Talk to Me About Food

This episode captures a thought experiment. In my mind I can see myself creating an eatery of some kind. A second career. But I know enough to know that I don’t know nearly enough or have the fortitude to actually establish and run this eatery I’ve been thinking about for at least 10 years.

The 2024 explosion of cicadas didn’t happen here in North Texas. This was going to be a once in a lifetime event. A coincidence of thirteen-year and seventeen-year broods that hasn’t occurred since Thomas Jefferson fretted over pests in his Monticello gardens. Maybe it has been a bigger deal in the upper Midwest where the bugs were expected to darken the skies. If broods XIX and XIII have made national news or the viralverse, I don’t know about it. I did come across cicada recipes published ...

What follows now are musings about the forces impacting what we choose to eat AWAY from home Priya Krishna, a contributing writer to the New York Times food section shared her assessment of what she and her team discovered surveying 121 menus from restaurants around the country in a story called “The Menu Trends That Define Dining Now.” This was in the February 7th 2024 edition. It's mostly a light-hearted take on what is on menus and observations about the menu itself. In a prev...

On this episode of Talk to Me About Food I share top line findings from "The Menu Trends That Define Dining Right Now," by Priya Krishna, writing in The New York Times. I also muse specifically on Caesar salad which is one of items that's hot across the country from the survey of 121 menus that underpins Ms. Krishna's article.

This episode is one in a mini-series about a range of soups and simple foods from different food traditions that are suggested, prescribed, maybe sometimes even foisted on someone feeling under the weather. I consider a basic udon soup. Where it’s the bounty of the land that nourishes a chicken, it’s the bounty of the ocean and sea washing up on every millimeter of Japan’s coastline that infuses udon noodle soup with its curative power. Marc Matsumoto talks me through how to make dashi; t...

How much, if at all, does the food you eat define who you are and where you come from? Do the choices around what food you buy, where you buy it, how you prepare it and even how you dispose of it subscribe you to a specific community (willingly or unwittingly)? In this episode I muse about "gastronativism" - a word coined in a book titled Gastronativism, Food, Identity, Politics by Fabio Parasecoli. The author, a professor of food studies at NYU, defines gastronativism as the use of foo...

Brief musings around discovering overnight oats. Beats regular old hot oatmeal any day of the week.

Sandor Katz, a self-described fermentation revivalist and author of three books on the topic helps me unpack fermentation. What it is and why it’s so engrained in all food cultures. He talks about the role of fermentation in preserving food then explains how fermentation plays a vital role in helping us get the most of the nutritional content of food by breaking food down into easier-to-digest elements, like amino acids. Apparently, we don’t benefit from the full nutritional potency of manufa...

On this episode I consider healing meals; traditional dishes believed to help cure what ails you, physically, emotionally, even spiritually. First, I reflect on my conversation with Ashley Thuthao Keng Dam, a PhD candidate in Eco-gastronomy, Education, and Society at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. I recently came across their blog post entitled Curative Cuisines of Cambodia. The article reflects on ethnographic research done in rural Cambodia, looking at the...

In this audio blog post I consider Squareat; a start-up meal delivery company that delivers a box of brownie-sized pieces of animal protein (like chicken breast) and same-size, same-shape squares of veggie and grain side dishes. 21st century food to ponder while you enjoy your Thanksgiving meal.

In this Halloween audio blog post I muse about the results of an experiment where a human gene that codes for obesity was implanted into the genome of a potato. The spuds grew to be 50% larger! What could be wrong with that? The research is real; only some of the implications conjured here are plausible...

This episode looks at what it might take to make locally grown and processed food the hub of our food system. Why? For one, Covid-19 has exposed vulnerabilities in our current food system that is dependent on a sprawling, global web of connections on the one hand, and industrial-scale, concentrated agriculture on the other hand. The longer term threat that’s been creeping up on us for decades is the loss of soil fertility almost everywhere. A sustainable food system would be built on sm...

Charles Spence, author of Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating defines this realm of research as the scientific study of those factors that influence our multisensory experience while tasting food and drink. The basic premise of gastrophysics is that all aspects of the eating environment – where, when, how, and with whom - provide essential sensory cue, and that the eating experience is influenced by multi-sensory faculties you don’t even know you have. In this episode I share some of th...

A brief musing about the natural absence of blue in our foods and drinks. A few food scientists are exploring ways to create a natural, bright-hued blue to replace FD&C Blue #1, but there aren't that many artificially colored blue foods either, even though blue is our favorite color...

In this Talk to Me About Food "mover and shaker" profile I share snippets from a conversation I had with Amanda McLemore, chef, and founder of Baguette & Butter, the first sustainable digital food space. Amanda tells me about how she became a sustainable cooking activist and shares her suggestions for how to cook more mindfully: It's about setting up your kitchen to work efficiently but also about being flexible in how you approach the whole process of planning and preparing food.

