Also cheese, also yogurt.
November 25, 2015 8:56 AM   Subscribe

I never imagined that photos of bread baking could so thoroughly gross me out. It’s “Not Impossible” To Bake Sourdough Bread Using Vaginal Yeast, But You Probably Shouldn’t Eat It
posted by palegirl (168 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
N O
posted by poffin boffin at 8:57 AM on November 25, 2015 [33 favorites]


This makes me so uncomfortable in so many different ways they have combined to make an entirely new form of unpleasant.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:58 AM on November 25, 2015 [16 favorites]


Ah, another entry in my Do Not Click This Link file.
posted by tommasz at 8:59 AM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


Jesus the face I just made at my desk scared the student walking into the library. What why
posted by Pardon Our Dust at 9:00 AM on November 25, 2015 [7 favorites]


whyyyyyyy
posted by neuromodulator at 9:01 AM on November 25, 2015


please delete this and all of metafilter and all of the entire internets now

pls someone cast obliviate on me
posted by poffin boffin at 9:01 AM on November 25, 2015 [54 favorites]


He said the yeasts we would normally use for baking, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are not likely to be found in our body’s cavities.

I will point out that the mouth is a cavity, and that yeasts used for baking (although probably dead) are found there not infrequently.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:01 AM on November 25, 2015 [17 favorites]


I've also heard of an art project beer that used the same "secret ingredient".

Which also falls under NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:02 AM on November 25, 2015


To those who might be inspired to try baking with vaginal yeasts, Dr Roberts simply advises “don’t”,

Well, then.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:04 AM on November 25, 2015


What's going to be put on the bread, butter? Jam? Will that also be homemade? Please clarify exactly what is meant by "homemade".
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:05 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


Ha, I follow her on Twitter. She is an angry feminist delight but nope nope nope on this, though.
posted by Kitteh at 9:05 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


So, we've run out of science and art. Good to know.
posted by Etrigan at 9:05 AM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


Yeah, homemade monkey butter is up next I assume.
posted by GuyZero at 9:09 AM on November 25, 2015


That headline demonstrates conclusively that we haven't run out of art yet.
posted by Errant at 9:10 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


You Probably Shouldn’t Eat It

Probably?
posted by Ned G at 9:10 AM on November 25, 2015


>You Probably Shouldn’t Eat It

Probably?


You'll need to make an AskMe to be really sure.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:16 AM on November 25, 2015 [46 favorites]


garnish with thong
posted by delfin at 9:17 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


That yogurt. I... just... I don't have the words.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 9:17 AM on November 25, 2015


To those who might be inspired to try baking with vaginal yeasts, Dr Roberts simply advises “don’t”,

Thanks doc, how is the work with the exploding toothpaste going? What's that? We shouldn't try brushing with it?
posted by biffa at 9:18 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


Ah you're all far too squeamish. Regular sourdough you just waft around the place and hope some junk falls in it, at least this is your junk.
posted by lucidium at 9:25 AM on November 25, 2015 [22 favorites]


why?
posted by bgal81 at 9:26 AM on November 25, 2015


How can she be sure that her starter wasn't inoculated with ambient yeasts?
posted by kenko at 9:27 AM on November 25, 2015 [7 favorites]


Requesting a waiver of the inline image ban specifically for NOPE gifs.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:27 AM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


Even if it is totally fine to eat, safe and completely delicious, I have no intention of doing so. Ick.
posted by jeather at 9:37 AM on November 25, 2015


While I understand y'all's reactions, this doesn't bother me at all for some reason. Yeast is yeast, right? I mean, who cares where it grew first?

Probably shouldn't eat it? But why not? Isn't it just bread once it's done? It's like drinking treated sewage -- it's just water after reverse osmosis, so any gross-out is just psychological...... right?
posted by unknownmosquito at 9:41 AM on November 25, 2015 [18 favorites]


Probably shouldn't eat it? But why not?

If only the article said why not: "To those who might be inspired to try baking with vaginal yeasts, Dr Roberts simply advises “don’t”, as it could cause oral thrush or infections, especially in people with weak immune systems."
posted by kenko at 9:42 AM on November 25, 2015 [11 favorites]


Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can
Pat it, roll it and mark it with a NOPE
posted by Kabanos at 9:42 AM on November 25, 2015 [8 favorites]


That's doesn't even make any sense. She's using flour and water to make the starter, so she's not making a sourdough starter from vaginal yeast, she's just making a conventional sourdough starter with some vaginal discharge in it. Meh.

On a more interesting note, you can make bread from infected wounds.
posted by snownoid at 9:42 AM on November 25, 2015 [10 favorites]


I just ran from door to door in the clinic and showed the title of this article to every single person working today. If I have to suffer the pain of knowing that this exists then BY GOD everyone else is going to suffer with me.
posted by a hat out of hell at 9:43 AM on November 25, 2015 [30 favorites]


Needs the "nope" tag. And maybe a "WTF?!" tag.
posted by mosk at 9:44 AM on November 25, 2015


She's using flour and water to make the starter, so she's not making a sourdough starter from vaginal yeast, she's just making a conventional sourdough starter with some vaginal discharge in it.

Wait what? I made a sourdough starter from flour and water set out for a couple days until it became frankly pretty rank, at which point I poured off most of it and fed with fresh flour and water etc. Isn't that how you, like, do it?
posted by kenko at 9:44 AM on November 25, 2015


Thanksgiving ruined.... again.
posted by Ratio at 9:45 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


If only the article said why not: "To those who might be inspired to try baking with vaginal yeasts, Dr Roberts simply advises “don’t”, as it could cause oral thrush or infections, especially in people with weak immune systems."

hahaha ok I might've skimmed because I was a little terrified of the pictures to be totally honest. Thanks for picking that out for me.
posted by unknownmosquito at 9:45 AM on November 25, 2015


I guess y'all aren't into chicha...
posted by ennui.bz at 9:46 AM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


here everyone try these cookies i made with the sugary urine of diabetics
posted by poffin boffin at 9:47 AM on November 25, 2015 [29 favorites]


I just ran from door to door in the clinic and showed the title of this article to every single person working today. If I have to suffer the pain of knowing that this exists then BY GOD everyone else is going to suffer with me.

