[texas booster]

Tempeh or tempe is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. A fungus, Rhizopus oligosporus or Rhizopus oryzae, is used in the fermentation process and is also known as tempeh starter.

More than you ever wanted to know.

[Getready]

Cheese, yogurt, saurkraut, BEER, sourdough bread, wine, vinegar, cultured butter, kimchi, fish sauce, kefir,..are all products of fermentation...
My guess is that long time ago, some guys milk (or cabbage) went bad...the dude was starving, ate it, survived, and realized he didn’t have to throw it away.
P.s.....spell checker for article probably auto subbed “fragmentation” for fermentation in some sentences of article.