Ferment Radio
Episodes
#51: Ferment on Earth (with Joshua Evans)
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you send a mixture of soybeans and koji mold to outer space, will it ferment as miso, even so far away from home?How do you bring it back to Earth?...
#50: View inside Insideview (with Aga Bułacik, Vaim Sarv, and Ola Zielińska)
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a phenomenon experienced by people who have seen the Earth from outer space. It is known as the “Overview Effect”: a new level of compas...
#49: Ferment among the stars (with Joshua Evans)
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When humans go to space, whether they like it or not, microbes tag along. And if microbes can live in microgravity—probably more comfortably than hu...
#48: Discover your microbial child (with Zsuzsa Millei)
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know your body is never truly sterile—even before you’re born? From semen and placenta to umbilical cord blood, your microbial journey beg...
#47: The World in a Pickle - To exist you have to resist (with César Iván Linares and Juan Escalona Meléndez)
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the World in a Pickle, we delve into the world of pulque—a fermented drink made of agave sap, or “aguamiel”, which has been c...
#46: The World in a Pickle - The end of many worlds (with Paula Neubauer)
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Guarani-Kaiowá are the people of Mato Grosso do Sul, a Central-West region of Brazil. It translates as “Thick Forest of the South", and a...
#45: The World in a Pickle - The war of the soups (with Yevhen Klopotenko)
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Russia started to claim ownership over the ever popular –and oftentimes fermented– soup known as Borscht, Ukrainian chef Yevhen Klopotenko kn...
#44: The World in a Pickle - They Came from Beyond
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Migrating birds, shipwreck survivors, extraterrestrial bodies, distant seeds washed ashore, outsiders in love, forgotten memories, and rare ingredient...
#43: Refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose…re-imagine (with Albert Franch Sunyer)
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You enter a restaurant in a historical art nouveau building, right in the center of Helsinki, Finland. You sit down and a person wearing a stylish uni...
#42: Deep, deep time (with Björn Kröger)
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Two hundread years ago, the very first illustration of prehistoric times –in a scientific context– was brought to light. It was painted by British...
#41: Making the invisible visible (with Anna Dumitriu)
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bacteria are often considered ugly and stinky; something dangerous that wants to get on us, and that we need to protect ourselves from. Fermentation i...
#40: Show me your kitchen, and I will tell you who you are (with David Zilber)
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We choose our tools, and in return, our tools shape us. Tools can be an opening to new possibilities, but also a limitation. What makes the workspace ...
#39: Yeast upon a time (with Johanna Rotko)
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It looks like a square, monochromatic, glass slide photo, and not only because of the material it is made of, but also because it could belong to a di...
#38: Fermentation is witchcraft (with Paulina Gretkierewicz)
25 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
She asks the plants for permission before foraging them. She sings to her fermentation jars. She prepares funerals for her kombucha scobies. She gives...
#37: Slimemoldesque (with Heather Barnett)
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever heard of slime mold? These organisms might not have a nervous system or even a brain, but they have impressive problem-solving abilities...
#36: Can ferments change the food system? (with David Zilber)
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A healthy food system encourages the production and consumption of foods that support a balanced gut microbiome. It reduces food waste and gives prefe...
#35: Creating space for other voices to be heard (with Noora Sandgren)
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Garden. It invites us to sit down and watch things grow. It makes us work with gazillions of other species to make them flourish. Silent observation o...
#34: Unloved unknown (with ARTIS-Micropia)
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We associate these institutions with petrified displays, and long-gone worlds that are alien to our own experience: museums. Whether we like it or not...
#33: Trust your gut and follow your microbes (with Riina Hannula)
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Can we intentionally influence our nervous system through what we do? If so, could we also activate the main nerve of our parasympathetic nervous syst...
#32: Sensing what most can’t sense (with Pia Lindman)
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We communicate with the outside world based on the information we receive through our senses. But just like fingerprints, no two people have the same ...
#31: We belong to microbes (with Terike Haapoja)
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The notion of “animal rights”, meaning that we recognize their universal, intrinsic rights, regardless if some animals are more useful for humans ...
#30: The poetry of antimicrobial resistance (with Iona Walker)
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Through language, we not only reflect our relationship with the world but also shape it. For example, what does the conviction that we need to “exte...
#29: Why artists work with bacteria? (a conversation with Laura Beloff)
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Ferment Radio, we have often talked about how artists use technology and science in order to tackle the microbial world. Do you remember the episod...
#28: Macro consequences of micro processes (a conversation with Colleen C. Myles)
21 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For centuries, fermention has had an important role in the evolution of agriculture. But the idea that fermentation can be treated as a paradigm for u...
#27: The war on bugs (a conversation with Jessica Maccaro)
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We use them all the time. Metaphors allow us to make sense of things we cannot comprehend. What metaphors do we commonly use to understand microbes? B...
#26: Recipe for controversial yogurt (with Cecilia Westbrook)
09 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2015, while in grad school, Cecilia Westbrook made yogurt out of her vaginal flora, as an experimental side-project. A journalist friend of hers wr...