Yeah, that's why I posted this here. Sorry everyone (except people who are trying to cut back on carbs. To those people: you're welcome!)
posted by palegirl at 9:49 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


Wow such a strong reaction but everybody just loves that Hannibal guy though; I guess you must really hate carbs or something.

Happy Thanksgiving!
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:50 AM on November 25, 2015 [6 favorites]


to everyone who is aggressively horrified at the idea of possibly ingesting something that once lived near a vagina: remind me not to have sex with any of you
posted by velebita at 9:50 AM on November 25, 2015 [38 favorites]


This is a companion piece to The Dinner Party, right?
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:51 AM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm surprised by the universal gross-out reaction. You realize most vaginas harbor a pretty crazy mix of flora, right? Including yeast? And that many people just put their mouths directly in contact with said vaginas for, er, recreational reasons? Is there something I'm missing here?
posted by town of cats at 9:51 AM on November 25, 2015 [26 favorites]


yeah, i'd also turn down a plate of ham and dick cheese sandwiches, but nice try.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:52 AM on November 25, 2015 [48 favorites]


I made a sourdough starter from flour and water set out for a couple days until it became frankly pretty rank, at which point I poured off most of it and fed with fresh flour and water etc. Isn't that how you, like, do it?

That one gets paid more for doing the same work.
posted by 7segment at 9:52 AM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Some kinds of yeast you don't want to encourage.
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:53 AM on November 25, 2015


Yeah, this squicks me out a ton and I assume it's related to yeast infections being gross and unpleasant, right? Or something? I'm trying to figure out what exactly it is that bothers me because, I mean, it's not like no one has ever tasted anything vagina-related, right? I mean I have, uh, put my mouth on a vagina before so it's not like this is completely out of the realm of human experience, right? But it is still so very, VERY icky. Is it the yeast infection thing? Is it the actual consumption? What about this is so very, very yucky? Please tell me so I can stop thinking about this because I would very much like to stop thinking about this.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:54 AM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


There is a Vegemite/Vagemite spread joke to be made here....but....*shudder*
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:54 AM on November 25, 2015 [7 favorites]


Serve with hagfish slime scones.
posted by FatherDagon at 9:54 AM on November 25, 2015


You realize most vaginas harbor a pretty crazy mix of flora, right? Including yeast? And that many people just put their mouths directly in contact with said vaginas for, er, recreational reasons? Is there something I'm missing here?

Yes, and plenty of people swallow cum, too, but not many use it to frost cupcakes (at least not this side of a paywall).
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:54 AM on November 25, 2015 [41 favorites]


any gross-out is just psychological...... right?

Yep!

You realize most vaginas harbor a pretty crazy mix of flora, right? Including yeast?

Yep!

Is there something I'm missing here?

Nope!
posted by rhizome at 9:55 AM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


Yes, and plenty of people swallow cum, too, but not many use it to frost cupcakes (at least not this side of a paywall).

If you kiss people on the mouth why wouldn't you drink a glass of phlegm?
posted by poffin boffin at 9:56 AM on November 25, 2015 [36 favorites]


OK, so I do love culturing stuff, but am not an expert on it (as will be obvious before this sentence is over), but sourdough starter just works by kind of grabbing onto whatever yeasts or whatever are flying around in the air where you are. Which is why San Francisco sourdough can't effectively be replicated elsewhere.

So adding vaginal yeast should certainly work, and what confuses me now is "How is that more inherently dangerous than doing it the normal way?" I mean, wouldn't those same cultures be flying around in the air or whatever if you were around a starter while you had a yeast infection anyway?

Also, not to brag, but I have thought of this before, and I like to ask people about this exact thing just to make them nervous.

Props to her for actually doing it, though. She's a better woman than I.
posted by ernielundquist at 9:56 AM on November 25, 2015 [8 favorites]


I had a pretty "meh" reaction to vagina bread, but the toe/navel cheeses made me want to burn my computer down and salt the earth it stood on. Diff'rent strokes
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:57 AM on November 25, 2015 [11 favorites]


What about this is so very, very yucky?

I'll take a guess, which is this: I have had no problem tongue-fencing with certain women in my life but I would be totally squicked out if I were expected to eat food that they had pre-chewed. I think the bread thing is somewhat analogous.
posted by chimaera at 9:59 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


I remember reading a couple years ago that someone had found a way to make ice cream out of human milk, which still feels a little weird, although maybe a little less because at least milk is intended for consumption. We really don't intentionally eat that much stuff that comes directly out of the bodies of other humans. I mean, you could probably make Blutwurst out of yourself, too, but my guess is that most people would find that pretty gross.
posted by Copronymus at 10:06 AM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


It's the THRUSH part that bothers. These are not friendly yeasts. I may enjoy engaging in cunnilingus but I would refrain if my partner had an infection going on, for reasons which I should think are quite obvious.

Also also do you enjoy putting HUMAN BODY SWEAT AND SKIN into your foods on purpose????
posted by Doleful Creature at 10:08 AM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


Yeast is yeast, right?

"Yeast," an artificial category of fungi that didn't (at least at the time of classification) have obvious multicellular structures like fruiting bodies. On the one hand you have Saccharomyces, which likely evolved to gobble up the products of plant decomposition. On the other, a potentially hyperaggressive and lethal (to people with compromised immune systems) Candida, which like most human flora, evolved in an arm's race with our immune systems and is somewhat hard to kill.

