy classes and Braille reading courses.

Bibliotheca Alexandria is a rare example in the Middle East, offering the public affordable (often free) educational opportunities and the chance to see diverse art collections, including sculptures, paintings, ceramics and photographs by prominent Egyptian artists.

In Israel The Garden Library has been another example, on a much smaller scale, of a Middle Eastern library bridging the socioeconomic literacy divide, recycling books while strengthening the community.

Israeli entrepreneur Raz Godelnik, CEO of Eco-Libris, recommended joining a local library as the best way for book lovers to make their habit ecologically sustainable.

The Middle East has a history of monumental libraries. Unfortunately many of the region’s historic libraries have been destroyed or severely damaged, including the original Library of Alexandria, the Library of Antioch, Baghdad’s ancient House of Wisdom and most recently the Egyptian Scientific Institute in 2011.

Scores of Iraqi libraries have been destroyed or looted since 2003, including the Iraq National Library and Archive and libraries at both the University of Baghdad and the University of Mosul.

The ruins of the library of Celsus in Turkey are such a potent national symbol that they were featured on the country’s twenty million lira banknotes from 2001 to 2009.

Reviving this tradition of monumental, public learning institutions could have immensely positive results for the region’s peoples.

And as is typically the case with Egypt, from cinema to libraries, the land of the sphinx has celebrated history with immense style. Bibliotheca Alexandria is adorned with writing in over 100 languages and surrounded by a pool of water with bright blue tiles.

::Majalla

Images of Bibliotheca Alexandria in Egypt and the library of Celsus in Turkey via Shutterstock

Read more about libraries in the Middle East:
Novel Bus-Stop Libraries in Israel Promote Green Transportation
A Model “Garden Library” For Urban Environments in Transition
Sustainable Reading: The CEO of Eco-Libris Speaks

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