Co-creation
Japanese: 共創
Different parties collaborating to create new value. Fermentation is co-creation between humans and microorganisms, a concept also applied to designing food's future.
Fermentation is co-creation between humans and microorganisms. Humans prepare the environment, select materials, and tend the process. Microorganisms carry out chemical reactions humans cannot. Neither alone produces fermented food. This co-creative structure offers insight for modern making: co-creation between producers and consumers, across industries, between humans and AI. Fermentation teaches the importance of creating together rather than controlling completely. Not monopolizing leadership but drawing out the other's power. In this sense, a good brewer is also a good facilitator. Crowdfunding to support miso breweries. Consumers participating in brewing through brewery visits. These new forms of co-creation are beginning to change producer-consumer relationships. Co-creation in fermentation may be a step toward the democratization of food.