Team:Paris Bettencourt
FIY - Ferment It Yourself!
Fermented foods form an integral part of various cultures all over the world. They were accepted as high nutrition foods long before we knew what microbes are or how fermentation works.
Foods made out of fermented rice are staples in almost all of South India and Sri Lanka, with idli and dosa being over the most widely consumed throughout the Indian subcontinent. While the process of fermentation in the preparation of these dishes already enriches these foods with some essential vitamins and amino acids, these regions still suffer from high levels of malnutrition. This is due to a heavy dependence on rice and a lack of other food sources, which itself stems from socioeconomic issues.
We are trying to tackle this problem of malnutrition in the region, while celebrating the cultural heritage of fermented foods, by engineering yeast and bacteria which, when used for fermentation, will enrich the food with vitamins A, B2 and B12. We'll introduce and improve the pathways to synthesize those vitamins in S. Cerevisiae and Lactobacillus, which are commonly found in indian dishes made of fermented rice.
Since these micro-organisms are easy to culture, our product will allow people to grow their own source of vitamins in their kitchen.
Foods made out of fermented rice are staples in almost all of South India and Sri Lanka, with idli and dosa being over the most widely consumed throughout the Indian subcontinent. While the process of fermentation in the preparation of these dishes already enriches these foods with some essential vitamins and amino acids, these regions still suffer from high levels of malnutrition. This is due to a heavy dependence on rice and a lack of other food sources, which itself stems from socioeconomic issues.
We are trying to tackle this problem of malnutrition in the region, while celebrating the cultural heritage of fermented foods, by engineering yeast and bacteria which, when used for fermentation, will enrich the food with vitamins A, B2 and B12. We'll introduce and improve the pathways to synthesize those vitamins in S. Cerevisiae and Lactobacillus, which are commonly found in indian dishes made of fermented rice.
Since these micro-organisms are easy to culture, our product will allow people to grow their own source of vitamins in their kitchen.
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