FLX Fermentation Festival
August 16 – August 18
Location: Cumming Nature Center
What do Pickles, kimchi, cheese, and beer have in common? They’re all fermented! But yes, they do taste good together too.
We’re excited to host our first ever FLX Fermentation Festival at the Cumming Nature Center, celebrating our regional abundance through the art of fermentation. Throughout the weekend-long event, we’ll combine hands-on science with artisan craft through lectures, demonstrations, and workshops. The festival will feature regional businesses and provide a welcoming space for professional networking. The festival will be elevated by the presence of internationally renowned fermentation expert and author, Sandor Katz, who will lead workshops Saturday and Sunday and give the keynote lecture on Saturday.
We’ll kick the weekend off with a small dinner at Hollerhorn Distillery in Naples with Sandor Katz (reservation required). On Saturday, we’ll host a series of small group, 45–min workshops led by Katz, along with a tasting featuring 15+ local food trucks, eateries, food purveyors featuring their products, offering tastings, and teaching guests about their abundance. Saturday will close with a keynote presentation by Sandor Katz followed by dinner & live music. We’ll end the weekend with an intensive, small-group workshop led by the weekend’s chief fermentation guru, Sandor Katz, which will run 9am-2pm.
Our hope for this weekend is that you leave this event engaged in the fruits of fermentation, aware of the connection between food and wellness, and more deeply connected to your regional food system and the businesses comprised therein. Explore the schedule below and reserve a spot to join us!
Sandor Katz Bio:
Sandor Ellix Katz is a fermentation revivalist. His books Wild Fermentation and the Art of Fermentation, along with the hundreds of fermentation workshops he has taught around the world, have helped to catalyze a broad revival of the fermentation arts. A self-taught experimentalist who lives in rural Tennessee, the New York Times calls him “one of the unlikely rock stars of the American food scene.” Sandor is the recipient of a James Beard award and other honors. For more information, check out his website.
Festival Schedule
We want to teach fermentation through as many forms as possible! Our weekend festival is structured to offer you a wide range of activities, some more hands-on (workshops) and others more self led (tastings). See below and choose how you want to take part.
Saturday, August 17:
Small group workshops with Sandor Katz.
– Three 75 minute workshops will be held on Saturday at 9am; 10:30am; 12:45pm. They will be limited to 8 people. Topics to come & registration links to come.
All day lectures:
10–10:45am: Fermentation of Seed Saving with Petra Page-Mann of Fruition Seeds
11–11:45am: Sheep Cheese & Yogurt with Black Pearl Creamery
12–12:45pm: Fermentation & Salami – speaker information to come
1–1:45pm: Beer, Wine, & Spirits: Discussion of brewing & the science behind alcoholic beverages
2-3:30pm: Keynote by Sandor Katz
5–7pm: Dinner & Live music
Sunday, August 18:
Intensive, small-group workshop with Sandor 9am-2pm (includes breakfast, snacks, and lunch).
Tickets
Saturday Workshops: $60/person
Sunday All-day Intensive Workshop: $325/person
Reserve tickets by contacting: 585.697.1942. Ticket link coming soon.
