NOTE FROM TED: Please do not look to this talk for medical advice. This talk only represents the speaker's personal views and understanding of fermentation and health. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/t...

Kathryn Lukas recounts how she traced the extraordinarily good taste of unpasteurized German sauerkraut to unique microbes in a variety of fermented foods and beverages around the world. She encourages us to rekindle the ancient and symbiotic relationship with these beneficial microbes to create our own unique fermented family heirlooms at home. Fermenting with live cultures is a long tradition in human culture from Peru to Korea and Kathryn relates how it may be the future to our collective gut health and well being. Microbe Evangelist Kathryn Lukas is the founder of Farmhouse Culture, a company that makes fermented livecultured foods and beverages and the bestselling author of The Farmhouse Culture Guide to Fermenting. Kathryn fell in love with fermentation at her restaurant in Germany and upon her return to the U.S., learned how to make liveculture ferments. Obsessed, she traveled the globe in pursuit of ancient fermentation techniques and in 2008 founded her company. She now shares her love and knowledge of fermented, liveculture foods and their powerful healing qualities through workshops and retreats worldwide. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx