I have this perspective too in large part due to the book "The Art of Fermentation" by Sandor Katz and the other resources/books that that book cites.

Making your own ginger beer using a starter that you maintain (google "ginger bug") is an easy way to get into DIY probiotics.

And, the book "The Art of Fermentation", which promotes fermenting beverages, vegetables, etc using wild yeasts and generally yielding foods with various Lactobacillus, is a fantastic read.

Did you know that Sandor Katz, the author of The Art of Fermentation, lived on a commune in Tennessee during much of his adulthood? The commune gave him the opportunity to write you that book and the experience that fed into how he wrote it.

I highly recommend The Art of Fermentation[1] to anyone interested in making this and other fermented food and drinks. It's a huge, encyclopedic book on everything fermentation-related.

The author also has an interesting blog.[2]

[1] - https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fermentation-Depth-Exploration-Es...

[2] - https://www.wildfermentation.com/

Fermentation is indeed one of the most traditional and simple ways of preserving food, and has been practiced since millenia by almost all traditional and modern societies. There is also some scientific evidence that fermented foods are good for your health.

Unlike what most people think it is also very safe and easy to do at home. Making sauerkraut or Kimchi is a fun experience and the result can usually compete with most of the produce you can find in supermarkets.

If you're interested in home fermentation make sure to check out Sandor Katz's "The Art of Fermentation", which is a great reference:

https://www.google.de/search?q=sandor+katz&oq=sandor+katz&aq...

>The chance of salmonella in a dozen eggs is quite low. The chance of it in 300+ eggs is quite a bit more - even with impeccable personal cleanliness. Likewise, if I got a bit of salmonella in something I made, it would affect me and my wife - which would be unfortunate but, that's it.

Eggs are the only food that fits this narrative, and they are only (very rarely) dangerous if eaten raw. I would be more concerned about eating eggs from a holiday inn breakfast buffet.

>I also know that I wash my hands, and I sanitize every cooking surface in my kitchen daily (or more often).

I've never sanitized my cooking surface. I was taught to use vinegar as a cleaner and have never had issues (it's not a disinfectant). I haven't even had a cold in three years.

>One of the things I do is infuse alcohols, often in bulk for gifts. When I do this, my sanitation protocol actually changes - I pre-sanitize every vessel using bleach, and I often times do wear gloves if I'm touching anything directly.

A few of the things I do are brew beer, wine, kombucha, ferment vegetables, etc. I, too, used to use sanitize all of my bottles and containers. I then read The Art of Fermentation and realized that everything I was doing was moot. Lactic acid bacteria and yeasts do an excellent job of preservation, provided you give them a nurturing environment to thrive in.

>Consider this: If you had a small cut on your hand, would you wear gloves before making yourself lunch? What if it was a stranger with a cough making your lunch, would you want them to wear gloves?

The commune deserves more credit. People who abandon everything to live in a commune take personal interest in caring for one another. You're more likely to pick up something from a stranger with a cough at a restaurant, who didn't call in sick because they're still late on last month's phone bill, than someone at a commune - who could just ask another member to fill in. Keep in mind this is how society was for a long time.

Making kimchi or simple sauerkraut is a fun exercise in robust biotechnology. I was so nervous the first few times I tried doing it; surely I was going to make a mistake and it would be disgusting, or moldy, or full of botulin toxins. Turns out lactofermentation is a very old and very simple technology and as long as you salt things right and make it reasonably air-tight, very little can go wrong.

Seconding pmoriarty's recommendation for the book The Art of Fermentation. Or just find any online recipe for sauerkraut or kimchi, you can't really go wrong. You can ferment in any jar with a tight fitting lid. It's a little easier with an airlock so the CO2 offgasses but you can also just crack the lid every day or so while it ferments to keep the pressure under control.

There seems to be a revival of everything fermented at the moment, thanks to people like Sandor Katz and (to less extend) Brad Leone. I've recently bought The Art of Fermentation by the former, and although I've been impressed by its thoroughness, it's not a recipe book you can follow.

As with sourdough bread and brewed beers, I'm not sure if this is just a hipsterish fad that will go away in a decade, or if this slowly recovering past traditions are here to stay. As a hobby, of course.