In this blog post I touch on the growing efforts to reduce food waste by packaging and marketing upcycled food products. This can be produce that's deemed not fit for the supermarket display or an ingredient that's in the waste stream of some food production process, like barley used in brewing beer. Products like these can now qualify to use a packaging mark from the Upcycled Foods Association.

The audio blog post muses about vegan foods by comparing two very different approaches to creating plant-based foods and dishes. The owners of the Herbivorous Butcher in Minneapolis draw upon their creativity to offer a wide variety of plant-based butcher fare that mimics meats and cheeses as closely as possible. The chefs at Eleven Madison Park in NYC express their creativity by designing vegan dishes that make veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, and fungi shine in new ways that don't mimic animal...

This audio blog post muses about the relationship between consumers and producers of packaged food in light of a recent article about Nestle's admission that a good part of the world's largest food and beverage company's products "doesn't meet any recognized definition of health."

According to Houzz.com, one of the key tastemakers in home design today, 25% of Americans renovated their kitchen in 2019, and we spend a lot more on updating the kitchen than any other room in the house. The open concept kitchen has been on trend for a while now, but that might be changing per the same Houzz survey, as well as HGTV celebrities Jonathan Scott, one of the Property Brothers, and Erin Napier of “Home Town.” That got me thinking about what might be driving the future of kitchen d...

In this audio blog post I muse about the fate of some our staple foods in the face of climate change. Humans continue to contribute to the extinction of species across the kingdoms of life. Some are trying to rescue endangered or even lost food species, but the trajectory of many others does cause a pause for reflection.

In this audio blog post I muse about how functional ingredients are being added to foods and beverages to enhance short-term cognitive skills, keeping in mind that Homo Sapiens has been consuming "brain food" for a very long time.

Blog post musings about bioengineered bee-less honey, and other look-alike, taste-alike substitute food products.

Hunting and gathering is in our DNA. Very few of us in America subsist on doing either one these days. Major disruptions raise the profile of both activities. COVID 19 has not only reduced income for tens of millions of Americans it has also led to shortages of staple foods. An increase in the number headlines and of books published on growing your own food and foraging suggests that some of us want to take food self-reliance to the individual level. I explored the idea of growing...

Regenerative agriculture is practiced on a very small percentage of total farm and ranchland in the U.S., maybe 3-5%. This figure is growing by the day because it is a sustainable approach to growing and raising food that also mitigates some of the effects of climate change. This is Part 2 of a two-part story. It looks at how and why food grown using regenerative agriculture practices tastes better and can be better for you, then delves into the challenges and opportunities around upending th...

In this blog post I muse about lentils, chickpeas, and beans (the magical fruit) on the heels of World Pulses Day, a day set aside by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to sing the praises of pulses.

Audio blog post musings about the rise of large-scale indoor farming and what we might miss by not growing stuff in the rich soil of a good vegetable patch.

Regenerative agriculture is practiced on a very small percentage of total farm and ranch land in the U.S., maybe 3-5%. This figure is growing by the day because it is a sustainable approach to growing and raising food that also mitigates some of the effects of climate change. This is Part 1 of a two-part story. It seeks to define what regenerative agriculture is, how it’s different from conventional agriculture, and why we should care. Part II will delve into the challenges and opportunities ...

Audio blog post sparked by perusing a new book called "Digital Food - From Paddock to Platform." I muse about how food factors into the digital world of photo sharing, online video content, and meal sharing apps.

1 in 7 humans is involved in growing or getting food to the rest of us. Should and will the other 6 do more to help mankind do so sustainably? The UN thinks so.

Audio blog post about how we are, out of necessity, exploring the fringes of what we've considered edible; on land, and at sea.

In this episode I interview Michelle Baade, wife, mom, and grandmother in small-town Wisconsin, about how a whole-foods, plant-based diet has dramatically altered her and her husband’s health trajectory, and transformed their relationship with food. Michelle and her husband were overweight, suffering from several ailments, and were at high risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. Starting in 2016 they decided to cut animal-based products, and even oil to a great extent, out of their diet...

In this audio blog post I break down bread as I think about breaking bread at Thanksgiving. It's back to the future for better tasting, more nutritious bread made with sustainably grown wheat.

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response - ASMR - is that relaxing sensation all over your scalp and down the back of your neck in response to a range of stimuli. Getting your hair cut. The tone and timbre of a specific person's voice. Whispering. Repetitive tapping or scratching. Just the suggestion of one of these triggers, just thinking about it, anticipating it, or watching someone else experiencing the triggering activity, is enough to induce ASMR. Inducing ASMR through video has beco...

Audio blog post pondering the sources of the record amount of food waste in America and the mindset change needed for consumers to do more to reduce food waste.

