Just Girly Things, But Kombucha

by Christina Lin ‘21

Kombucha is a drink that is experiencing incredible growth in the U.S. market. Commercial sales of the drink increased approximately 20 percent from 2018 to 2019. The penetration of this drink in our markets is undeniable: different brands and flavors line our grocery stores, often overwhelming the choices we have for coffee. However, in the same way that people often buy coffee machines and French presses to save on overpriced coffee at Starbucks, so too do kombucha drinkers begin their descent into the world of brewing. 

Kombucha is sweet tea fermented with bacteria and yeast. To start, you need white sugar, unflavored black or green tea, water, and starter tea; starter tea is just strong kombucha, which can be taken from a bottle, store-bought, or borrowed from another brewing friend’s. A pellicle, or symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) is an optional addition—it helps in introducing yeasts to your culture, especially if you live in an urban environment, where natural yeasts floating in the air may be less flavorful and diverse. You brew a gallon of tea, dump a cup of sugar in, mix it around, and let it cool to room temperature before adding starter tea, and the pellicle. From there, you cover the mixture with a cloth for up to a week, and congratulations! You have kombucha in its non-carbonated form, which you can bottle, and use to start a new batch. 

Kombucha. Photo courtesy of Edible Alchemy.

There are myriad ways in which food and philosophy intersect. Our relationships with food can also reflect our attitudes and values in life, such as whether or not we choose to live a plant-based lifestyle. For some people, the act of deciding to make kombucha signifies a commitment to personal health and growth; for others, it may be about cost minimization. In writing her most famous text, The Book of the City of Ladies (BCL), Christine de Pizan presents an interpretation of the nature of woman which in many ways is similar to how we characterize kombucha and its cultures. BCL shows Pizan, crippled with the idea that all of her favorite philosophical figures believe women can barely exercise their reason, even on questions like what should I wear? Three ethereal figures (Ladies Reason, Justice, and Rectitude) facilitate the building of Pizan’s city for virtuous women, and allow for a safe haven from the ridicule of men.

The connection between kombucha and Pizan isn’t immediately obvious: how can a jar of sour tea possibly be philosophical? The baseline of comparison is its structure—the starter tea is Lady Justice, the pellicle is Lady Reason, and the yeast is Lady Rectitude. Pizan’s descriptions of the nature of women parallels conceptions we have of kombucha, but it may allow us greater insight into the nature of the inherently variable.

The starter tea, or Lady Justice, is the basis from which Pizan’s philosophy begins. It is both the reason for Pizan’s philosophy, as well as the force which allows it to prosper. Its strength in kombucha is what kickstarts the fermentation process, and its vitality can determine how quickly or slowly, or even how successful the process of fermentation goes. In addition, its initial inoculation lowers the pH of the whole solution, protecting everything from the bacteria—or, in the case of BCL, the schools of thought that would cause damage to womanly existence, which could poison the brew. The starter tea of Pizan’s city is an overwhelming number of famous and virtuous women, who provide ample bodies to fill her city with. These women are those who have studied both secular and religious topics to great extents (Queen of Sheba), goddesses who have invented incredible weapons (Minerva), and disgraced witches who have still managed to care for fallen heroes (Circe). Pizan’s city serves to protect these women from the misinformed opinions of the world as well as philosophers who cannot comprehend their value, similar to how the acidity and culture present within the starter tea serve as the first layer of defense against mold and infections.

Christine de Pizan. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

The pellicle of the kombucha is aptly named; it protects the brew from any physical objects, and it aids in making the kombucha carbonated by trapping the carbon dioxide within. The byproduct of fermentation, it often signals the health of your brew. In the beginning of BCL, Pizan laments that every one of her most respected philosophers has something to say about the horridness of women, and begrudgingly comes to the conclusion that she must, in her nature, be some horrible, godforsaken creature. Lady Reason plays a significant role in forcing Pizan to see that she hasn’t been applying reason thus far, and has just been blindly believing philosophers she respects. In the same way that Lady Reason protects Pizan from the dangers of not applying reason, the pellicle protects the brew from the physical dangers of poisonous bacteria.

In addition, the wild yeasts in kombucha, which often contribute to the unique flavors of different brews, physically attach to the layers of the pellicle, and are more easily transported in this condensed form. Yeasts allows the rest of the brew to ferment healthily and produce a well-balanced flavor, in the same way that Lady Rectitude, who represents morally correct behavior, allows for the city of ladies to flourish and maintain its virtuous strength through action. 

