My maternal grandfather, Basilio Pacha Kirilenko, left me a precious legacy without knowing it. He arrived in Argentina from Ukraine with his family in 1929. Like many other immigrants, they escaped the global economic crisis and the post-war famine. They arrived in Berisso, in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, with their culture and customs. Among those habits, immigrants like my grandfather’s family maintained the tradition of making and consuming a very special food. Kefir - do you know it? Kefir is a fermented food, originally from the Caucus region in Asia and Eastern Europe. You start with milk and kefir grains, a gelatinous paste that looks like popcorn or cauliflower, where millions of bacteria and yeast live together for their mutual benefit in a symbiotic relationship. The kefir grains ferment the milk and self-reproduce. That’s why in each subsequent batch you always get more grain. It is important to note that it’s impossible to get a grain from anywhere other than a previous grain. All these characteristics encourage people to share and distribute their growing grains. The resulting drink is a lot like a yogurt and is known for its health benefits because it contains probiotic microorganisms. These microorganisms intervene in the processes of the intestinal flora, benefiting the immune system or improving nutrient absorption, preventing the effects of pathogenic microorganisms. Kefir is also linked to the longevity of the communities that consume it. This food’s preparation is easy, artisanal and inexpensive. Its origins reportedly reach back 4000 years to the Bronze Age, and despite this ancestral origin so distant, kefir has spread all over the world, mainly passed from person to person. However, not all people maintained and passed on these traditions, partly due to cultural changes, and to changes in the way we produce and consume food that took place in the 20th century, when market logic was imposed. Thus we can say that there was a lost generation that didn’t continue or maintain the relationship with kefir. And this is what happened in my family. But life is an ascending spiral where everything returns. The new and old live together. This is how kefir came to reappear not only to keep the tradition alive, but also to mark my personal and professional life. When I studied biotechnology at the National University of La Plata, I heard about a project that offered kefir in the cafeteria. Kefir had been brought to the university by a student who consumed it at home. The initial reaction of the professor who received the kefir for the first time was to think: What is this? Is it spoiled? Maybe I should throw it out. A second and third student had to come in bringing their own kefir for the professor to think: This is not a coincidence... We have to study this. And so, they began to investigate this food through scientific studies. How is it made? What is it made of? What are its benefits? But in this moment, Argentina was facing a difficult situation. The 2001 economic crisis had hit, and in the most vulnerable neighborhoods, more and more community kitchens were emerging. So the professor thought they should make use of these nutritional properties, and she guided the incorporation of kefir into the diets of the people who came to the kitchens through talks, seminars, workshops, children’s theater productions, and other learning activities. The knowledge broke past the boundaries of academia and was used to serve the public’s needs. Taking advantage of this knowledge, we built an action network that reached other universities like the National University of Hurlingham and other rural comunities and neighborhoods in other countries. Starting with this exchange between the community and the university and through kefir’s unique characteristics, a new concept emerged. The concept of a community of communities, a community of microorganisms, that is shared within a huge network of people who exchange the grain and share know-how. Kefir is a living food, and to make it, know-how comes into play. We know what it contains, and we know how it is made. We know how to consume it, and what its benefits are. Although kefir may not be eye-catching, how many other other foods can we say that about? Kefir calls into question and opposes market logic in three key ways. First, the grains reproduce on their own - you always get more - and this encourages people to share the grain freely. Secondly, kefir’s fermentation evolves while stored, making it difficult to have a stable product on supermarket shelves. And thirdly, kefir cannot be patented; it does not belong to anyone in particular and we can all own it. While the food industry separates us from food processing and hides information from us, the network of people making and consuming kefir brings us closer to one another and to our food. Just how every grain is the offspring of the one before it and the starter of a new one, everyone that participates in the process needs to find other people to maintain and develop it. The key to this ancestral food’s success seems to be, in the end, cooperation. Is it important that we talk about food these days? I think yes! And I am going to give important and contradictory reasons why. A third of global food production becomes waste; it is thrown away. At the same time, a third of the world population experiences food insecurity. What is happening here? Technological development in recent years has lead to great scientific advancements but it has not reduced inequality. With modern biotechnology, we can produce food even in circumstances that in other periods caused scarcity, such as frost and drought. However billions of people experience hunger today. Knowledge advances, but at the same speed that inequality grows. Poverty is what shortens lifespans, more than obesity or hypertension which we talk so much about. When we fight hunger, especially after the pandemic, we have the chance to create a new paradigm. Public debate around food for example, laws requiring labels for foods high in fat, are an opportunity and a starting point to make the necessary leap. This is why kefir can be a model focused on health, on culture, on solidarity and on cooperation that could be used to build another model. Prioritizing the exchange of knowledge, building bridges, and promoting community networks are the challenges of this ancestral food that traveled centuries, kilometers, and generations. Just like my grandfather. Now I’d like to say this: our context demands a more just, equal and interdependent future. I propose creating a collective solution. We learned through kefir the fundamental role that processes in organized networks have to make a new social model of community, and we joined the enormous ancient thread that lead us to today. As a factor in the construction of other cultural and culinary practices, as another way to organize society, another way to produce and spread ideas. May knowledge set us free, may freedom serve to transform injustices.
