caring for the world’s microbiomes: sourdough, compost, your gut, and a pickle with eric pallant

Join us in welcoming Eric Pallant, author of Sourdough Culture: A History of Breadmaking from Ancient to Modern Bakers . Eric will facilitate a garden tour and talk, followed by a book signing and artisanal food and beverage tasting.

About the event:

Microscopic organisms run the world. The fact that they are responsible for chocolate, coffee, wine, cheese, and bread should be proof enough. They are also essential for keeping the global ecosystems functioning, turning formerly living things from waste into nutrients for new life. Treat microscopic organisms with disrespect, however, and the outcome - a worldwide pandemic. When humans and microbes are in agreement, the world is a happy place. Come walk the garden to learn the secrets of microbial ecology and to learn to care for microscopic menageries that make delicious sourdough bread, beautiful compost, a healthy gut, and even a pickle.

What To Expect:

Participants will enjoy a tour of the Pound Ridge Organics’ garden and farm. After which we’ll assemble around the fire pit for a fascinating talk that connects the complex world within our bodies to the living world beneath our feet. Participants will be treated to delicious locally produced Cross Culture Kombucha, Eric’s freshly-baked sourdough bread hot out of the oven, and an assortment of artisanal toppings created by Donna, chef/owner of Pound Ridge Organics, using delicious organic seasonal ingredients fresh from the farm. In addition, you will receive a signed copy of Eric’s book Sourdough Culture.

About The Book:

SOURDOUGH CULTURE presents the history and science of sourdough bread baking, from its discovery more than six thousand years ago to its worldwide popularity today, in a compelling, engaging narrative sure to appeal to a large readership. Sourdough Culture traces this tradition across continents, from its origins in the Middle East’s Fertile Crescent to Europe and then around the world. Pallant explains how sourdough fed some of history’s most significant figures, such as Plato, Pliny the Elder, Louis Pasteur, Marie Antoinette, Martin Luther, and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. He also tells the stories of the lesser-known individuals who relied on sourdough for sustenance: Egyptian pyramid builders, ancient Roman bakers, medieval housewives, Gold Rush miners, and the many, many others who have produced their daily bread in anonymity.

Each chapter of Sourdough Culture is accompanied by a selection from Pallant’s own favorite recipes, which span millennia and traverse continents, and highlight an array of approaches, traditions, and methods to sourdough bread baking. Sourdough Culture is a rich, informative, engaging read, especially for bakers—whether skilled or just  beginners—and tells the absorbing and highly readable story of how sourdough bread has fed the world.

About The Author:

Eric Pallant is a two-time Fulbright Scholar, double, award-winning professor, and the Christine Scott Nelson Endowed Professor of Environmental Science and Sustainability at Allegheny College. He is acknowledged for his skill in weaving research narratives into compelling stories for NPR, CNN, Foreign Policy, theGresham Lecture Series, London, bread symposia, podcasts, and articles for magazines such as Gastronomica, Sierra, and Science. You can learn more about him at https://www.ericpallant.com/.