Meet Moritz Huber, the mind behind the start-up SauerCrowd. About to graduate from two bachelor programs in the Netherlands, he has learned all about food transition, sustainability, and circular agricultural practices. This interview gives you the chance to get to know Moritz more personally, as well as finding out about the mission and vision of the local Amsterdam ferment company SauerCrowd. Moreover, wouldn’t you love to know how he found The Gardens of Babylon and what the community means to him?
Hi Moritz, can you share with us a bit more about who you are and where you’re from?
I am Moritz Huber, a 26-year-old foodie living in Amsterdam. My life is all about food and the connection to our soil as well as the people- ‘the crowd’ living on this soil. It’s my life’s mission to bring positive long-term change to a food system that’s corrupt and unsustainable. In the process, I love connecting with people who strive for a better future. A future that still allows our grandchildren access to healthy, local food from regenerative sources all around Europe.
Furthermore, I focus my study on the mind-gut connection and how our emotions, feelings, and actions are related to our diet and lifestyle. Starting on the land, this extends through our way of cooking, preserving, and eating. Finally ending up in the digestive system, our food serves as a holistic energy source influencing all aspects of our emotional life. Knowing what is going on in your body and mind is crucial for a happier, more compassionate life. I love sharing my knowledge about these topics through my start-up SauerCrowd and still learn from others by listening to their experiences and wisdom.
When was the first time you connected with The Gardens of Babylon?
The first gathering in December of 2018, and then in January of 2019 the first family dinner and buildup of the wonderful gathering. It was love from day one and onwards!
The Gardens Of Babylon came into my life at a time when I started manifesting a lot for the future, coming back to live and work in Amsterdam. Of course, as an expat it’s not very easy to arrive in a new city and make friends and deeper connections. Coming from a hippy family in a smaller city, Amsterdam can be quite overwhelming. The Gardens of Babylon offered a safe environment in which I could explore myself while forming deeper connections to other like-minded souls while celebrating life and spirituality. For this I am forever grateful.
In what way is The Gardens of Babylon special for you? Maybe you have a nice moment or anecdote to share with us?
A special moment for me was in 2019, working in The Monastery team. So much love and care for everyone around – this is how we should build our society in the future everywhere! Especially after corona. Eva´s psychedelic breathwork was the starting point of a very special journey of self-love and manifestation for me. I will never forget that.
Lastly, The Gardens family became a real family for me. The friendships I have made here are priceless and have a deeper meaning. Giving back with nourishing plant-based food and sharing knowledge about the mind and gut connection comes naturally for me now.
Tell us a bit more about your company.
SauerCrowd is a local Amsterdam ferment company, based out of Kitchen Republic in the Houthavens. Our mission is to source vegetables from local organic farms in order to transform them into delicious, sustainable, and gut-friendly food products. We stand for the highest quality, taste, and gut-health in a sustainable, circular economy.
Believing in gut health, now more than ever we see how important it is to stay close to our gut and do what’s good for our body. We offer our Gut-Mind Boxes in our webshop to give you more information and access to fermented foods. Together with Moritz, our Crowd dietitian Michelle (also known from the glitter tribe at TGOB) creates monthly articles and videos for our Gut-Mind Journal on www.SauerCrowd.nl The content from our team provides many tips on how to get a healthy gut.
In the age of globalized food flow, we want to bring the traditional, sustainable and gut-health enhancing preservation technique of fermentation back into the spotlight. We believe sourcing seasonal ingredients straight from local organic farms creates new flavours, reinventing the image of fermented vegetables. As a circular working food business, we hope to inspire consumers and other food producers to return to a community-based approach of crafting foods and preserving tradition.
Tell us a bit more about your platform.
SauerCrowd.nl is a platform for fermented food producers. Our goal is to give them a space to share their amazing gut-supporting creations. No matter the size of their company.
We call our followers, supporters, and fellow foodie entrepreneurs the ‘Crowd’ – and the Crowd is all about diversity. That is, diversity from within us, by offering organic, handcrafted plant-based food full of viable bacteria to strengthen our inner microbiome, and diversity around us. Our planet is suffering from monoculture practices on farmlands, destruction of nature, and the extinction of species all around the world. SauerCrowd stands for biodynamic, organic, and regenerative farming as the future model of growing plants to nourish humanity.
We strive to keep SauerCrowd an open platform for change-makers. Change from the inside out, healing from the inside out.
What is the biggest compliment someone gave you on your food or made you smile from ear to ear?
We receive a lot of wonderful feedback from our Crowd on all company-related actions we take (health, sustainability, knowledge, crowd building) and we are super thankful for this!
Last week I received a text from one of our customers from Berlin. With the help from our Gut-Mind box and Journal, she recovered from a heavy antibiotic treatment for her abdominals. After consuming our krauts and kimchi, she already felt so much better within 5 days. Not only did she share an extensive post about this, she even went to talk to her doctor about her experience. She works in a hospital, where she conveyed the viability of natural healing from the inside, instead of always needing to stuff ourselves with the recovery drugs Big Pharma offers.
This shows how you can self-heal by taking a step back to reflect on what nature provides us with. I started SauerCrowd for this reason, hoping to help many more people in the future to regain diversity within as well as strengthen and preserve the immune system.
Secondly, we often team up with Edwin from The Morning to deliver plant-based healthy catering. Seeing the smiling faces of the volunteers and TGOB family when we do this, is priceless!
It would be amazing if you could share a recipe with the family…
Please feel free to access any of the recipes on www.SauerCrowd.nl
Anything else you want to share with The Gardens family?
Stay strong through these uncertain times, go inwards and take the time to explore your bodies and minds. Together, we celebrated a lot in the last few years all over the world.
Right now is the time to check up on ourselves and our close circle. Nourishing friendships, family, and very important- ourselves is the gift of 2020. I truly believe in that.
Sending Love & Light to all of you out there. So many Gardens members joined the Crowd, thanks for your support! Without you, my dream of starting up my own business would have never been possible.
Until we see each other again on the dance floor to reunite!
Yours,
Moritz
Contact SauerCrowd:
Sign up for our monthly Crowd Letter on sauercrowd.nl to receive company news and updates about our Gut-Mind Journal. (which is for free by the way!)
As a small start-up, we rely heavily on support from the Crowd. Please share your experience with our products and insights from our blog with your network.