#25: Can we make fermentation less white? (with Miin Chan)
10 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, an article titled "Lost in the Brine!” was published on the Eater. The author, Miin Chan, aka Dr Chan, says what most people don’t...
#24: Breaking the taboo around bacteria and vaginas (with Giulia Tomasello)
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Vaginal flora consists largely of Lactobacillus. This particular type of bacteria can affect everything, from developing certain diseases to fighting ...
#23: Afro futuristic conscious cooking (with Njathi Kabui)
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Food is something quite peculiar. On the one hand, it is very intimate: we put it in our mouths, it nourishes our bodies, and we share it with the p...
#22: Microbes and other shamanic beings (with César E. Giraldo Herrera)
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Missionaries and explorers who arrived in the Americas in the 17th century interpreted what they encountered through their own viewpoint and interests...
#21: Turning ocean problems into possibilities (with Mari Granström)
06 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Did blue-green algae bloom ever make you hesitate to take a dip in the sea during a hot summer day? It is common to hear that these algae produce tox...
#20: Play that fungi music! (with Tosca Terán)
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we celebrate one year of Ferment Radio by listening to mushrooms. We all know what their fruiting bodies look like and how some of th...
#19: Microbes, bodies, and politics (with Stefanie Fishel)
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We need new words and concepts to explain the complexity of the world. Metaphors have the potential to be a productive tool to motivate social and pol...
#18: Spirulina for all (with Anya Muangkote)
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Food production is one of the major drivers of global environmental change. Spirulina, a kind of cyanobacteria, has a big chance to benefit the enviro...
#17: It’s alive!!! (with Adrien Rigobello)
16 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many fermented foods and beverages seem gross. What exactly is this feeling of disgust? Where does it come from? Is it the fear of something unfamilia...
#16: The unpredictables (with Sarah Lloyd)
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a group of microorganisms that have been on the planet for about 600 million years. They’re unicellular, but have many nuclei; they are br...
#15: Waiting for time to do its job (with Andrew Gryf Paterson)
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The kitchen is a space that many people might not think is worth sharing. It’s a place known for messy preparations, and not exactly perfect results...
#14: There are no simple solutions for complex problems (with Aviaja Hauptmann)
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fermented meat is seen by many as something closer to a dead body than to a pickle. This kind of fermentation practices have often been subjectively r...
#13: How much of our survival depends on consumption? (with Zayaan Khan)
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Microbes might be small, but they play a big role in the work of Zayaan Khan, an ecological artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. Tune into Ferment...
#12: Sourdough is a snapshot of a moment (with Karl de Smedt)
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a perfect episode to listen to when you’re baking your own bread. You’ll find answers to questions you always wanted to ask about your sou...
#11: Gentle transformations (with Eva Bakkeslett)
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ferment Radio bid farewell to 2020 with an exciting episode about transformations inspired by micro worlds. Join us in a conversation with Eva Bakkesl...
#10: Pure, or not pure (with Stephanie Maroney)
29 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Different ideas about food and eating can actually change our understanding of society, and have a strong influence on how we live our lives. Ferment...
#9: Thinking of difference, differently (with Deboleena Roy)
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Neuroscience, molecular biology, feminist science and technology studies, feminist theory, postcolonial studies, and reproductive justice movements. T...
#8: Fermenting Feminism (with Lauren Fournier)
31 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when we put together fermenting and feminism? In this conversation with Lauren Fournier –a writer, curator, video artist, and filmmake...
#7: Fermenting our way out of trouble (with Maya Hey)
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Fermentation keeps things from going bad! Let’s face it, microbes and humans will always be connected. But, can we actually apply this fermentation ...
#6: I wish I had superpowers to see microbes (with Maya Hey)
20 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The 6th episode of Ferment Radio is the first part of a conversation with Maya Hey, a scholar and PhD candidate at Concordia University researching fe...
#5: Interspecies collaborations (with Mindaugas Gapševičius)
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On Ferment Radio’s 5th episode, we will engage in a conversation about “collaborations with bacteria”. Together with Mindaugas Gapševičius –...
#4: Healing the inanimate with bacteria (with Christina Stadlbauer)
29 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Christina Stadlbauer is an artist working in the interstices between art and science. Her work pivots around life; animals, plants, and bacteria. On t...
#3: Microbial time and space travels (with Mateusz Kędzior)
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On Ferment Radio’s 3d episode, we learn about microorganisms as our ancestors, time vehicles, and superheroes! Find out about this and much more in ...
#2: Microbes as social actors (with Salla Sariola)
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Salla Sariola is a social scientist at the University of Helsinki, Finland. In this episode, we will talk about her research on microbes as social act...
#1: Fermentation On Wheels (with Tara Whitsitt)
09 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tara Whitsitt is a nomadic artist and educator whose passion for growing food and teaching fermentation inspired the grassroots educational project “...
Ferment Radio (Trailer)
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas