If we can agree on one thing, it will be on our current era's emphasis on change. What do I mean by this? Simply that our current understanding of the world is that tomorrow there will be something new, either a new version of this software or a new television or a new car. Everything is constantly changing, we can even state that the only constant is change, or something in that line of thought. We are constantly faced with something new, a new version of this old version. (I am reminded of the saying: if something is not broken, why change it? There is a simple answer: because if you do not change it, the next person will and that person will make the money.) We have to settle with change: nothing remains as it was. This is a really interesting thing to think about: What is precisely understood (philosophically) under the concept of "change" and how does this influence fermentation? This post (and maybe the next one) will look at the concept of "change" and why it is important for you to cope with it.
The Different Concepts of Change
We can basically ask what is change? Heraclitus of Ephesus was famous for saying that you cannot step in the same river twice, and that the world is constantly changing. This can be relevant even for us today. Let us look at some of the ways we can interpret "change".
Firstly, something can change form, but in essence, it is the same thing. We can say that something, call it A, is still A, even though it underwent a change. The image below is of mustard seeds. The seeds, call them A, was once encapsulated in the tiny pods on the mustard plant. I cut them down and let them dry out, in other words, changing them, but after this, the mustard seeds still remain the same. The mustard seeds, in essence, did not change at all.
Secondly, we can think about something that undergoes a change, to be changed in essence. This can be stated as follows: A changed to become B. The image below shows that process. I took the mustard seeds and crushed them, I then let them sit in vinegar and wine and then it became a Dijon styled mustard. I took something, the mustard seeds or A, and I changed it into something else, the Dijon styled mustard or B. In essence, the mustard seeds changed (given the fact that I added other stuff).
Thirdly, and very similar to the second but with a subtle difference, change can happen over time. It is not done by the hand of someone or something. It is left alone to change, and this is due to time passing. One can call this process ageing. It is the same as in the second, we can show this as follows: A to B due to time (and not something I do). The image below shows it nicely with the help of some rotten or old apple cores (and a rotten apple).
Fourthly, and lastly, and once again very similar to the above, is that of a combination of the second and third. I can change something manually and use time (or ageing) to change something. This can be shown by the use of bread baking, because it changes the first product in such a way that the end product does not resemble the finishing product even slightly. You start with the wheat or barley (or any type of grain). Similar to the process of mustard seeds, you take the wheat (almost like the seeds) from the plant, crush them to a flour. You thus, firstly, change the shape of the product (and in essence, not the product itself).
If I add water, as I did with the mustard seeds, I get a new product. This product, in essence, changed from the first product. When you add water to flour you get something that does not resemble the first product. You can also not go back to the first product. You cannot take the water out of the flour and be left with flour as you started with it. You changed the product completely. (In the image below you can see the change.)
The second change I use is ageing. I leave the new product, i.e. the dough, alone for a while to "age" or to ferment. Without my own doing, the product changes due to time. (This is not entirely true: it is not time that changes the product, but bacteria and yeast. But I cannot see this, I can only after some time see the effects. This gives the illusion that changes occurred due to time.) With a third transformation or change (due to the baking procedure) I get the final product. I went from A, the wheat on the plant, to D, the finished bread.
Why Change is Important
The short answer is simply because without change life would stand still. This seems odd to say. Please bear with me. We are so used to time passing that we take it as a given. We are so used to things changing, we take it as a given. If all bacteria and yeast one day "decided" to stop, life would be vastly different. Most things would die. So the short answer is simply that life would stand still.
The longer and more difficult reason, is that it makes life what we call life. Without change, normal foods would disappear from the counters. Drinks, like wine and beer, would disappear. Life would "change" and not be the same. Change is important because it gives us what we have. We can make the argument that without change (and in this case fermentation or mold) we would never have found penicillin. The import thing here is that we learned how to use it to our advantage.
(This is obviously not a good answer to why it is important. I will elaborate on this in the next piece.)
Coping with Change
We can conclude with a rather anticlimactic note: change is inevitable. But we can add to this that we are in an interesting time because change for Heraclitus is not the same for us. We have the constant change of life, but also our societies that change constantly. Traveling from one country to a next has never been easier, getting a new computer can be done every month, a new phone will come out every year. But our political and societal environments are also changing so quickly. Never before, to my mind, have we experienced this kind of change. Life changing events are made over split-second decisions. If you go back to your home after a long day at work everything could change, some political party broke up, a school shooting, a mass murder, a war started over some stupid decision. Our lives are defined by immediacy and change. But we need to cope with this. And this is where fermentation and philosophy come in. But, alas, this will be discussed in the next post. I will broaden the discussed points, and further the argument.
(Thank you for everybody who reads my posts and upvotes. I do not know how to say thank you. Please feel free to leave a comment.)