David ZILBER

Noma’s director of fermentation wants you to ferment everything

‘You can’t be jiggy in your clothes if you’re not looking and feeling right’

ALONG WITH CHEF RENÉ REDZEPI, Zilber cowrote The Noma Guide to Fermentation, bringing cutting-edge R&D lessons from the world-renowned Denmark restaurant to the masses.

GQ: What’s the deal with fermenting at home?

People get fucking fired up by the fact that there’s that holy-shit moment: ‘Wow, it’s not just sauerkraut. It’s everything. I can make meat and fruit taste different if I want to. I can enter this pact with nature and interact with the food that I produce and eat.’

GQ: You say fermented foods not only taste good but also feel good to eat. Why’s that?

You end up tasting the molecules responsible for satiety in a higher quantity than you would in a traditional meal. By outsourcing that act of digestion, your body assimilates them at a much higher rate. Meals always leave you feeling full but never bloated, and vegetables, because of fermentation, can be as delicious as any steak.

GQ: How come Westerners only started talking about fermentation recently?

The reason why it’s exciting is that things go wrong on occasion – the splendour of the natural world is the diversity and uncontrollability of fermentation writ large. When you understand that, it lets you ferment better and move through the world more at peace, with more understanding and appreciation for the natural world.