A self-described "fermentation fetishist", Katz has taught hundreds of food workshops around the United States, and his book Wild Fermentation (2003) has been called a classic,[1] "the bible for people embarking on DIY projects like sourdough or sauerkraut",[2] and "especially notorious for getting people excited about fermenting food".

[3] He was named one of Chow magazine's top "provocateurs, trendsetters, and rabble-rousers" in 2009.

[4] Born to an Ashkenazi Jewish family with origins in Eastern Europe, Katz grew up in New York City on the Upper West Side.

His grandparents immigrated from Belarus in 1920, then part of the Soviet Union.

[5] He is openly gay,[6] an AIDS survivor,[7] and began his fermentation experimentation while living in a rural, off-the-grid Radical Faerie community in Tennessee.