Who we are
Fermenta Collective is a living community and cultural laboratory based in Berlin preserving and celebrating traditional food knowledge while cultivating social and ecological transformation.
At Fermenta, fermentation is more than food—it's a method of thinking, making, and connecting. Each ferment is a small-scale ecosystem, revealing interdependence between human care and microbial life.
Our kitchen is a commons, a space where tradition meets experimentation, recipes carry stories, and ecological awareness is cultivated through the act of making. Participants experience the temporal rhythms of fermentation, learning to value patience, attentiveness, and the slow emergence of results—lessons that extend beyond the kitchen into social and cultural practice.
The collective was started by Valeska Bührer, a curator, researcher and designer who has spent many years working at the meeting point of art, archives and everyday knowledge. Fermenta brings that practice into the kitchen. It is run as a feminist collective: we care about who passes knowledge on, who gets credited for it, and how it can be shared without being taken.
Fermenta Atlas
Fermenta Atlas is a growing global directory for people who make, teach, sell and seek out ferments. You will find everything from Turkish turşu and Korean kimchi to sourdough, koji, kombucha, vinegar and cured foods, organised by place and by ferment.
Every listing is written together with the people behind it. You suggest a maker, shop, class or kitchen, and a curator works with you on the entry so that it tells a real story, not just an address. The Atlas is free while we build it.
Beyond the Atlas
Fermenta also happens offline:
- Workshops in Berlin, often hosted with fellow makers and cooks from different food cultures
- Film screenings and talks about fermentation, migration and memory
- A newsletter with new listings, upcoming events and stories from the community
Take part
Know someone who should be in the Atlas? Suggest a listing. Would you like to help shape a city or a ferment category? Become a curator.
Questions
Who writes the entries?
Curators do. Every entry in the Atlas is written and checked by a person at Fermenta Collective, usually with the maker rather than about them. Nothing is scraped and nothing is auto-generated.
How do I get listed?
Tell us what it is, and a curator writes the page with you. You see the draft before it goes live. There is no fee, the Atlas is free while we are building it.
Can I edit my own listing?
Not yet. Editing your own page comes later this year. For now a curator makes every change, which also means you can send us half an answer and we will ask about the rest.
Why is there no login?
Because a directory does not need one. There are no reader accounts, no registration and no saved lists, which means there is nothing about you for us to keep.
Something on my page is wrong.
Send a correction from the entry itself, the link is at the bottom of every page. Listings are community-kept, and we credit the fix.
Why are all the photographs black and white?
It is how the Atlas is printed, on screen as well as on paper. We keep the colour original you send us, untouched, and convert it for display.
Contact
We would love to hear from you, whether it is a tip, a correction, a collaboration idea or just a question about your sauerkraut.
Email: hello@fermentacollective.de
Instagram: @fermentacollective