Our Fermented Future: Preview

Inspired by the recent Stanford Fermented Food Conference, I imagined outlandish futures:that ultra-processed foods are a thing of the past; that crops are grown indoors after climate change devastates farmlands; that absolutely everyone makes home-brewed kombucha. This is a preview of a series about possible futures that will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. New episodes drop every Friday.

Introduction: The World of 2100

It’s 2100, and kombucha? It flows from a worldwide network of fermentation vats. The Great Health Awakening of 2047 shattered BigSoda’s duopoly when personalized medicine proved that individual gut microbiomes determined optimal beverage choices. Corporate monocultures collapsed as distributed fermentation networks—powered by AI mycologists and quantum-enhanced SCOBYs—delivered custom-brewed probiotics directly to consumers based on their biometric profiles. Climate refugees discovered that kombucha cultures thrive in vertical hydroponic gardens, making it one of the most sustainable beverages on a warming planet. What began early in the 21^st Century as a hipster health drink evolved into humanity’s primary liquid interface with symbiotic biotechnology.

In the Beginning: 2025

We sit here in 2025 at the apex of a global industrial civilization. Billions have been lifted out of poverty. In the developed world, living standards and life expectancy are at levels that were unimaginable 75 years ago. In 1950, there were no color televisions, smartphones, electric cars, PCs, or microwave ovens. I was born in the England of the 1950’s, at a time when rationing of food and gasoline was still in place. The polio vaccine had not been discovered. We had a limited diet, and without a refrigerator in the kitchen, my Mum shopped daily for vegetables, bread, and milk. Even in the USA, the land of plenty, there were only around 3,000 products in a typical supermarket. Seventy-five years later, by 2025, the number of SKUs had reached 26,000—dramatic developments in one lifetime.

What will the world be like in the year 2100, 75 years from now? When today’s toddlers are as old as I am today. What changes will have occurred in the economy, society, and the climate? What scientific breakthroughs?  What will our diets be like? Our nutrition? Our beverage choices?

Today, kombucha producers, both home brewers and commercial brands, are in the minority. Even in the hipster communities of Santa Monica, Marin County, and Hackney Wick, most people have never tasted kombucha. Back in 1950, no one, except for those with Russian grandmothers who kept a jar of ‘booch in the kitchen, had even heard of kombucha.

But imagine, for a moment, what it would be like if everyone drank ‘booch as regularly as they consume beer or wine, coffee, or tea today. What would the world of 2100 be like if this happened? What developments in science, production, and consumer awareness would usher in such a world?  Are there any seeds of change that have been planted today that we can, with intelligent scenario planning, project into the future? What is there in the kombucha market today that augur changes in global acceptance? What scenarios of a speculative look 75 years ahead can help commercial kombucha companies make better decisions today? Is this even possible?

This is a story of possibilities.

Prelude: The Morning Commute

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