Sandor Katz and the tiny wild

What on earth are the tiny wild? Good question. The answer may surprise you. They're invisible microbes that, through fermentation, transform cucumbers into dill pickles and cabbage into Korean kimchi. Enter Sandor Katz. Growing up on New York City's Upper West Side, Katz' life changed dramatically in 1991 when, after learning he was HIV positive, he left New York for an off-the-grid queer community in Middle Tennessee. There he learned to make his own kraut, kosher dill pickles, and his specialty kraut chi (German sauerkraut with Korean kimchi spices), which he antically called "chopper's choice." Soon he began employing cooking with microbes to make dishes from around the world: douche and kombucha from China, puto from the Philippines, torshi from Persia and, yes, good old sourdough bread from Europe and the U.S. Using his expertise, Katz began writing books about his techniques and, as his fame spread, he founded a school at his home in Walnut Ridge, Tennessee, that attracts students from around the world. All of this is entertainingly depicted in illustrator Wilson's energetic pictures, which are an offbeat combination of cartoon art and expressionism. The book offers generous back matter, including an afterword from Katz himself, along with notes from the coauthors and, best of all, the recipe for making kraut chi. Bon appétit!

A biography of food-fermentation guru Sandor Katz. Colorful, stylized art and playful, accessible text draw in readers, beginning with the endpapers' beautiful cabbages. First, Katz is shown in his world-renowned fermentation school in Walnut Ridge, Tennessee, where his kitchen lies inside a house with a "crickety-crockety porch." Next, readers learn of his boyhood in New York City, where he grows up loving fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kosher dill pickles. As a young man, Katz watches friends dying of AIDS and then learns that he is HIV-positive. He decides that the best way to take better care of himself is to leave his beloved city and "join a community of queer folks" in rural Tennessee. When their farm is overpopulated with ready-to-harvest cabbage, Katz is inspired to try his hand at sauerkraut. Soon, he combines that recipe with Korean kimchi spices and creates something that he dubs "kraut-chi." A dazzling double-page spread shows him and his living partners at table as they dub him "Sandorkraut." Katz markets his product and eventually travels the world, teaching, learning, and writing about fermented foods. The simple instructions--"chop, salt, squeeze, pack, and wait"--become the foundation for an accessible, six-step recipe at the end. Fermentation definitions are deftly sprinkled throughout the pages. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Inspiring and "kraut-chi-licious." (notes from the author, the illustrator, and Katz; additional facts, bibliography, resources) (Picture-book biography. 7-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Sandy began to see fermentation as a world view: an invitation to old-new ways to be in the world, always fermenting, always changing, not just taking, but adding back, and tending the perpetual brine we live in-- regeneration for generations. Sandy's old-new ways school of no-heat cooking connects all, ALL of us on planet Earth-- the people and the plants and the tiny wild-- making and sharing flavor messages we love.  Excerpted from Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, June Jo Lee All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.