Critical Focus | Microbes and the Plant-Based Foods of Tomorrow
THE MICROSCOPE
2025, Volume 72:4, pp. 161–173
DOI
https://doi.org/10.59082/RBTT4015
AUTHOR
Brian J. Ford
EXCERPT
We often complain about our microbes, don’t we? One will produce confluent colonies rather than discrete growths; sometimes a culture medium doesn’t seem to work; occasionally bacteria don’t take stain the way we think they should. It just happened to me. I was so surprised at what I found that I muttered aloud: “Well, I didn’t expect to find you here.” It was only a passing thought. To my surprise, one of the bacteria responded. “And why not?” it said. “I’ve as much right to be here as anything else."
“Oh, but surely not here. What’s Lactobacillus doing in a sample of vegan cheese?”“Here?” retorted the microbe. “Why not here?”
Plant-based substitutes for cheese and meat are being widely promoted.
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