lthough humanity had used yeast to raise bread, the yeast's labor was solely beneficial. In cheese, humanity put sympathetic bacteria to work killing deadly bacteria. We allowed certain strains to invade our food and take it over, mowing down our enemies and occupying their territory. Since these bacteria could never do us any harm, we let them stay where they were, preserving our precious food for years at a time. Until we wanted to eat it.
And so I lied a bit in my opening paragraph. The bacteria aren't cattle, and they aren't on a ranch. They're more like a group of colonists, storming into enemy territory, battling it out with their host's enemies, then settling and raising generations on the land that they won for us. Until one day, we decide they're no longer useful, and slaughter them all. They're the first organism enslaved to do our fighting and preservation for us, and we betray them every time.
I'd feel bad, if they weren't so delicious.
Top Image: Christian Bauer
Second Image: Flickr, OSU