Human natural flora includes all sorts of things which can be used in cooking. But tipping the game to free-range yeasts and bacteria just sounds like a better idea than developing a culture of microbial traitors pre-adapted to your individual immune system.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 10:09 AM on November 25, 2015 [25 favorites]


She was so preoccupied with whether or not she could that she didn't stop to think if she should.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:09 AM on November 25, 2015 [8 favorites]


Yes, and plenty of people swallow cum, too, but not many use it to frost cupcakes (at least not this side of a paywall).

Natural Harvest: A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes (NSFW) has a surprising 3.9/5 on GoodReads.

Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food. This book hopes to change that. Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients - you will love this cook book!

I've read the book, as it floated around parts of my internet back in the day. It's mostly just putting cum in otherwise very basic recipes and giving the result funny names.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 10:10 AM on November 25, 2015


Yeah, this squicks me out a ton and I assume it's related to yeast infections being gross and unpleasant, right? Or something?

I think that's what it is for me. Breast milk cheese doesn't bother me, because breast milk is a food; yeast infection bread bothers me because a yeast infection is an infection. Obviously there are all sorts of flora in various cavities that we voluntarily tongue, but man, thrush is an illness. Can't deal with that.
posted by babelfish at 10:11 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


I mean, you could probably make Blutwurst out of yourself, too, but my guess is that most people would find that pretty gross.

I can't believe she didn't make a boudin noir from menstrual blood, where is her dedication to the craft.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:12 AM on November 25, 2015 [10 favorites]


Also this isn't just made with vaginal flora but with the product of a vaginal infection. One that produces a lot of unpleasant discharge that seems to me as an observer (and recreator) to be very not appetizing. It's like the difference between cheese cultured with gut bacteria, and cheese cultured with gut bacteria from somebody who had bacterial gastroenteritis.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:14 AM on November 25, 2015 [10 favorites]


What's going to be put on the bread, butter? Jam?

(Camel) toe jam.

I'll see myself out.
posted by tommasz at 10:14 AM on November 25, 2015 [6 favorites]


What's going to be put on the bread, butter? Jam?

Toe jam.

On preview: *jinx*
posted by Hairy Lobster at 10:15 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


It's mostly just putting cum in otherwise very basic recipes and giving the result funny names.

On an old laptop, I have an outline for a short story involving a bowl of soup laced with angry cook semen that is misrouted from the offending restaurant patron and to the table of a restaurant critic who loves it, giving the restaurant a rave review as a result. The rest of the story is the staff trying to recapture the magic of the secret ingredient.

See you people on the NYT bestseller list!
posted by dr_dank at 10:16 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


Can we add millions of spider eggs to the yeast, just to see if we can push the NOPE factor on this further up?
posted by schmod at 10:18 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


See you people on the NYT bestseller list!

Hollywood may be a better bet. Try and get Seth Rogan or one of the Wilson brothers onboard.
posted by acb at 10:19 AM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


But wouldn't this be delicious dipped into a nice sauce made of placenta, perhaps garnished with some fried testicles?
posted by the webmistress at 10:21 AM on November 25, 2015 [4 favorites]


All of the science reasons are excellent reasons to avoid eating vaginal yeast bread, but I don't think people's initial squick reactions come from an intuitive understanding of the scientific principles. This is just my opinion, but I think it's that, for many people, there's no such thing as generic vaginal yeast. It comes from a person and invokes an intimacy with that specific person that feels unearned and unwanted. You can say, well, all animal products come from some specific animal, but that's not how we see things; we don't individuate other animals the way we do people. Being comfortable with vaginas in general doesn't mean that you're automatically comfortable with every person's vagina and all their discharges. You, individually, might be, and that's great, but it shouldn't be all that surprising when other people don't share that dubious egalitarianism.
posted by Errant at 10:22 AM on November 25, 2015 [7 favorites]


> why wouldn't you drink a glass of phlegm

Reminds me of a joke:
A group of friends have been getting vigorously drunk in a pub, and start daring each other to do gradually worse and worse things. Eventually, one of them points to the well used spit bucket in the corner, and declares he'll give £100 to anyone who takes a sip. The drunkest of the bunch slams down his drink, staggers over, and raises the pail to a chorus of laughs.

He puts the edge to his lip, and takes a dainty sip. A mighty cheer goes up, and one or two retches, but then he just starts chugging. His friend pulls out the money and yells that he's won the bet, but he keeps going. The room falls silent, and everyone stares in horror as he gulps down the entire bucket with a grim rhythm. Finally, he drops it with a clang and falls to his knees. His friend rushes over and says "you didn't have to drink the whole thing! You won already, why didn't you stop?". The man wipes his mouth, looks up at his friend and replies "I wanted to, but it was all stuck together in one piece!"
posted by lucidium at 10:27 AM on November 25, 2015 [8 favorites]


There are many different species of yeast and not all yeast is happy, friendly yeast that is a-OK to eat. We're not even talking about a healthy vagina--we're talking a yeast infection. If you would not put your mouth on a yeast-infected vagina, then why are we supposed to be OK with eating it?

body positivity gone mad
posted by Anonymous at 10:28 AM on November 25, 2015


I don't have the slightest problem with where the yeast comes from and I don't believe this could make you sick from thrush or other fungal infection. Candida and the like are ubiquitous organisms; you are covered with small amounts of it right now and it only causes problems when conditions favor its overgrowth, for instance warmth and moisture, uncontrolled diabetes providing excess food for growth, or wiping out the competing microbes with a course of antibiotics, etc.

I think the problem is that there are other kinds of nasties in the nether regions of girls *and* boys. Including E. Coli, and Staph, things that when orally ingested in large amounts *can* make you sick. People who get thrush don't "catch" it from someone else, or from food, it's our own microscopic friends squatting and living off our bodies. I'm not sure this person's collection methods or the baking process or her particular hygiene insures you won't catch a strain of something else your body can't handle.

