Culture vulture

This summer, I’ve been pimping my flora. Anyone who follows my Instagram account will see the delight I take in scaring my son’s playdates with our fermentation experiments. “Somebody wants to meet you,” we’ll screech, reaching into the tall jar of kombucha and rustling around for the scoby. Health food has never been so much fun.

Given that 90pc of our happy hormone is made in the gut, it’s probably a good idea to feed your flora, too. It might be the best weapon we have against Trump right now.

The central idea surrounding the use of cultured food, such as natural yoghurt, kimchi and sauerkraut, is that the good bacteria present in these fermented foods kick-start a massive party in our pipes. This party stokes the natural flora of our gut’s internal ecosystem.

On average, we each have about 2kg worth of live probiotic bacteria in our body. Probiotic literally means pro-life. So when we are stressed or have taken a course of antibiotics, our good bacteria is under threat. But did you know that you can feed and strengthen your good bacteria with prebiotics? Bananas, asparagus, artichokes, onions and leeks are snazztastic prebiotic foods. They will lovebomb your gut. So, too, will this popsicle.