In Lisa Heldke’s kitchen, there hangs an enormous poster that says “Bread is Life.” In bread cultures, there exist rich collections of story, metaphor, anecdote and advice about the importance of bread in and for human life. Recent biological research invites us to expand that collection, by exploring bread (dough) as life.
How can a blob of our, water, salt and yeast serve as an apt illustration or metaphor for human being? Biologists have recently been developing a de nition of the biological individual that acknowledges its deep dependence on (and vulnerability to) the microorganisms that make their homes within it. Biologists have o ered a variety of metaphors in their attempts to capture this sense of the collective nature of the “individual”; one popular one suggests that “we’re all lichens.” Heldke o ers “we’re all bread dough.”
In this workshop, she will introduce participants to recent research into humans’ dependence on our microbiotic residents, including, e.g., those in our gut. How does this new biology reshape who we think we are as persons? Participants will create images, metaphors, and stories that contribute to
the creation of new culture rooted in this new, interdependent, vulnerable conception of the human individual.
Perhaps the poster for this new human will read “Life is Bread (Dough).”