But I'd still probably eat it on a dare.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:33 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


On a more interesting note, you can make bread from infected wounds.

I am given to pause with the revelation that this idea is somehow less disgusting.
posted by rhizome at 10:33 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


What has been leavened can not be unleavened.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 10:35 AM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


the mouth is a cavity

To add another layer of horror to all this, in my head I inexplicably heard John Mayer singing those words.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:36 AM on November 25, 2015 [9 favorites]


Now if it was Nigella baking it...
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:40 AM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


People who get thrush don't "catch" it from someone else

Uh, no? I mean yes, of course it occurs on its own from environmental contaminants but you absolutely 100% can catch it from other people no matter what their gender or genital conformation.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:45 AM on November 25, 2015


What's going to be put on the bread, butter? Jam?

Gravlax Gravol®
posted by Kabanos at 10:48 AM on November 25, 2015


Only sort of related:

Naked Russian workers caught bathing in milk at Cheese factory.
"Actually our work is pretty boring."
posted by Kabanos at 10:50 AM on November 25, 2015


It's mostly just putting cum in otherwise very basic recipes and giving the result funny names.

posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood


eponysgusting!
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:00 AM on November 25, 2015 [9 favorites]


I think this is hilarious and would taste the bread. The yeast cells are dead by 150F. But I'd hope she isolated the starter and used some food safety precautions in the kitchen. Cheeses and yogurts though... no way.
posted by zennie at 11:01 AM on November 25, 2015


I clicked on this link thinking "meh. I remember the yogurt made from that lady's vaginal cultures." Read through most of it without batting an eye.

Until I saw the toe cheese. And the navel cheese.

No quantifiable amount of cat videos is gonna bleach those images from my mind so thanks a bunch *sob*
posted by Ashen at 11:21 AM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


In the same way that not all mushrooms are for eating, not all yeasts should be used for food.
posted by OHenryPacey at 11:33 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


eponysgusting!

ewponysterical
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 11:38 AM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


Another one for the "nuke it from orbit" file, I guess.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:42 AM on November 25, 2015


nobody wants to come over for tea and scones anymore but that don't mean your yoni ain't sacred
posted by trunk muffins at 11:51 AM on November 25, 2015 [4 favorites]


The yeast cells are dead by 150F.

Yeah, that made me raise an eyebrow at their expert's "it could cause oral thrush or infections" warning too: you're not consuming live yeast when you eat bread, because it doesn't survive the baking process.

Cross-contamination from her live culture to other food / equipment seems the bigger risk. There's a reason homebrewers sanitize everything on the cool side of the process.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:57 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


Remember Baron Harkonnen from the David Lynch film version? Pop some of those carbuncles and you've got a nice glaze going!
posted by Meatbomb at 11:58 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


nobody wants to come over for tea and scones anymore but that don't mean your yoni ain't sacred
posted by trunk muffins



ahem.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:08 PM on November 25, 2015 [6 favorites]


I would note also that her own blog post is a lot more thoughtful than the "ew, vagina bread" Buzzfeed piece linked in the FPP -- which (and to be honest, along with many of the comments here) is pretty much exactly the gynophobic reaction her project is intended to provoke.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:08 PM on November 25, 2015 [6 favorites]


Beard Beer is a thing. It's actually quite tasty.

That said, the guy at the brewery assures you that after collection from the beard (belonging to a master brewer that has his head stuck in a fermenting vessel nearly 24/7), the yeast was sent to a lab and analyzed a million different ways before eventually being grown in a professional lab environment.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:12 PM on November 25, 2015


I think the squick is similar to French kissing vs someone spitting in your mouth. They're technically identical but practically entirely disparate.
posted by Sebmojo at 12:15 PM on November 25, 2015


ew, vagina bread

I'm not getting "ew, vagina bread" I'm getting "ew, vagina yeast" especially from people who probably have a very personal and graphic image of what that means. I think a lot of people in this thread would probably be eager to try vagina bread.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:17 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah, that made me raise an eyebrow at their expert's "it could cause oral thrush or infections" warning too: you're not consuming live yeast when you eat bread, because it doesn't survive the baking process.

Uhh, yeast can sporulate and spores can survive really harsh conditions, including high heat? So why would you use a yeast that is known to cause infections in humans, in food... jesus.

Like you don't have to be some vagina-fearing misogynist to have an instinctual revulsion to things that will make you sick.

Also, I can't believe it has to be said, but you can decline to have sex with someone who has an active infection in their genitals without being... sexually oppressive? I don't even...
posted by danny the boy at 12:17 PM on November 25, 2015 [7 favorites]


"Vaginas are just a part of the body and not inherently gross" can coexist perfectly well with "some things that come out of vaginas, specifically vaginas suffering from contagious fungal infections, are not for eating."
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:22 PM on November 25, 2015 [6 favorites]


pretty much exactly the gynophobic reaction her project is intended to provoke.

I dunno, seems like the reactions are more infected-body-fluid-phobic to me. Are you thinking that more people would be cool with the bread if it involved some guy's thrush-infested dick instead?
posted by segfaultxr7 at 12:24 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


But...but...HOW DID IT TASTE? The bread, I mean.
posted by the_blizz at 12:31 PM on November 25, 2015


Brandon Blatcher: "What's going to be put on the bread, butter? Jam? Will that also be homemade? Please clarify exactly what is meant by "homemade"."

I'd suggest pearl jam.
posted by Splunge at 12:42 PM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


The yeast cells are dead by 150F.

Depends a great deal on the organism, time, and processing. I trust baking to be generally "safe enough." I wouldn't trust it to be "sterile."
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 12:43 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Uhh, yeast can sporulate and spores can survive really harsh conditions, including high heat?

