Move over green tea people, kombucha is here to stay!
Kombucha aka the “Immortal Health Elixir”, an ancient tea drink by the Chinese is the latest entrant into the green tea and chia seed ridden health industry.
This drink, now, after 2, 000 years has made its way into the mainstream and as immediately caught the fancy of the beverage giant Coca-Cola which has prompted the company to announce its very own version of this healthy drink.
This sugar-tea solution is fermented by bacteria and yeast commonly known as a “SCOBY” (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast; not the cartoon Great Dane with the double O); therefore these very microorganisms being major constituents of the drink. After the fermentation process, the drink becomes carbonated and contains vinegar, b-vitamins, enzymes, probiotics and a high concentration of acid (acetic, gluconic and lactic).
After consumption, the microorganisms become a part of the gut microbiome, influencing all sort of processes from digestion to the immune response and the brain.
Alanna Lynch, an artist and a scientist, influenced by this beautiful concept of these beneficial microbes becoming a part of our system and how the self becomes blurred when considering the role of microbes in our own bodies now
offers performative lectures titled the “Gut Feelings”. Her work offers a unique opportunity to people to come closer to science and experience fascinating new concepts that the most recent research in the microbiome field is starting to unveil.Originally from Canada, she is now based between Berlin and Sweden. Her latest performance of Gut Feelings was at Art Laboratory Berlin.
