Nutritional significance of fermented foods

Fermented foods are of great significance because they provide and preserve vast quantities of nutritious food in a wide diversity of flavours, aromas and textures which enrich the human diet. Fermented foods have been with us since humans arrived on earth. They will be with us far into the future as they are the source of alcoholic foods/beverages, vinegar, pickled vegetables, sausages, cheeses, yogurts, vegetable protein amino acid/peptide sauces and pastes with meat-like flavours, and leavened and sour-dough breads. While the Western world can afford to enrich its foods with synthetic vitamins, the developing world must rely upon biological enrichment for its vitamins and essential amino acids. The affluent Western world cans and freezes much of its food but the developing world must rely upon fermentation and dehydration to preserve and process its foods at costs within the budget of the average consumer. All consumers today have a considerable portion of their nutritional needs met through fermented foods and beverages. This is likely to expand in the 21st century when world population reaches 8–12 billion (109).