Yes, but yeasts gorging on doughy carbs are probably not too into producing spores. Certainly the risk is not zero, but yeasts tend to be opportunistic pathogens. Even the "bad" ones are already on your skin in small numbers.
posted by zennie at 12:44 PM on November 25, 2015


FTA: using yeast from their vagina
No matter what your position on the habit of using a plural pronoun as a gender-neutral one, surely this is one case where her would have been fine.
posted by fartknocker at 12:47 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I read the headline and thought, "Wow! Cool!"

I read the article and thought, "Right on, right on."

I read the comments here and thought, "Great, so I'm a complete weirdo."
posted by peeedro at 12:52 PM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


No matter what your position on the habit of using a plural pronoun as a gender-neutral one, surely this is one case where her would have been fine.

Not really, think about the possibilities a little.
posted by atoxyl at 12:55 PM on November 25, 2015 [7 favorites]


do you enjoy putting HUMAN BODY SWEAT AND SKIN into your foods on purpose????

Kneading dough by hand is relaxing, so, yes?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:00 PM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


But...but...HOW DID IT TASTE? The bread, I mean.

A 9-volt battery?
posted by Kabanos at 1:04 PM on November 25, 2015


I have a vagina and sometimes it's gross. I mean I love my vagina but come on menopause. I'd have a similar reaction to smegma bread
posted by angrycat at 1:12 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


This would make for a great episode of Steve Don't Eat It.
posted by neon meat dream of an octofish at 1:15 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


there are few things more tiresome than the insistence that unless you unconditionally love every single thing that comes out of a vagina you are inherently misogynist. ffs.
posted by poffin boffin at 1:16 PM on November 25, 2015 [17 favorites]


Anuses are a totally natural and normal part of the body, and yet a desire to not eat poop is not body-hatred.
posted by Anonymous at 1:17 PM on November 25, 2015


If you eat in restaurants with any regularity, you've eaten at least trace amounts of poop. Happy holidays everybody
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:26 PM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


I think a lot of people in this thread would probably be eager to try vagina bread.

The bread is a collaboration between virtual idol Hatsune Miku and one of Japan’s biggest convenience store chains, Family Mart.
posted by zippy at 1:43 PM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


> yeast infection bread bothers me because a yeast infection is an infection

I'd always heard it wasn't so much an infection as yeast normally present growing too much and am surprised no one's mentioned that. Wikipedia's references agree, sort of:
C. albicans was isolated from the vaginas of 19% of apparently healthy women, i.e., those who experienced few or no symptoms of infection.

Candida yeasts are generally present in healthy humans, frequently part of the human body's normal oral and intestinal flora, and particularly on the skin; however, their growth is normally limited by the human immune system, by competition of other microorganisms, such as bacteria occupying the same locations in the human body.
So, the only reason to wait for an unbalancing is to ensure there's plenty of Candida. If you can take a sample of a healthy woman and create conditions to grow just the Candida into a starter, is that less squicky?
posted by morganw at 1:53 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


laced with angry cook semen

That's a whole new spin on "furiously masturbating".
posted by me & my monkey at 2:11 PM on November 25, 2015


So, the only reason to wait for an unbalancing is to ensure there's plenty of Candida. If you can take a sample of a healthy woman and create conditions to grow just the Candida into a starter, is that less squicky?

stop trying to make yeast infection bread happen
posted by Anonymous at 2:18 PM on November 25, 2015


There are foods that directly involve human body fluids, but often they're culturally specific and you can't really blame people for not wanting them. In South America, one way of making the drink chicha is to have women chew a starch (like manioc, yucca, or corn) and spit into a vessel, where the drink ferments. The end result is a mildly alcoholic, slightly thick drink.

A few years ago, there was a woman in England who was selling ice cream made from her own breast milk. She was shut down by health authorities for numerous reasons (personally, what bothered me was that it was unpasteurized), but I doubt that had the same level of visceral reaction that this is getting.

Those are the only examples of human body food that I can think of off the top of my head, but I know there are others (I think placenta is maybe kind of different because it's typically not a publicly consumed thing). Point is, it's worth examining why people in our culture tend to react to this sort of thing as we do, but it sets an awfully high bar if body positivity is predicated on a willingness to eat cultured vaginal yeast.
posted by teponaztli at 2:19 PM on November 25, 2015


That's a whole new spin on "furiously masturbating".

I would advise against the clam chowder.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:27 PM on November 25, 2015


there are few things more tiresome than the insistence that unless you unconditionally love every single thing that comes out of a vagina you are inherently misogynist. ffs.

Also do you know what else came out of a vagina?
posted by ernielundquist at 2:43 PM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


Naked Russian workers caught bathing in milk at Cheese factory.

You forgot the rest of the story: a few months later, when the subsequent batch went out, the factory was deluged with complaint letters asserting that the cheese was bland and had lost its signature flavour.
posted by acb at 2:50 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


No matter what your position on the habit of using a plural pronoun as a gender-neutral one, surely this is one case where her would have been fine.

With the exception of pre-operative trans men.
posted by acb at 2:53 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Also do you know what else came out of a vagina?

”Mr. Carson, if you could go back in time and tie Hitler's future mother's tubes, would you do it?”
posted by acb at 2:56 PM on November 25, 2015 [4 favorites]


"Also this isn't just made with vaginal flora but with the product of a vaginal infection."

Candida albicans is a part of natural vaginal flora. A vaginal yeast "infection" is (usually) one where the usual balance of microbes is upset (often by antibiotics) and the yeast predominates. But it's not something that isn't almost always there, anyway. And because it's not (usually) an infection from an alien pathogen, but rather a deviation from the mean, then it's not the case that a woman can be said to have or not have a yeast infection and thereby there's some standard by which someone's "yucky vagina" disgust response is unambiguously correct.

