Fungus fever: Albuquerque Fermentation & Fungi Fest celebrates fermented foods and fungi

Downtown Albuquerque is hosting a unique event dedicated to celebrating all things fungi.

The Albuquerque Fermentation & Fungi Fest will be celebrating its second year of bringing New Mexicans a newfound appreciation for fermented foods and fungi like mushrooms and yeasts.

Fungus fever: Albuquerque Fermentation & Fungi Fest celebrates fermented foods and fungi

“The fermentation festival is all about supporting local, locally-owned and operated businesses because that’s really important to us,” said Kat Cannella, event manager for the festival. “All of our food vendors are local business owners. This is just another way to celebrate and support our local farmers and producers.”

The family-friendly festival will feature 10 unique workshops including the New Mexico Cheese Guild’s “What the Cheese?” a kimchi and sourdough focaccia demonstration, fermented skincare demonstrations, classes to teach people how to cook with mushrooms, and hot sauce cooking classes, all to teach people how to better incorporate fungi into their lives and encourage a love for it.

“There’s a lot of health benefits that fungi and fermented food can offer, so learning those benefits is a really important component,” Cannella said.

One of the most popular events during the festival — “Battle of the Breads” competition — is back and bigger than ever. The competition puts amateur and professional bakers in separate categories and tests their baking skills. Each group will bake a loaf of sourdough or specialty (the inclusion of ingredients like cheese, nuts or olives) breads.

“This year we revamped ‘Battle of the Breads’ and we’re doing a live judging that will take place during the competition,” Cannella said.

Stephanie Cameron, an editor from local food magazine Edible New Mexico, will be judging the contest.

Guests can dive into the world of fermentation with a limited selection of craft cocktail drinks, or they can indulge in the flavors of fungi and fermentation with a specialized menu. Some vendors, like Tender Fire, will be serving foods like sourdough pizza to fit the theme of the event. Local food trucks like Street Food Institute and Mouthful of Cheese will be serving food including tacos, grilled cheese sandwiches and Reuben sandwiches. Local beer, wine and nonalcoholic beverages will be available for purchase. Wine tasting will also be part of the event.

“We have some really great vendors,” Cannella said. “All our fermentation vendors, all our mushroom vendors and we have some artisans who will be popping up. Last year we had 29 vendors and this year we have 48, so we definitely were able to get more people involved and we’re really excited about that.”

Beyond eating and drinking, there will be educational booths at the event from New Mexico State University’s food preservation and ecological projects to provide educational background on what fermentation is, what can be fermented and the different properties of fungi.

Following the event, the festival will have a post-event at Explora for its adult night.

“I think overall, anybody who is interested in fermentation and fungi, just wants to have something fun to do or wants to support your local growers, businesses, producers and farmers should come check out for this event,” Cannella said. “We have so many various vendors with all kinds of fermentation products, fungi product friendly guide vendors, artisan foods ... There’s literally something for everybody to (enjoy).”