New year, new life. I’m going to the Morna area to meet an Argentinean fermenter I’ve known for a long time. His name is Diego Belinky (Buenos Aires, 1980), better known as Chucho, a unique character with very good energy.
But before we talk to him, let’s find out what fermentation is.
Fermentation is a natural process that occurs when certain when certain bacteria or yeasts break down the sugars in food without the need for oxygen.. Esto produce compuestos beneficiosos como ácidos orgánicos y vitaminas, y puede mejorar el sabor y la textura de los alimentos.
There are several types of fermentation, according to the European Institute of Chemistry, Physics and Biology there are 4:
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Lactic fermentation
In lactic fermentation microorganisms, such as certain bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus, convert sugars into lactic acid. This process is common in the manufacture of dairy products such as yogurt, cheese and fermented milk, sauerkraut and kimchi.
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Alcoholic fermentation
It is carried out mainly by yeasts, such as Sacharomuces cerevisae, which convert sugars into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. This process is essential in the production of alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and whiskey, as well as in the manufacture of biofuels such as ethanol.
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Acetic fermentation
In acetic fermentation, bacteria of the genus Acetobacter oxidize the alcohol produced by alcoholic fermentation into acetic acid. This process is used in the vinegar productionwhere acetic acid is the main component.
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Butyric fermentation
Butyric fermentation is carried out by bacteria of the Clostridium genus, which convert sugars into butyric acid and other short-chain fatty acids. This process is used in the fermentation of certain foods, such as butter, or the formation of certain aromas and flavors in cheeses.
Now, let’s get down to business…
-You have been sommelier and mâitre, butler and in general bon vivant. Suddenly you make a radical change in your life. How and why?
-A few years ago, in a healing with a healer, she told me that I had to do something with my body because what she saw inside me I had never seen before. She told me that I had bags of tar stuck in the walls of my intestines. That if I didn’t do something urgently I was going to have a very serious disease. So I started to take care of myself by doing colonic cleanings thinking I was doing good. Then a year later I went to China to a martial arts school lost in the mountains, believing it was Kung Fu Panda, weighing 120 kilos and suddenly I was hard. In bed unable to move until I could and I went to see an acupuncturist. Day in and day out for almost a month until he asked me to have an MRI to see what I had because I was not getting better. The result was that my intestines were so inflamed that they were pushing on my spine. And I took it as a second warning, I had to do something.
In Argentina I was talking to a friend who recommended me to a certain Néstor Palmetti who has a center called Espacio Depurativo in Córdoba. I went there for 10 days with him and he totally changed my diet and, above all, my life. I realized that after 14 years in the world of gastronomy I had a vision, like most people in the world, very focused from here to here (he points to the area of the eyes, nose and mouth). We eat with our eyes, we smell with our nose, we taste with our mouth. The moment we swallow we don’t care about the food anymore, we go to the next bite. This being taught me that it goes from here to here (he points now from the trachea to the waist). He explained to me that food is in your body for a minimum of 16 hours circulating until it is expelled. That’s when I understood that I had to pay much more attention to that process.
-And what happened on your return to Ibiza?
-Everything changed in my life. I started to take care and change my diet completely and I started looking for courses to learn how to eat better. I came from working in a Michelin star restaurant, and, as a good ‘bon vivant’ I liked (and still like) more elaborate meals with complex and varied flavors. And with this change of life, I started with the physiological diet (a (the food adapted to our original digestive system). The closest thing known would be raw vegan. Which people think she’s vegan and would eat salad all her life and I didn’t want that either.
-And that’s where the fermentation started?
-Yes, I took a course on live food where I covered knowledge about fermentation, sprouts, dehydrated food, etc. With this diet I began to have an impressive mental clarity. It was like mopping inside my head, my thoughts purer….
And I no longer drink alcohol but take hydroalcoholic extractions of plant tinctures that I use to deworm, oxygenate, prevent and heal diseases, in what is known as phytotherapy. And I have an open channel with the universe that brings me information and I channel it through fermentation and cooking.
-What foods do you ferment?
-All kinds of vegetables. Sometimes I make cheese but not much, mostly carrots, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, eggplants….
-Describe what is in the jars in the picture above, from left to right.
-Tomato fermented with sea water, then a sauerkraut of cabbage Milan with a lot of herbs from the island and sea salt. Pickled eggplants and herbs, also chilli, onion… And the last one is cauliflower with ginger, garlic, and sea water from Ibiza and Formentera.
