Sneha Solanki of the A to Z Unit joined our research residency programme in October and is spending 3 months at the lab working on her project the MICRO_FOOD Library.
‘The MICRO_FOOD Library aims to bring the microbial transformers from our food systems to the forefront as a library of micro-organisms. Missing and un-credited bacteria, yeasts & fungus often perform to provide complex flavour profiles, nutrition & of course intoxication – Although their hard-work is enjoyed by many they often go unnoticed.
During the research residency, the project aims to bridge or counter some of this oversight through developing a repository of knowledge and micro-organisms that aspires to engender a ‘D.I.Y’ (Do It Yourself), D.I.T.O (Do It Together) or ‘D.I.W.O’s (Do It With Others) approach to culturing, consuming and engaging with this integral element from our food landscape. The A to Z Unit is an autonomous and evolving culinary research facility with a mission to map, investigate and interact with food systems and ecologies.’
During the first month of the residency Sneha has conducted a large amount of research, planning and mapping for the library – building it into a coherent and ‘possible’ framework.
The first micro organisms introduced into the library are:
Acetobacter aceti, Acetobacter Ketogenum, Acetobacter pasteurianus, Acetobacter xylinum, Acetobacter xylinoides, Bacterium gluconicum, Bacterium xylinum, Brettanomyces bruxellensis, Brettanomyces lambicus, Brettanomyces custersii, Gluconacetobacter kombuchae, Kloeckera apiculata / Hanseniaspora uvarum, Pichia pastoris, Saccharomycodes apiculatus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomycodes ludwigii, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Zygosaccharomyces bailii, Zygosaccharomyces kombuchaensis, Lactococcus lactis var. longi, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus (Lactobacillus bulgaricus) Streptococcus salivarius subspecies thermophilus (Streptococcus thermophilus)– common name: Egyptian Kombucha and Långfil & Bulgarian yoghurts, all chosen for their reversioning or continuous legacy.
These organisms, and others that will be added will be classified under an ‘X-Number‘ system- to credit their hard-work which often goes uncredited from our food systems.
Micro-organisms Engineered through genetic systems or synthetic biology will be organised as the ‘E-Number‘ system within the ‘MICRO _FOOD library’. Taking over the ‘European’ ‘E-Number’ system post-brexit.