It's as if none of you have ever had sex with women who occasionally get yeast infections. As for those of you with vaginas, I think that those who are heterosexual have limited knowledge or experience of the variability of women's yeast infections -- I've known women who clearly have yeast infections but who do not experience discomfort from it, and women who are extremely sensitive to it. This whole idea that there is some binary where it's obvious and pathological or where it's completely normal and healthy is wrong. And because that's wrong, a lot of assumptions that are invoked to justify people's disgust reactions here are also wrong.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:57 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but in this case we're specifically talking about the discharge that results from an infection. I mean, someone can have a mild cough or a full-on cold, but I wouldn't be too keen on ingesting their snot either way. And I know - when I kiss someone their saliva probably has a lot of the same things that would be in their snot - but I'm not drinking their saliva, and I'm not eating their snot. Quantity and context are surely relevant when we're talking about body fluids.
posted by teponaztli at 3:06 PM on November 25, 2015


> If you kiss people on the mouth why wouldn't you drink a glass of phlegm?

See, this is why I come here. People ask the tough questions and really make you think.
posted by ostranenie at 3:10 PM on November 25, 2015 [9 favorites]


This is the single most second-wave-feminist thing I've ever heard of. I would be more likely to think of this being an "embarrassing thing my aunt did back in the day" Twitter story than that it was an actual present-day Twitter story.
posted by Countess Elena at 3:10 PM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


"Quantity and context are surely relevant when we're talking about body fluids."

Sure, I completely agree with that. Note, though, that the person I was responding to seems to think that a vaginal yeast infection is necessarily an alien pathogen as contrasted against the healthy vaginal flora. Surely this confusion isn't unique.

But quantity and context are variable and ambiguous, so categorical statements about what is and isn't rightly disgusting and reasonable are inherently problematic.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:25 PM on November 25, 2015


It's as if none of you have ever had sex with women who occasionally get yeast infections.

It's as if some of you never passed high school biology Although I admit, that the quality of high school biology is likely universally crap. So the idea that "yeast" is isn't even a legitimate taxon, much less that you'd want different strains (if not different species) of it doing different things, on different substrates, and with different goals is just a pesky detail that gets in the way of being the most condescending person in the room.

Which is why this is so incredibly baffling. If you're not shoving flour into your crotch or armpit on a regular basis, (and yes, men can get yeast infections), why do you think that what you find there is going to do a good job at converting carbohydrates into CO2?

Never mind the idea that some of us who get yeast infections have some good reasons to be wary about cross-contamination. Not all Candida strains are equivalent.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 3:30 PM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


On a more interesting note, you can make bread from infected wounds.

No, this is not any better. Remove from activity, remove from activity!
posted by jeather at 3:34 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'll lick vaginas all day but yogurt is gross - can't stand the texture.
posted by atoxyl at 3:36 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I mean, I've cultivated microbes that grow on petrochemicals, that doesn't mean I'm going to use them to brew beer just because they share the same common name with the stuff that makes lambics yummy.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 3:37 PM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


pretty much exactly the gynophobic reaction her project is intended to provoke.

I dunno, seems like the reactions are more infected-body-fluid-phobic to me.



Even infected really isn't the problem, not really. I blow my nose and clean out my earwax, and I'm not going to be cooking with those products any time soon either. The idea gives me the jibblies.
posted by chainsofreedom at 3:46 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'll lick vaginas all day

That phrasing is weirdly clinical, like it's a job, or something.

"Well, back to the daily bump n' grind..."
posted by teponaztli at 3:48 PM on November 25, 2015 [8 favorites]


Metafilter: a pesky detail that gets in the way of being the most condescending person in the room.
posted by howfar at 4:05 PM on November 25, 2015 [6 favorites]


Even infected really isn't the problem, not really. I blow my nose and clean out my earwax, and I'm not going to be cooking with those products any time soon either. The idea gives me the jibblies.

Yes I would like a schmear of penis cheese on my cracker, thanks!
posted by Sebmojo at 4:09 PM on November 25, 2015


there are few things more tiresome than the insistence that unless you unconditionally love every single thing that comes out of a vagina you are inherently misogynist. ffs.

People come out of there and a lot of them are kind of awful.

I certainly wouldn't eat most of them.
posted by louche mustachio at 4:43 PM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


Chicha: chew some manioc root and toss pulp into corn water. Wait some days for fermentation to complete. Drink. Very good, IMHO. Why are there no hip, artesinal chicha bars?
posted by telstar at 5:24 PM on November 25, 2015


I love my vagina but.... Come on, menopause!

Fixed that for you.
posted by datawrangler at 6:13 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


How can she be sure that her starter wasn't inoculated with ambient yeasts?

It almost certainly is. Flour is absolutely covered in yeast, yeast that's much more efficient at pulling out sugars from flour than some random vag yeast. I would be very confident that on a clash of the titans yeast throw down, flour world win, in a floury medium.

This reminds me of my first year anthropology lecture. The lecturer illustrated a near universal human disgust/discomfort with substances from inside the body going outside of it, by hocking a big loogie into a cup and then drinking it in the spot.
posted by smoke at 6:14 PM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


This squicked me out when I first heard about it but now after a few days to think on it not so much. Doesn't really seem much different than say root vegetables fertilized with manure.

Certainly it is less weird than some of the other things we consume that are considered normal. How hungry must the first guy to eat an oyster have been? Or the first people to eat cheese (milk that got all chunky in a cow's stomach)? Or blubber?

