The Science Behind the World's Biggest Food Fight

[dmforcier]

Food - The Delicious Science

This is the best series on food (v. cooking) that I have found yet. The second episode played on PBS last night. It is presented by a a medical doctor and a botanist, and addresses foods' impacts on our bodies, how we experience them, and how we have come to cultivate some.

Ep 1 - Food on the Brain

http://www.pbs.org/video/3000652967

The effect of food on the brain. Including making chocolate, and how coffee enhances flavor. Just after the 30:00 mark there is a lengthy chapter on capsaicin (hot pepper juice) and how it interacts with the body and the brain.


Ep. 2 - A Matter of Taste

http://www.pbs.org/video/3000652697/

Focusing on the five taste senses - salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami. Did you know that tomatoes are loaded with umami? The ep starts with the Tomato Festival in Buñol, Spain, the world's largest food fight. How smelling from the front and the back of the nose can yield different results. The Maillard Reaction. How strawberries fool our sense of taste. Much more.

I hope PBS maintains these links long enough for you to watch them.