Food Fermentation and Its Relevance in the Human History

Currently, more than 5000 different fermented foods are consumed by mankind worldwide; many of them are ethnic and produced in a particular region. In this chapter, the archeological and anthropological evidence of the origins of various fermented foods, their diversifications, biogeography, and microorganisms associated with fermentation have been discussed. Furthermore, a brief account of global fermented foods such as cereals (i.e. bread, injera, dosa, and idli,), legumes (i.e., miso, nato, soy sauce), vegetables (i.e., kimchi, sauerkraut, kocho, etc), roots and tubers (i.e., gari, fufu, lafun, etc), fermented fish sauce and pastes, sausage, milk (i.e., yogurt, curd, kefir and koumiss, levan, etc), fermented beverages and their nutritional benefits (i.e., food preservation, production of aroma, flavor and bioactive compounds), cultural and social significance, are discussed.