Bricolage
Japanese: ブリコラージュ
A practical mode of knowledge that solves problems by combining available materials. Coined by Levi-Strauss, it resonates with how fermented foods came to be.
Bricolage, a concept from anthropologist Levi-Strauss, refers to the practical knowledge of making do with what is at hand—creating something new by combining available materials and techniques without a blueprint. The history of fermented foods is precisely a history of bricolage. Sake brewed from leftover rice, pickles from surplus vegetables, miso-damari from soybean cooking liquid. Amid necessity and chance, intention and discovery, fermented foods took form. Here lies a living system of wisdom distinct from planned rationality. Fermented food recipes have in many cases emerged from such accumulations of chance and ingenuity. A knowledge system distinct from scientific engineering yet reliably functional exists here.