Your culinary adventure starts at the Bend Visitor Center, where you'll meet your guide for your initiation into all things fermented in Bend.

With a background in and knowledge of the local food scene and latest food movements, your guide provides lots of insight into how fermentation helps with digestion and nutrient absorption. Throughout the tour, learn tips for incorporating fermented foods and drinks into your diet at home.

Visit one or two of the city's popular craft breweries to sample extra-hoppy IPA and other beer, and maybe even meet beer makers, if they're around. Stop by a growler station to learn about the latest way locally made beer is being sold to consumers, and visit a kimchi maker to sample fermented Korean-spiced cabbage. Depending on the day of your tour, other stops may include a bakery, butcher shop, winery or distillery.

This is a flexible experience, meaning your guide can tailor the stops to meet the interests of your group. If you're a home brewer, perhaps you'll check out a small brewery to chat with an independent beer maker. If you're into home preserving, your guide might take you to a place that makes its own sauerkraut.

By the end of the tour, you'll have interesting, behind-the-scenes knowledge of the fermentation specialists that have put Bend on the culinary map.