-Do you sell what you produce?
-No, I rather give it away. I share with my suppliers and then I give to my people, I am very much in favor of bartering. So you help me put up some shelves for example or whatever, a massage, whatever you do, and I give you fermented food.
In Ibiza, 70% of agroecological production is thrown away, composted or fed to animals (sometimes they eat better than we do). I try to add a link to the chain. I approach orchards and ask for discards to ferment, if I make 2 jars, one for them and one for me. That’s why I also give it away, because it comes to me for free so it must be free. And something that breaks my head that happens a lot in Ibiza is that there are chefs working in restaurants that have gardens and don’t use them, they ask for vegetables from suppliers.
-Well, what happens is that sometimes the orchard does not produce enough or there is not what is needed because it is on the menu, I guess….
-That’s the mistake, it’s not that I buy what I need because it’s on the menu, I make the menu according to the food that the garden can serve me, which is what nature gives me with its seasons. It is wrong for me to eliminate the seasons and have everything available all the time.
-How would you explain the benefit of fermentation?
-What happens is that you vitalize or energize more the food you are going to consume. It is as if instead of eating a food you are eating a super food.
-How do you see the need to eat for the body but keeping in mind that in reality what we are is energy?
-Humans are energy, a vibration. Food is actually an interruption for me. Notice that when you eat meat, all your energy goes down and you end up on the couch. But if you fast, for example, you have energy to spare! And there is no food to give you that energy, so it leads me to think, what is food?
-Yes, I understand because I know, I have fasted with the maple syrup system, I even once went 10 days without eating and I not only realized that what you say, also that the amounts of food we eat daily are so ridiculously too much, we eat way above the real need….
-It is not only the amount of food we eat that is ridiculous, but also the amount of food that is produced. The body does not need so much food. But we are put and educated to consume wildly to take us away from our spirit. They want to disconnect us from that higher energy that we are.
Look, in addition to fermentation, I am investigating something new for me called scalar energy. In the healing room that I told you about in Cordoba I saw some machines that caught my attention. And at that time I was reading a lot about the ether, or the energy that is everywhere, some call it Qi, or Prana or vital energy. Energy basically. They made us believe that there is nothing in the air but there is energy everywhere, in fact the great Nikola Tesla more than wanting to illuminate cities wanted to heal and keep people healthy using the energy of the ether, that is why he was relegated to oblivion, it is not interesting for us to know this.
So I was at that site and saw these hoop machines plugged into the wall and asked what they were. He explained to me that it was a George Lakhowsky multi-frequency oscillator. Summed up very quickly what it does is it injects ether or life energy into the cells. And I was using it to test it and I came out floating, I didn’t quite understand what was going on, but I had a clear feeling that it had done my body a lot of good. Very crazy. I was 20 days in the Depurative Space, and 8 or 9 plugged in [risas].
-But where do you buy one of those machines?
-If you are connected, things come to you. I was asking around and in no time I found someone who was selling one. And I bought it.
Can you explain a little more about how it operates?
With the right tuning and harmony, a powerful scalar energy machine combined with Georges Lakhovsky’s multi-wave oscillator method can emit a full spectrum of frequencies, from 0.01 Hz to over 25 MHz.This range has the potential to neutralize all kinds of harmful microorganisms and eliminate various toxins from the body.
Ultimately you could fast and sustain yourself with these machines because in the end we are energy. And if your cells are energized they can defend themselves against just about anything.
-Do you do sessions of this with people?
-Yes, but with my people, my mother is my guinea pig [risas].
-And what is the session itself like?
-First I give you a glass of sea water to drink, because sea water, besides having all the minerals the body needs, is conductive, so electricity travels better through the body. It salinizes and hydrates the body, basically. Then you sit between the rings and I turn on the machine for 45 minutes or so, in intervals, depending on the person and their needs.
-What does the person feel?
-Cosquilness in the body, clarity, new energy, vitality…
-Do you feel like a therapist of this technique?
-No, not at all, it is a technique and these machines came to me and I am studying them while sharing the experience of using them.
-So, to finish, do you recommend eating fermented foods?
-[Sonríe pícaro] I tell you something, which I shouldn’t say being a fermenter, that maybe in five more years I’ll tell you the opposite because I’m already starting to think that maybe fermentation is not entirely good for the body…
-What whateeee?[risas]Let’s talk about it again in five years…
[And we both burst into pure, fermented laughter…].
And happy 2025 to all.
