For many centuries, fermented foods like cheese, yogurt, kefir, sausage and sourdough bread have relied on lactic acid bacteria for their flavor, nutrition, texture and shelf life. The art of fermentation has now become a science through microbiological analysis of starter cultures, bioprocessing technologies and, most recently, genomic sequencing of lactic acid bacteria. These technological advances have dramatically improved the stability of the fermentation process and yielded insights into t…