Fermentician (n.) – a morphing of the words ‘fermentation’ and ‘statistician’ or ‘mathematician’: an analytically-minded individual who commands millions of microorganisms to do his bidding.
Launched in January 2017, this site documents the journey of a Corporate-America insurance actuary’s flight from paper-pushing to a world of traditional, hand-crafted fermented products in Thuringia, Germany. Throughout this journey, fascinating characters are encountered, amazing food is recreated, and personal insights are shared; this site documents the experience.
If you have considered ditching it all and moving to Europe, or if you are fascinated about the world of fermented food and probiotics, or if you are simply interested in seeing Germany though the eyes of a foreigner, then you are in the right place.
With Mohnkuchen being a local favorite, there seems to be a wealth of opinion on the right recipe. Luckily, I’ve met all the people with the correct process.
Mark Komiskey is (still) a credentialed US actuary, who also teaches tap dancing, participates in a local choir, is involved in local theatre groups, and performs with his ukulele upon request (unless you are his neighbor, in which case you must request for it to stop). He has been baking since 2004, making cheese since 2014, and brewing since 2015. His goal in this adventure is to open a Chicago-based fermentation school, where locals can attend classes to hone their own baking, brewing, cheese-making, and sausage-filling skill sets.
