Humans have always had an extremely intimate connection to the food we eat since we first emerged in Africa nearly 300,000 years ago. As human populations grew and spread across the globe, the complexity of our food systems grew with us. Behind every food eaten today is a web of stories that was intricately woven by past peoples who had a plethora of forms of social organization. Understanding how and why humans domesticate plants, animals, and more recently fungi, is key to deciphering our messy past, as well as for illuminating possible sustainable paths for our future in the midst of the Anthropocene. My name is Charlie Bruder and I am a microbiologist, bioanthropologist, and farmer who is interested in researching food systems, the genetic signatures of domestication, and the impact of the climate crisis on human social organization.

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We often think of domestication in its most obvious forms: the wolf becoming the dog; the development of agriculture by selectively breeding grains. However, domestication often manifests itself in ways that are far more mysterious and less discernable. The domestication of fungi is one such example, and is responsible for foods such as bread, wine, beer, cheese, tempeh, soy sauce, miso, and much more. Unlike domesticated plants and animals, the historical and cultural conditions that allow for fungal domestication events have largely been glossed over by scholars. Studying fungal domestication provides not only a new way to decipher our past, but also the potential for the creation of new foods and forms of agriculture.

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My current work involves investigating aberrant genome architecture in Rhizopus microsporus, the organism responsible for fermenting tempeh. By studying the patterns underlying how Rhizopus inherits gene segments or whole chromosomes, I hope to contribute to our understanding of fungal genetics and evolution, and also elucidate the history and mechanisms underlying Rhizopus domestication. I also lead an ethnographic project that seeks to understand what forms of human social organization lead to the production of fungal domesticates. Overall, my work investigates fungal domestication from a bioanthropological lens, combining both genetic and historical, and direct participant observation data.

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I have presented my work at more than 10 mycological societies across the United States, as well as a number of academic institutions and scientific conferences. For my study of fungal domestication, I was awarded best poster in my category at the 2026 Mycological Society of America meeting.