Video, Radio, Etc.
Talking all about the science of flavor, and snacks, with Jonathan Van Ness on the new Netflix show Getting Curious:
COVID-19, losing smell (anosmia!), getting smell back but super weird (parosmia) and more! When COVID patients lose their sense of smell, sometimes when it comes back foods smell…terrible, like vomit-feces-garbage, a type of “parosmia”. One listener wrote in with things that triggered this phenomenon and the commonalities looked like sulfur compounds and nitrogen compounds, especially pyrazines in nutty plants and generated by browning. Dave Arnold, Harold McGee, Robert Datta, and I mull it over it on Cooking Issues Radio:
Cosmic Queries: Fermentation
What is fermentation? You’ve heard of fermenting wine, beer, and cabbage, but how does it work? Arielle tells us how fermented foods made their way into our diets. You’ll learn how sugar plays a big part in the fermentation process. What’s the difference between fermented vs. pickled? Why doesn’t fermented food make you sick? Why can we eat moldy cheese and not eat moldy bread? We investigate the popularity of kombucha. You’ll learn how kombucha is made. We explore some of the health benefits of kombucha and if there’s any substance behind the claims. You’ll learn if NASA has ever dabbled in fermentation aboard the International Space Station.
All you have to do is let it sit and watch the science happen. On this episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice are answering fan-submitted Cosmic Queries with Arielle Johnson, PhD, science officer on Good Eats, food writer, and formerly the in-house R&D scientist at Noma. LISTEN
THE SCIENCE OF FOOD: STEAKS, BUGS AND EXPIRATION DATES
We chat with flavor chemist Dr. Arielle Johnson about how to eat a tree, how insects use flavor molecules to communicate and the science of taste and smell. LISTEN
Fermentation as Metaphor: A Discussion with Sandor Katz
Join fermentation revivalist Sandor Katz in conversation with Arielle Johnson, Science Officer for Alton Brown’s Food Network show, Good Eats, as they discuss his new book Fermentation as Metaphor and much more.
In Fermentation as Metaphor, stemming from his personal obsession with all things fermented, Katz meditates on his art and work, drawing connections between microbial communities and aspects of human culture: politics, religion, social and cultural movements, art, music, sexuality, identity, and even our individual thoughts and feelings. WATCH