Posthastism curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Shumon Basar, Joseph Grima
Vitamin Creative Space – The Pavilion, Beijing
June 2012

miso paste as a symbol of time and other species
i have prepared miso for vitamin space.
it will arrive in 6 months’ time.
this waiting time makes patience necessary.
we must adhere to the laws of fermentation, and not the other way around.
this questions assumptions about creativity and production.
food is our connection to the world.
it is alive.
it is a precious repository of past knowledge fused with nature,
a collaboration between nature and myself.

It has been established that eating miso can provide protection to those that have been exposed to radiation and heavy metals. This is due to an alkaloid, called Dipicolinic acid, contained within miso that binds with heavy metals and carries them out of the body. Miso is a uniquely grounding food, often the product of years of fermentation. It embodies the contractive energy of yang in the yin-yang energetic that underline Chinese philosophy and medicine (and macrobiotic diet).

Miso is made by cooking a grain or legume – usually rice, sometimes barley, sometimes soybeans – and fermenting it in shallow trays with Koji starter for several days to develop enzymes. The resulting Koji is then mixed with ground cooked soybeans, salt (5–15%), and a dose of an earlier batch of miso (to provide bacteria and yeast). in traditional miso-making, the mixture is allowed to ferment (and eventually age) in barrels for months to years at a temperature of 30 to 38 degrees Celsius.

Various lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacilli, Pediococci) and salt-tolerant yeast (Zygosaccharomyces, Torulopsis) break down the seed proteins, carbohydrates, and oils, and produce a host of flavor molecules and flavor precursors. Browning reactions generate deeper layers of flavor and color. Traditionally made miso ends up with a rich, savory, complex flavor dominated by sweet and roasted notes, and sometimes by esters reminiscent of pineapple and other fruits.

Modern industrial production cuts the fermentation and aging from months to a few weeks, and compensates for the resulting lack of flavor and color with various additives. It develops when microbes break down the bean proteins and other components and transform them into savory substance that then react with each other to generate additional layers of flavor.

Two-stage fermentations Asian mold fermentations generally involve two distinct stages. In the first, dormant green spores of Aspergillus molds are mixed with cooked grains or soybeans, which are then kept warm, moist, and well aerated. The spores germinate and develop into a mass of thread-like hyphae, which produce digestive enzymes that break down the food for energy and building blocks. The second stage begins after about two days, when the enzymes are at their peak. The mixture of food and hyphae, called chhu in china and koji in japan, is now immersed in a salt brine, often along with more cooked soybeans. In the oxygen-poor brine, the molds die, but their enzymes continue to work. At the same time, microbes that thrive in the absence of oxygen grow in the brine, consume some of the building blocks, and contribute their own flavorful by-products to the mixture.

—miso information from Harold Mcgee, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, New York, 2004

More info: www.vitamincreativespace.com/en/?work=beijing-posthastism