What Are 'Cultures'?

I recently wrote about euphemism and its use in the political sphere. You might say that euphemism is the unwillingness to call a spade a spade. (That expression supposedly comes from the US Army which, on a list of supplies, listed a spade as an "entrenching tool").

Of course euphemism is also used in the marketing sphere. Here is a small example. Yogurt, and especially any yogurt sold for its "probiotic" virtues, is claimed to contain "cultures." But what are cultures? How many people know what "cultures" really are? (I heard a woman giving one of those talks or lectures on PBS, talking about yogurt and cultures; and not once did she give what I'd consider a forthright definition of "culture." I don't think she herself understood completely clearly.)

Cultures are nothing more nor less than bacteria. Or, if you will, germs.

But I don't consider it out-and-out malice when cultures are called by that term. I am sure that the term culture is very old and predates the advent of microscopes, when of course we first became aware of the microscopic world and thus found out that what had been called "cultures" for centuries--not only in yogurt-making but in brewing beer and making wine, vinegar, and some bread—were microscopic organisms, either bacteria or yeasts.

But ignorance sometimes is bliss--to use another old saying. Possibly some people would be turned off to know that they were eating billions of bacteria. My mother loved mushrooms, but after I told her (perhaps inaccurately) that mushrooms are grown in manure, she wouldn't eat them anymore. I'd inadvertently deprived her of one of her pleasures.

So it must be remembered that, although we think of bacteria as harmful and causing disease, there are those that are beneficial or even (as in the case of the bacteria in our guts) vital to our good health.

Copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein