Sandor Ellix Katz (born May 20, 1962) is an American food writer and DIY food activist.

Sandor Ellix Katz
A color image of Sandor Katz, a man in a loosely worn purple plaid shirt and cargo pants with grey hair and two shade of grey mutton chop sideburns and mustache. He is standing at a table in which he is making sauerkraut. He has one hand in the bowl and is making a circular gesture with the other.
Sandor Katz doing a fermentation workshop at the Monticello Heritage Harvest Festival, 12 September 2015
Born (1962-05-20) May 20, 1962 (age 62)
Known forFood writer focusing on DIY fermentation
Notable workWild Fermentation (2003)
The Art of Fermentation (2012)

Work

edit

A self-described "fermentation fetishist", Katz has taught hundreds of food workshops around the United States, and his book Wild Fermentation (2003) has been called a classic,[1] "the bible for people embarking on DIY projects like sourdough or sauerkraut",[2] and "especially notorious for getting people excited about fermenting food".[3] He was named one of Chow magazine's top "provocateurs, trendsetters, and rabble-rousers" in 2009.[4]

Personal life

edit

Born to an Ashkenazi Jewish family with origins in Eastern Europe, Katz grew up in New York City on the Upper West Side. His grandparents immigrated from Belarus in 1920, then part of the Soviet Union.[5] He is openly gay,[6] an AIDS survivor,[7] and began his fermentation experimentation while living in a rural, off-the-grid Radical Faerie community in Tennessee.[2][8]

edit

Katz was the subject of the 2009 punk rock song "Human(e) Meat (The Flensing of Sandor Katz)", a satirical vegan response to Katz's 2006 chapter on "Vegetarian Ethics and Humane Meat" in The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved.[9]

Bibliography

edit
  • Katz, Sandor (1995). Anne Frank: Voice of Hope. (Junior World Biographies). Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-7910-2120-3.
  • Katz, Sandor (1996). Whoopi Goldberg: Performer with a Heart. (Junior Black Americans of Achievement). Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-7910-2396-6.
  • Katz, Sandor (2003). Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. Chelsea Green Pub. ISBN 1-931498-23-7.
  • Katz, Sandor Ellix (2006). The Revolution Will Not be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements. White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green Publ. ISBN 1933392118.
  • Katz, Sandor (2012). The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from Around the World. Chelsea Green Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1603582865.
  • Katz, Sandor (2021). Sandor Katz's Fermentation Journeys. Chelsea Green Publishing Company. ISBN 9781645020349.

References

edit
  1. ^ "An interview with underground foodie hero Sandor Katz". Grist Magazine. 17 May 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
  2. ^ a b "On the Hunt for Wild Yeast: Chatting with home fermentation expert Sandor Ellix Katz". CHOW Magazine. 18 March 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  3. ^ "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: An Interview with Sandor Ellix Katz". Healing the Earth radio. 15 August 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
  4. ^ Lessley Anderson (2 November 2009), The CHOW 13: Sandor Katz, p. 10, archived from the original on 21 October 2012, retrieved 2 July 2013
  5. ^ "Pickling Pioneer Preaches Gospel of Fermentation". The Scroll. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  6. ^ Sandor Katz (2006), The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, Chelsea Green Publishing, p. 95, ISBN 1-933392-11-8
  7. ^ Katz, Sandor. "Who Is Sandorkraut?".
  8. ^ Winborn, George (30 May 2008), "Fermentation Fervor" (PDF), Just Out, p. 43[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Bilger, Burkhard (July 21, 2014). "Nature's Spoils". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on July 24, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
edit