Though as yummy as human ice cream must have been I'm glad it hasn't caught on. Can you imagine the exploitation that would be required if it ever became a commercial product?
posted by Mitheral at 6:15 PM on November 25, 2015


#NotAllCandidaStrains
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:27 PM on November 25, 2015


As I saw on Twitter last week, "the guy who discovered oysters must have been into some weird shit."
posted by rhizome at 6:29 PM on November 25, 2015


People who get thrush don't "catch" it from someone else

Uh, no? I mean yes, of course it occurs on its own from environmental contaminants but you absolutely 100% can catch it from other people no matter what their gender or genital



This is extraordinarily unlikely, as in the medical literature is not sure this happens, outside of case reports and usually it is assumed that the infectee has a predisposition such as immunocompromise. I personally have diagnosed under the microscope thousands of vaginal yeast infections and I have never heard of anyone's partner developing an infection. One should be advised to refrain from intercourse while harboring a candidal infection because it hurts and causes inflammation and might cause other secondary infections but spreading a symptomatic infection to another person simply doesn't happen among healthy people who practice reasonable hygiene. Now pass me a slice of vagina bread.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:32 PM on November 25, 2015 [4 favorites]


which (and to be honest, along with many of the comments here) is pretty much exactly the gynophobic reaction her project is intended to provoke
___
And because that's wrong, a lot of assumptions that are invoked to justify people's disgust reactions here are also wrong.

To misquote Stewart Lee, you've got to be careful - some of these threads are traps! They look like they should be funny or disgusting, but they're not. I walked right into it.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:42 PM on November 25, 2015


While I will certainly support this kind of baking it's only because I want everyone to consider baking. Using various yeasts for baking is akin to tasting wines. Each one makes a new flavor. I could go off on a world of yeast and stuff but you would be bored. Only bakers care about yeast cultures more or less than beer makers. And lets face it, who cares about yeast? I wish I could take the time to talk about cultures and how to keep them away from your bread or beer.

Beer has a device to keep bad yeast out.

Bread doesn't, unless your house does. But even if it does, like a door or a window, it usually just has local stuff.

Fuck this is complicated. Google shit, okay? And bake or brew. Someone has to!
posted by Splunge at 7:01 PM on November 25, 2015


Only bakers care about yeast cultures more or less than beer makers.

Nearly everyone cares about yeast cultures more or less than beer makers. The only ones who are excluded are those who care about yeast cultures exactly as much as beer makers—cider makers, maybe, or vintners.
posted by kenko at 7:03 PM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


If you're not shoving flour into your crotch or armpit on a regular basis, (and yes, men can get yeast infections), why do you think that what you find there is going to do a good job at converting carbohydrates into CO2?

Well, it is generally true that yeasts feed on sugars. Ten seconds of Googling will confirm that Candida Albicans will happily feed on glucose. Flour contains a bunch of different sugars (and enzymes to convert starches to more sugars). As far as the production of CO2, that's pretty basic chemistry, if you are oxidizing sugars, you are going to get CO2.
posted by ssg at 7:23 PM on November 25, 2015


The oysters thing is actually a John donne bastardisation, "he was a brave man, who first ventured to try the oyster", I believe it goes.
posted by smoke at 7:40 PM on November 25, 2015


As some writer whose name I forget pointed out, due to the division of labor in what we can observe of foraging bands of H. sapiens, it was probably a woman who first ate an oyster.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:55 PM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


it was Terry Pratchett in Unseen Academicals!

(what I'm just re-reading it now)
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 8:54 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Slarty Bartfast - I'm fairly sure that yeast gets passed between nursing mom's and their infants (that is, if the baby has thrush the mom is at higher risk of getting yeast on her nipples and vice versa).
posted by lab.beetle at 9:49 PM on November 25, 2015


The oysters thing is actually a John donne bastardisation, "he was a brave man, who first ventured to try the oyster", I believe it goes.

If it's really Donne then I assume that "oyster" has a more on-topic meaning than I'd hitherto supposed.
posted by kenko at 10:11 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oysters seem to be prey for various crabs, so whoever first tried an oyster probably saw a lot of living creatures eating oysters and surviving. I don't really know what it has to do with vaginal yeast.

I'm iffy to either side with the bread. Those cheeses, however.... Yes, those are probably normal bacteria but SERIOUSLY we may not want to eat them.
posted by jaguar at 10:33 PM on November 25, 2015


Also I am NOT scrolling up but whoever posted that spit-bucket joke, you made me gag for about three minutes. I started reading and I was like, "I should stop reading this," but I kept reading, which was totally my fault, but gah. Three minutes of dry heaves.
posted by jaguar at 10:38 PM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


Slarty Bartfast - I'm fairly sure that yeast gets passed between nursing mom's and their infants

Because a neonate's immune system is immature, as is their microbial flora. Bottle fed babies also get thrush. And we do frequently recommend mothers treat their nipples with topical antifungals, but this is not based on any medical evidence.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 11:14 PM on November 25, 2015


I guess I'm in the minority, but I'd eat it without any qualms. It just doesn't gross me out at all, though for whatever contradictory reason the yogurt would give me pause -- I guess because the bread has been transformed by baking, maybe?
posted by Dip Flash at 11:15 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


In case anybody else likes weird internet things to be small worlded (I do), the yogurt person is a friend of mine!

I don't know the bread person though - that's clearly crossing a line.
posted by Corinth at 11:20 PM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


As for those of you with vaginas, I think that those who are heterosexual have limited knowledge or experience of the variability of women's yeast infections -- I've known women who clearly have yeast infections but who do not experience discomfort from it, and women who are extremely sensitive to it.

Who are you, king of the vaginas? You think the people with vaginas in this thread don't know this?
posted by Room 641-A at 1:54 AM on November 26, 2015 [13 favorites]


But...but...HOW DID IT TASTE? The bread, I mean.

She ate it with butter and said it was pretty damn nice.

