Most people are familiar with foods such as bread and cheese, but many, however, do not know how they are created. The processes by which they are created, as well as many other products, are done through the method known as fermentation. Fermentation creates many of the foods and drinks that we all eat and drink on a regular basis. Such examples include dairy products and yogurt which are created through the fermentation of lactic acid. Alcoholic beverages are produced through a process called ethanol fermentation. The use of fermentation was an important tool for ancient societies of the past that sparked the development of staple crops that governed their lives such as wheat and grapes. It gave rise to new techniques in creating foods that would not have been possible without fermentation methods. The discovery of the fermentation process and its development over the centuries have subsequently led to its emergence as an important aspect in foods and beverages, as well as being a process used in different industries to make different useful products. Fermentation, as stated by author Anne M. Helmenstine is “the biochemical conversion of sugars, starches, or carbohydrates into alcohols and organic acids, by bacteria and enzymes” (“What is Fermentation?”). In short, it is a change from a sugar like glucose to a simpler compound. Fermentation traces its history back to the Neolithic, a time when the first agricultural communities began to develop (Shurtleff and Aoyagi). Humans were beginning to use this process to produce different types of foods before it was discovered that fermentation was the reason behind creating the desirable drinks and foods they enjoyed. The word “fermentation” comes from the Latin……middle of paper……many skills that play a more important role in our lives than you might think. It produces a wide variety of foods that could not have been prepared without its process, such as bread and cheese. Alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer could not be possible without the use of ethanol fermentation. Many would not be able to appreciate the flavors created by the process, which are unique only to fermented foods. Not just limited to the creation of food and drink, fermentation also plays an important role in the making of many other products that affect our daily lives, from the fuel you use to the medicines you take. Fermentation and its development has been a great boon to society in the development of foods and beverages, in the creation of many products and has a great effect on the world with its rise in new innovative ways that the process can be used for..