The Fermentors is an ecofeminist movement that reactivates ancestral knowledge through the body, restoring human-microbial bonds, and fermenting a future of collective care, resilience, and interconnection.
Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?
Fermentors tackle the growing disconnect between people, food, and community amid an environmental crisis, resource scarcity, and urban loneliness. In a fast-paced digital world, fermentation offers an offline, hands-on, and inclusive practice that fosters deep engagement with living materials. Our collective workshops, performative dinners, and storytelling practices—such as podcasts and zine-making—cultivate knowledge-sharing, intergenerational exchange, and community resilience, countering isolation through shared sensory experiences. By making fermentation an accessible, interactive community experience, Fermentors empower younger generations to adopt sustainable, localized food practices and reclaim food sovereignty. As a regenerative, low-energy practice, fermentation reduces food waste, promotes biodiversity, and minimizes reliance on industrial food systems. By collaborating with microbial cultures, the project highlights symbiotic relationships essential for ecological balance and revives fermentation as both a cultural and material practice that strengthens social bonds and fosters sustainable living.
Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).
Fermentors, a growing network of microbial and human bodies, cultivates relationships through the practice of fermentation. Rooted in the communal ritual of fermenting Sauerkraut in the Black Forest, the movement emphasizes reactivating and preserving local material practices. Inspired by fermentation expert Sandor Ellix Katz, this project encourages deeper connections between humans and microorganisms through direct experimentation. By sharing knowledge about fermentation in embodied ways, Fermentors challenge human-centered views, highlighting the agency of microbes and the non-extractive, symbiotic relationships they sustain. Incorporating local wild cultures and ancestral techniques within participatory workshops and dinners, Fermentors create offline spaces for intergenerational exchange and community resilience. Aligning with Food Design Activism, as proposed by Francesca Zampollo, it contests unjust power structures in food systems. Operating at the intersection of food science, design, and activism, Fermentors employs intuitive, low-energy methods to envision regenerative alternatives to industrialized food systems, restoring microbial and human ecologies.
What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?
Fermentors’ innovative approach merges traditional fermentation practices with contemporary community-building and ecological activism through a feminist perspective. While many projects focus on sustainability or food systems, Fermentors emphasizes the embodied experience of fermentation as a tool for social engagement and radical care, promoting feminist values of mutual support, collaboration, and interdependence. This project challenges the industrialized food model by fostering interspecies relationships between humans and microbes, underscoring their shared role in nurturing resilience, biodiversity, and care. By cultivating a network of human and microbial bodies, Fermentors shifts the focus from individual consumption to collective practices. It actively integrates circular methods, engaging diverse communities through accessible workshops, performative dinners, and a podcast. Significantly, the project’s goal is to bridge ancestral knowledge and contemporary participatory design practices, envisioning future food systems as interconnected, sustainable ecosystems rooted in feminist principles of equality and care.
Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?
Fermentors addresses young people’s needs by providing spaces for creative expression, hands-on learning, and community engagement, all increasingly vital in today’s fast-paced, digital world. Many young individuals experience feelings of isolation, disconnection from nature, and a lack of traditional knowledge, particularly in urban settings. Engaging with fermentation—rooted in slow, embodied practices—empowers young participants to reconnect with the tactile and sensory aspects of food, their environment, and each other. The project encourages them to actively participate in sustainable, localized food practices, nurturing a deeper understanding of ecology, food sovereignty, and the importance of cultural heritage. By creating participatory spaces for learning and social exchange, young people can build community and feel empowered to take collective action against the industrialization of food systems, fostering a sense of agency while cultivating lasting connections within their communities.
