5 Ways to Embrace the Fermentation Lifestyle

From kimchi and kombucha to sauerkraut and yogurt, these days there are more ways than ever to taste the benefits of fermentation.

Good news health-minded foodies: there have never been more delicious ways to cultivate optimal microbial chemistry, make digestion easier and help balance your stomach acids. These magic treats are the product of fermentation—the breaking down of sugars into acid or alcohol by yeasts and bacteria—and you probably already love them.

1. Kombucha

Grab a growler of VanMag Taste Test winner Bucha Brew‘s fermented elixir at one of their 32 fill locations, or try a kombucha cocktail at Gastown’s Bambudda.

2. Kimchi

Kim’s Mart is a Mount Pleasant favourite and the best place in the city to get an amazing local kimchi. 519 E. Broadway, 604-708-9913

3. Sauerkraut

Grab a side of Handtaste Ferments’ locally made ‘kraut for $4 at Chinatown’s sausage and beer parlour, Bestie.

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4. Yogurt

Abbotsford’s Birchwood Dairy farm makes a creamy, tangy, European-style yogurt that’s worth the drive.

5. DIY Fermentation

Vancouver-based Homestead Junction offers fermentation workshops (learn how to make your own sourdough bread), plus DIY kits and other products (think dried milk kefir grains, koji rice for sake, and a lot of jars).

Check back for more from VanMag‘s 25 Ways to Live Forever package (our March 2017 cover story!) to learn about the myriad ways—blood transfusions, juice cleanses, IV drips—Vancouverites chase the dream of eternal youth.