Why We Need a Fermentation Czar
Fermented foods are a vital thread in the tapestry of human existence. Since before written history, humans have partnered with their bacterial allies to preserve food, remove toxins and enhance nutritional value while boosting immunity and mood.
As a young country, America’s food culture was imported and ultimately co-opted by Big Ag interests who prefer factory farming and mass production of ultra-processed foods stripped of their vitality. Ferments lost their status in this New World and have only recently been rediscovered in the Fermentation Revival started by Sandor Katz in the late 1990s thanks to his ‘zine “Wild Fermentation.”
Synchronously, the Human Genome Project gave way to the Human Microbiome Project and the once maligned microbes upon whom we’ve been waging germ warfare – one could even posit – all of humanity – has had to acknowledge that there are far more beneficial organisms that live inside and on our bodies and in fact every surface of the planet that are key to the health and well being of all creatures.
We are facing a crisis of metabolic disease in America that has spread beyond our borders as other countries have adopted our nutritionally depleted, chemically addictive food habits. And yet, it is easily reversed! No pharmaceutifal interventions are required when we simply make a few changes.
However, the government is slow to react and burdened by lobbying interests that profit off of human sickness – both in creating poisonous foods and in offer poison pills. Adding fermented foods to an overhauled “food pyramid” or whatever shape the dietary recommendations take are a huge step forward in returning humanity to harmony and sanity. And unfortunately, what happens in the United States is that in lieu of regulation, there’s litigation. A costly system that enriches those who suck profits from small businesses that don’t fit into the current codes and prevent fermented foods producers from being able to provide these nutrient dense foods to their communities and compete with the soda and junk food industries.
Why is Hannah a Good Fit for this role?
A lifelong educator and fermented foods advocate, Hannah Ruhamah, lovingly known as “The Kombucha Mamma” has dedicated her life to the mission of “Changing the World, One Gut at a Time.” While she met Kombucha by kismet, the symbiotic nature of the culture and its immediate health benefits sparked a now two decades long journey of advocacy.
Not only has she and her husband and business partner, Alex LaGory, been educating millions of consumers about the benefits of Kombucha via their popular educational website – KombuchaKamp.com – they have also been bacteria farmers, sellers of commercial Kombucha and ultimately the co-founders of Kombucha Brewers International, the trade association representing commercial Kombucha across the globe.
In her role as President, Hannah and KBI members developed the Kombucha Code of Practice which enshrined Traditionally Fermented Kombucha Tea while also acknowledging that commercial production can require different types of processes in order to reach a larger audience.
She has actively lobbyied Congress and the Senate since 2016 for the passage of the commonsense tax code update called the KOMBUCHA Act which has received bipartisan support though has not found the appropriate vehicle to be enacted – which could also be due in part to Kombucha being a young industry with not a lot of resources to fund massive lobbying campaigns – unlike Big Soda.
Hannah’s dedication to Kombucha and her mission have led her to teach hundreds of workshops across the globe speaking at conferences in multiple countries. Her and Alex’s best selling book, The Big Book of Kombucha, has sold over 500,000 copies and is translated into 6 languages. They also created the Kombucha Research Database to collate all known research in a single location.
Hannah’s unique passion for education, transparent labeling, research and advocacy make her the perfect candidate for this role.
Platform & Policies
- Add fermented foods to the national nutrition requirements.
- Establish science & tradition based common sense regulations for fermentation businesses including cottage food businesses.
- Update outdated tax code to create a “Healthy Low Alcohol” beverage category for traditionally fermented, non-intoxicating beverages such as Kombucha, Water Kefir, Ginger Bug, Beet Kvass and so forth.
- Create subsidies to support fermentation businesses including biannual (every 2 years) DNA sequencing for additional transparency.
- Fund research to fully understand the anecdotal and historic uses of traditional fermented foods.
- Identify and develop novel applications for fermentation cultures such as using Kombucha SCOBYs for wound dressing; to remove toxins from groundwater; to create sustainable wood, paper and other biodegradable materials and many others.
- Establish fermentariums in hospitals – the ferments can be fed to the patients, the byproducts can be used as disinfectants, wound dressings and many other applications to replace harmful chemicals that create super bugs.
