fats. Many of my students ask me about microwave cooking. They often have an intuitive feeling that it must affect food, yet they don’ t know how. Fire heats food by friction, as it causes the molecules to move around and rub against one another. Microwaves heat food by alternating the magnetic polarity of the atoms; that is, the positive pole is made negative and back again, thousands of times per second. In other words, the electromagnetic field is altered. Very little research has been done on the health effects of microwave cooking; however, food tastes peculiar when prepared that way, and I share my students’ intuitive feeling that something is not quite right. If the electromagnetic field is altered, the shape of various components of the food must change somewhat, that is, vitamins are undoubtedly affected adversely; the food’ s energy field is probably weakened. I also wonder if a steady diet of microwaved foods wouldn’ t affect our thinking ability in some way. Time will tell. Cooking makes animal foods tasty and safer to eat. The other side of the coin is that too much cooked animal protein causes indigestion, intestinal putrefaction, body odor, bad breath, and stresses kidney and liver function. Raw animal protein may be more digestible, 6 but on a spiritual level it brings us too close to the animal being, so we instinctively shrink away from it. In the few cases in which we do eat it, such as in sushi( raw fish) or steak tartare, it is invariably accompanied by strong seasonings— ginger, mustard paste, capers, black pepper— as well as elaborate visuals, so as to distract us from its rawness. Too many cooked vegetable foods, and an absence of raw ones, often brings on sluggishness and pallor; I have seen young children with rickets who were brought up on all cooked vegetable foods, and I suspect there may be a correlation there; this theory remains largely speculative. On a spiritual level, too much cooked food deprives us of light, and blocks feelings of inner joyfulness and fun. Too little, on the other hand, deprives us of warmth and of that wonderful feeling of community that can only be found around a fire and a steaming pot. FERMENTING It is widely assumed that the discovery of the fermentation process occurred by accident: a mash of fruits or berries, left in the sun for a while, eventually provided a startling aroma, a not unpleasant taste, an unexpected physical effect. Fermented alcoholic beverages may have been around for some ten thousand years already; but there are many other fermented products that we consume. Bread, wine, cheese, and beer are the best known of these in the Western Hemisphere, together with pickles and sauerkraut. Milk and its products are fermented regularly by many cultures, especially in warm climates where refrigeration is scarce. Yogurt, kefir, koumiss, and cheeses of all kinds, made with the milk of cows, goats, sheep, yaks, camels, mares, buffalo, and probably some other animals, were staple foods of early Asian nomads, Hindus, North Africans, and Europeans. 7 In the Far East, fermented grain and vegetable products are used often, sometimes daily. Among the best known are: tempeh in Indonesia, miso and shoyu( fermented soy products) in Japan, a fermented fish sauce called nampla or moc man in Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, fermented black beans in China, kimchi in Korea, and many others. Much as cooking demands an external agent in the form of heat, fermentation cannot proceed without the aid of external yeasts and bacteria. These microscopic living organisms begin by breaking down the carbohydrates and proteins in a food into carbon dioxide, constituent amino acids, and alcohol. When salt is added during this process, it prevents the formation of toxin-producing microorganisms. Originally, fermentation was left to the chance presence of airborne, invisible yeasts or bacteria, but that gave no assurance that each batch of fermented food would be of similar quality. Eventually, the fermentation organisms were found and tamed, and consistent quality became attainable through the application of specific spores or yeasts, such as lactobacillus bulgaricus for yogurt, koji for miso, rhizopus oligosporus for tempeh, generations of sourdough starter for bread. Fermentation completely changes the character of a food. It makes bland foods tastier, richer, and stronger. It improves their keeping qualities, so that in areas where no refrigeration is available food can still be wholesome. Most important, fermentation increases nutritional richness: The bacteria synthesize additional enzymes and vitamins and create a more digestible amino acid balance. 8 They are especially helpful in the synthesis of vitamin B 12. In addition, fermented foods improve the intestinal flora, thereby aiding in the digestion of dense protein and carbohydrate foods. Probably for this reason corned beef and pastrami are always served with pickles or sauerkraut, and the Japanese surround rice with miso soup and rice-bran pickles. Too much fermented food— wine, beer, pickles, sauerkraut, miso, tempeh— will cause some problems, though the nature of the problems will vary greatly according to the particular foodstuff involved. The effects of too much alcohol are well known. An excess of miso may result in backaches, water retention, and a short temper,