This totally doesn't bother me at all. Seriously, invite me to your house and tell me the bread you just served me started life on a dildo and I wouldn't care. Present me with any soft, mouldy cheese - toe or regular - or any variety of yoghurt, be it ladybits or strawberry, and I will throw up on you and never darken your door again. Ensquickenation is a very personal thing.
posted by billiebee at 2:18 AM on November 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


You said you liked butts, why not eat farts? Remind me not to have farts with any of you.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:25 AM on November 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


I started reading and I was like, "I should stop reading this," but I kept reading,

because it was all in one piece.
posted by ernielundquist at 7:57 AM on November 26, 2015 [9 favorites]


I hate you.
posted by jaguar at 8:01 AM on November 26, 2015 [7 favorites]


I totally (unintentionally) set that up, but I still hate you.
posted by jaguar at 8:01 AM on November 26, 2015 [4 favorites]


Ok, this is super late to the party, but anyway:

It's as if some of you never passed high school biology Although I admit, that the quality of high school biology is likely universally crap. So the idea that "yeast" is isn't even a legitimate taxon, much less that you'd want different strains (if not different species) of it doing different things, on different substrates, and with different goals is just a pesky detail that gets in the way of being the most condescending person in the room.

This comment got curious about the relationship between Saccharomyces serevisiae, sourdough yeasts, and Candida albicans. I decided to do some research and found that they are actually very closely related—in the same family, in fact, along with the Brettanomyces that makes lambics so yummy. They all like mono/di/oligo-saccharide substrates and especially glucose, maltose, fructose and sucrose. Their primary metabolites are likewise carbon dioxide, ethanol and acetate.

Interestingly, it seems the dominant strain of yeast in most traditional and homemade sourdough is actually Candida humilis, which the most recent literature I could find identified as conspecific with C. milleri, which is also often identified as a dominant sourdough yeast in both North America and Europe.

So what about C. albicans, can it make sourdough? As far as I can tell from outside the biomed paywall is that actually it is pretty intolerant to acidity, and in a substrate-rich environment like sourdough starter, it would quickly produce lots of acetic acid and create an environment more suitable to C. milleri and various Lactobacillus species more typical of sourdough. I also can't find any studies that identify it as present in sourdough culture. My guess is that if she still has this culture, it's become a typical sourdough starter with homeopathic quantities of C. albicans.

This study identified Candida krusei as the dominant yeast in rye bran sourdough fermented at 40°C. This species is also used to ferment cacao beans before processing them into chocolate. It is also implicated as a pathogen that while less common, is often more serious than C. albicans in immunocompromised patients because it is naturally resistant to common anti-fungal drugs. The study also identified Candida glabrata, another patheogenic strain that shows some innate resistance to azole anti-fungals. This strain never came to dominate though, and quickly disappeared as the starter cultures matured. My guess is that it would do this for the same reason C. albicans is never found in sourdough.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 8:17 AM on November 26, 2015 [5 favorites]


So I guess the takeaway from my turgid comment above is that a sourdough culture kept in hot and acidic conditions around lots of raw cacao beans is more dangerous than one made with secretions from a vaginal yeast infection that responded quickly to OTC antifungals.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 8:24 AM on November 26, 2015


What delicious treats can we make from headache juice?
posted by oceanjesse at 10:47 AM on November 26, 2015


GRETCHEN, STOP TRYING TO MAKE YEAST INFECTION BREAD HAPPEN. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN
posted by Anonymous at 1:14 PM on November 26, 2015


Everywhere I go, people are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden. Well, there are a lot of things people didn't know about Tyler. Sure, people figured out the truth about the food at the Pressman Hotel, and of course, Project Mayhem. Even the soap: yeah, they figured out that one, too.

But they never figured out the bread. After a while, and we lost track of the loaves . One hundred, two hundred. Who knows?

The hell of it was that it was all going so well, or at least we thought it was, until the day Marla figured it all out.
posted by 4ster at 5:16 PM on November 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


which (and to be honest, along with many of the comments here) is pretty much exactly the gynophobic reaction her project is intended to provoke

I clicked through in hopes we would collectively be better than implying that anyone who is grossed out by this is a misogynist who hates women's bodies, but alas.

It's like I think of the worst most disingenuous response I can imagine, and more and more often I click through and it's there.
posted by emptythought at 7:30 PM on November 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


It is OK to be grossed out by food made with human bodily excretions. End of story.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:04 PM on November 26, 2015


No matter what your position on the habit of using a plural pronoun as a gender-neutral one, surely this is one case where her would have been fine.

With the exception of pre-operative trans men.


Well, ok. I hadn't thought of that. Carry on.
posted by fartknocker at 12:05 AM on November 27, 2015


This is all rather silly, and reflects a misunderstanding of sourdough microbiology. People are always "seeding" sourdough cultures with grapes or apples or even commercial yeast, apparently with the idea that the sourdough culture will continue to ferment using the native yeast and bacteria on the grapes or apples or whatever. To the best of my knowledge, however, the typical sourdough microorganisms aren't found on the outside of grapes and apples and all the other things people think will seed their culture. If this were the case, then grape-started sourdough cultures would have certain common characteristics and, well, they don't. The only thing those grapes and apples and whatnot do is provide a ready source of sugar that produces a lot of fermentation activity in the early days and makes the baker feel better. Here's the thing: a continually refreshed medium of flour and water (aka a sourdough starter) is a little evolution machine that selects for microorganisms that will survive in that environment and pretty much kills off everything else. I suppose it's possible that some human vaginas might harbor some of the microorganisms that survive in a sourdough culture and leaven bread. Some sourdough microorganisms have been identified in the teeth of children, for example. But it's surprisingly difficult to find sourdough microorganisms "in the wild" anywhere other than in a sourdough starter. Even in the unlikely event that her vagina did contain some sourdough microorganisms, there would be nothing to worry about -- the bread would be leavened with the same microorganisms that leaven other sourdoughs, and any other microorganisms would have died off within a few refreshments of the starter.
posted by slkinsey at 10:39 AM on November 27, 2015 [3 favorites]


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