Can zesting and juicing a lemon, and then savoring a lemony morsel of cake lift your spirits? The School of Life recently published a book of recipes developed through a collaboration of philosophers, chefs, and psychologists. The book promotes the idea that certain foods and recipes can change your mood in specific ways. The authors of this book called “Thinking & Eating” assign symbolism to sixteen foods. A lemon is a symbol of hope, while mushrooms are associated with pessimism, ...

So called “DNA” diets have caught the public’s attention in the past few years. In the never-ending quest to find a diet regimen that really will take off the pounds for good, millions of us Americans have been at least intrigued by the idea of letting your genes tell you what to eat and drink, and what not to. Many more of us are also curious whether our individual genetic pre-dispositions say something about enjoying better health depending on what we consume. In this podcast I talk to two ...

Audio blog post reflecting on some of the "winning" new packaged food products of the past 25 years. Our desire to eat healthy or healthier is evident in the splash items like Snackwell's and CarbSmart made when they launched. The culprits (fat, carbs, refined sugar) have changed over time but the underlying emotional needs that drive us to experiment don't.

We’re in the middle of a pandemic that’s made us put extra layers of protection between us and everything we come in contact with. That means a lot more plastic overall, and a lot more plastic food and beverage packaging for all the take-out and delivery. We’re starting to drown in plastic just as momentum was starting to build around alternatives to single use plastic packaging. It’s just a pause, I hope. Pioneers are still forging ahead on the main strategies to reduce our reliance on produ...

America's Grow-A-Row began as a weekend daddy daughter project to get a four year-old to want to eat fresh, healthy food by planting and harvesting herself. In the process Chip too has adopted healthier eating habits. And the more he gave away of the overabundance of produce from his oversized plot, first to co-workers and neighbors, then to those who really need much more fresh food in their diet but who don't have access to fresh produce, the clearer it became to him that he had stumbled on...

Audio blog post about the importance of the ritual of making the time to make your own food.

An audio blog post reflecting on how the drive for contactless contacts might accelerate the use of robots in restaurants. What all would we miss? A lot...

Meat is at the heart of the unprecedented growth in supermarket food sales these days. It’s one of the core foods we are turning to as we shelter in place. It’s at the center of the plate, and will likely be there for generations to come. The rising challenge to this attachment to meat, according to many experts, is that we will not be able to sustainably produce enough meat to meet the demands of a fast-growing population around the world. Plant-based meat alternatives have been ...

An audio blog post about how a new book, called "Thinking and Eating," has got me thinking about the power of the color of foods. I've been working on a food fiction piece about this.

Audio blog post about this food-centered movie experienced again in the midst of our current experience of making food at home like never before.

The major disruption in how we feed ourselves ignited by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the worries about the on-going impact this will have on America’s food supply chain, has spurred more people to look into growing their own food. But “growing your own food” has been on a long-term upward trend since the financial crisis in 2008. According to the National Gardening Association, at least 35% of Americans say they do some amount of food gardening, and the appeal is growing across a broad swath o...

We are not flocking to vegetarianism, and even less to veganism. In fact, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization projects that meat consumption will grow by 2% in the U.S. through 2027. Between 20% and 30% of Americans say they are trying to cut or even drop meat-eating all together. Is it really happening? The increasing popularity of plant-based meat alternatives like the Impossible and Beyond Meat burgers shows that we are willing to try meatless options. We have a long way to go, ...

Intermittent fasting has been on the periphery of my attention as something getting buzz in the broader world of food and food marketing. In fact, intermittent fasting is among the most popular weight loss strategies as we roll through 2020. According to an annual survey by the International Food Information Council, about 10% of Americans tried intermittent fasting in 2019, second only to “Clean Eating.” An app promoting intermittent fasting - DoFasting - broke through the onslaught of Janu...

The Specialty Foods Association holds a Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco in January. The 2020 edition just wrapped up. I did a virtual fly-over of the show to see what caught my attention. The sheer number of specialty foods and beverages on exhibit is overwhelming: 80,000 + items! There’s no way any one observer could cover the whole show in person or by perusing the online directory and pages devoted to the more than 1400 exhibitors from around the world. I relied on a steady stream ...

Our lifestyle, for the vast majority of us in the U.S., demands the convenience of packaging. This dependence on convenient packaging is only growing as we live more of our daily lives on the go, and we look to light-weight, sturdy, sealed, hassle-free packaging (think plastic) to transport our food with us. And when we do eat at home, many of us are often too time-pressed or too tired to prepare a meal from scratch, so we turn to pre-prepared, packaged foods. At the same time, many of us are...

Chocolate can transport you to your happy place, some other-worldly realm, better than maybe any other food. If just for a few minutes. A product with this kind of magnetic pull - this sway over our emotions, was bound to become ubiquitous from the moment the conquistadors secreted the first cacao beans back to the Spanish court hundreds of years ago. It’s no wonder that chocolate is a $100+ billion industry around the world. We Americans eat just under 10 pounds of chocolate each every year,...