Still Alive

San Francisco, USA — There's a jar that's been hungry since 1849. A sourdough starter, fed daily for 175 years. Flour and water in, carbon dioxide out. The thing is alive.

It's alive right now, in the dark, digesting.

What's in the Jar

Wild yeast. Lactobacillus bacteria. Billions of organisms eating, reproducing, dying. When you bake, the heat kills most of them. The survivors — the bit you saved back — carry on.

The Boudin Bakery claims their starter survived the 1906 earthquake. A baker's wife grabbed the crock while the city burned. True? Maybe. The bacteria in their bread is Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis — named for the city where it was first identified.

The Ship Problem

A starter that's been fed for 175 years — is it the same starter? The yeast population shifts. The bacteria evolve. The flour changes, the water changes, the temperature changes. Every variable matters.

Ship of Theseus, but it eats.

The Korean Calendar

In Korea, kimjang is the autumn event where families make the year's kimchi. Hundreds of cabbages, salted and spiced, packed into clay pots, buried to ferment through winter.

The jang — the fermented paste — often comes from last year. Or the year before. Some families claim jang going back generations. The paste carries the bacteria of every year's batch, every year's hands.

UNESCO listed kimjang as intangible heritage. Not the food — the practice.

What Lives

The Egyptians made sourdough 4,000 years ago. They didn't know what yeast was. They knew the dough needed feeding. They knew it could die.

That's the whole science, really. Keep it alive. Everything else is detail.