For Pizan, these three “ladies” exemplify the virtues which are most desirable in women. Possession of these traits will allow you access to her virtuous city, free of men, and qualify you to be deserving of greater respect from those in positions of power. In brewing, if we are in possession of these three, we are simply able to create kombucha which is healthy and delicious.

Pizan also suggests that the nature of women is different from that of men. For her, a part of the nature of women is to care for those around her. She describes women in general as often being considerate towards their parents and their loneliness, but that sons don’t think about their parents, and even scheme to take control of their assets when they pass away. She provides Minerva as an example of a woman who acts against that nature: her affinity for weapons and warfare seem to contradict the softer, nurturing essence of her gender. Although Minerva would likely gain entrance, the existence of this difference allows her to define virtues more strictly, and create grounds for exclusion.

If we continue with the idea that the nature of woman can be represented by a fermenting brew, it suggests that there is a particular quality or ratio necessary in a prosperous brew, in the same way that there are certain qualities in women (purity and chastity, for example) which are desirable and allow access to Pizan’s city. The amount of sugar, starter tea, and time are all important factors in creating the kombucha you want, showing that the creation of a good finished product may require excising diversity in the existing brew. Increased sugar amounts and fermentation times expose the brew to an increased risk of infection with harmful bacteria or mold. Similarly, Pizan suggests that only virtuous women are allowed within her city and within the walls of protection, as unvirtuous women could compromise the footing on which her city stands. 

Pizan makes subtle allusions to the inequality of men and women, and in particular, that men dominate their relationships with women. She suggests that if a truly virtuous woman is stuck in a relationship with a bad or immoral man, she should remain in that relationship and try to reform him. Here, she implies that the inoculation of the brew with harmful bacteria might somehow make it better. The base from which kombucha grows is sweet tea, which is a perfect breeding ground for all sorts of bacteria. The brew needs bacteria to begin the process of fermentation, and diversity of bacteria may contribute to a stronger culture—similar to sticking with a mediocre man, hoping for a reformation through positive influence. It’s not in the woman’s best interest to close off the brew entirely from exposure to other bacteria. There may be some cultures which improve the taste or quality of the brew, suggesting that we should place greater positive value on the diversity within bacterial cultures and yeast to stimulate growth.

However, these last two examples seem not to follow with modern conceptions of a woman’s nature. As shown, Pizan’s definitions of the woman’s nature allows for the exclusion of women by other women, in addition to the existing exclusion of women by men. She seems to justify these exclusions in the name of creating a safe community. However, this exclusion is harmful for women—and for kombucha. In her attempt to define womanly nature, Pizan excludes unvirtuous women. This contributes to the greater exclusion of women by men by reducing access to greater opportunities for growth, and increases division among women through discriminatory gate-keeping, which diminishes her project of protecting women from the unjust criticism of men. There will be many women who are unable to live up to these virtues for various structural reasons, and denied entrance to the city, or denied the respect they deserve from others. Recently, there has been a burgeoning interest kombucha, from college students, to your neighborhood caffeine addict in recovery trying to make some life changes, to formal researchers. This increased foray into the nature of kombucha echoes the idea that greater exploration of woman’s nature is in order. 

There is little scientific literature on the benefits of kombucha so far, but a recent study has shown that we do not fully understand what kombucha is, or the factors which may improve it. One example is that the pellicle is more important than previously believed; it is now suspected to act as a broad protector of the brew against environmental changes (such as fluctuations in humidity) in addition to its role in the future development and structuring of the bacterial community. There is currently no study detailing if convergent evolution occurs within cultures, and if there is some supreme culture that exists. These discoveries about kombucha raise the parallel questions about the roles reason might play in women’s nature, as well as whether a singular definition of “a woman’s nature” truly exists.

While kombucha may not directly be indicative of a woman’s nature, it provides insight into how we can begin to consider it. Pizan has not discovered the true extent of a woman’s nature. Pizan’s exclusionary definition turns out to be quite harmful, and takes an undesirable turn when defining women in relation to each other and men. It seems that we should instead be valuing the diversity both of experience and of changes in order to more accurately evaluate the nature of things—and allow our definitions to be fluid. So, the next time you decide to take a sip of kombucha, consider what else we may discover hidden underneath the layers of SCOBY.

Christina Lin ‘21 (clin8) is thinking of taking up kombucha brewing this pandemic. From the Pandemic 2020 issue.