Fermentation School
"Hi Elle,
please reserve a place for me on your next workshop. I am looking forward to making Christmas pickles and drinks.
I have loved all the previous masterclasses. I have learned so much and made some amazing ferments.
I made some delicious tomatillo salsa and pebble dashed the wall with beetroot kvass - I wish I'd taken a picture it looked fantastic!
I would never have had the confidence to make all the different ferments without your enthusiastic and fun way of making it look so easy .
Thank you thank you my family are healthier because of you, you have opened up a whole new world for me I never knew existed. I look forward to seeing you and learning some more."
Why a Fermentation Class?
From kefir to sauerkraut (and other delicious fermented dishes and drinks) my fermentation workshops offer a rich, nutritious source of beneficial gut bacteria, so desperately needed by most of us.
Everyone loves getting their hands on grated cabbage and squeezing all the juices out of it, then stuffing it in a jar to take home!
In my workshops you learn how to put back the good guys where they belong: in your belly!
Book one of my fermentation workshops to learn how to make these wonderful foods in your own kitchen.
You could even book a fermentation workshop as a novel alternative birthday treat!
Why come to my workshops?
Because, quite frankly, I'm awesome!
Joking aside, I have a true passion for honest, yummy food and a tradition to match it...
I grew up in a very traditional Greek household where fermented foods were the order of the day. Nothing was wasted. Every food had a delicious recipe to prepare it, preserve it or store it in some way. My great grandmother, who was the royal midwife and master herbalist, ruled over her household staff with a rod of iron. I have vivid memories of crisp starched linen, gleaming crystal and silverware, a bewildering array of meticulously labeled medical bottles and jars, and racks of herbs drying suspended over an enormous glowing range. Dog-eared time-stained notebooks, crammed in her beautiful handwriting (how could she write sooo neatly?!) and those vivid memories are my precious legacy.
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I never thought I'd ever re-create my great grandmother's penchant for healing and cooking. I wandered through medical school, education, business, family and early parenthood without once giving thought to my rich heritage. I was unaware it was bubbling away in the background - until my children's health challenged me to find ways to help them that modern medicine could not offer. It was a sharp, urgent awakening that led me away from my conventional medical training. I retrained into naturopathy, nutrition, herbal medicine and homeopathy, piecing together nuggets of wisdom and aha! moments. And one day, I came across my great-grandmother's dog-eared notebooks languishing in a box in the shed after yet another house move...
Her beautiful handwriting, stained and faded in places, recorded astute and wise observations, tried and tested healing notes, and recipes for hearty nourishing food (one recipe often achieving both healing and nourishment)...
I discovered recipes for "lahanakia toursi" (lacto-fermented brussels sprouts), "piperies xydates" (sweet peppers pickled in vinegar and spices), "kotosoupa" (chicken soup) and "zomos vodinou" (beef broth), (her broth recipes are just amazing!), jostling for space with healing poultices for chest colds, tinctures for heart support and treatments for earache, sore throat and styes.
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I feel very privileged to have met and worked with Sandor Katz, the one-man fermentation revivalist, who captivated me with his gentle, unassuming, yet passionate love for the healing art of fermented foods, and celebrity master baker Dan Lepard, whose finesse and flair fired my love for sourdough baking.
When I came across Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride and her Gut And Psychology Syndrome work for supporting autism, ASD, depression and other conditions associated with gut dysbiosis, I knew I was on the right path for addressing both my family's and my patients' problems. I am proud to have worked with her and be one of her certified practitioners.
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And I'd be very remiss if I did not mention Nick Barnard of Rude Health, whose unfailing enthusiasm for all things biodynamic are a constant inspiration.
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The traditional knowledge I had taken for granted is missing from most modern kitchens. I hadn't realised how the rich smorgasbord of fermented foods and drinks had disappeared, giving way to bland 'food-like' but largely inedible, manufactured substances which lack vibrancy, vitality and authentic taste.
Fermented foods became the centre of my kitchen and my practice... and Bubbling Life was born.
What you say:
"Elle, thank you for another excellent workshop!!!
We learn so much from you... not only about fermentation but also about other health matters, and you are so knowledgeable about geopolitical issues, which you then kindly share with us!
I mentioned it before: you are an excellent teacher and I think part of that is because you are very patient as a teacher and you graciously go over things until the attendees understand it, because you understand that not everybody is on the same level and so sometimes some key information has to be repeated a number of times throughout the workshop and you seem to have an instinctual knowing when to do so... amazing!
Thanks once again!"
Dr R DS, Surrey
