Riant Morsela

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“Can you chew any louder!!” - Why are chewing sounds irksome?

Sitting in a theater, everyone glued to the screen, nobody is even murmuring, the kids are peaceful as well, it is dead silent as a door is about to be opened consequently in the scene, and there is a fellow movie-watcher who, like you is there to enjoy, starts munching the crispy nachos. Or think of the time when you were sitting at your office desk and your colleague starts chewing gum. The chewing sound in such situations seems to unleash some form of unexplained anger.

We all have been in this situation at least once in our lifetime where a person just chewing his/her food, be it a friend or family or just another homo sapien, and the chewing sound distracts one to such an extent that it is all one can hear and to avoid lashing out either step out or pull up the volume on television. It is a harmless and unintentional action, but there is something about it that gets to your nerve.

What is it about that chew-chew-chew sound that is annoying, after all it is the natural process of consuming food? Why is it that humans evolved to hate the sound unanimously and not love it like the sound of rain?

This state was named quite recently (2001) as ‘Misophonia’ which means ‘extreme dislike of sound’. It is not restricted to chewing, but also includes situations like breathing, coughing, snoring, foot tapping, etc. Although chewing sounds tops the charts.

The condition currently has limited research and it has been only around five years since few studies have been started on this. It has been stated that the reactions to these sounds by the have only been negative with varying degree of expression of emotion.

It was found that the various techniques followed by people to overcome or tackle the irritation induced by these sounds was primarily because they knew that the negative response was unjustified and stretching it too far. This could also be probably one of the prime reasons why we tend to ignore this discussion or talking about it or rather just asked to ignore it.

It is being proposed as a separate psychiatric disorder to analyze, treat and avoid extreme reactions. Although there are researchers in scientific community opposing this to be considered as a psychiatric condition where it is infact more of a conditioned response. These sounds are associated with negative responses via external factors.

The novel nature of the condition is the reason the debate and contentious factions exist. Since there has not been much progress or scientific basis about Misophonia and its treatments, best course of action probably is to wait, but at the same time not to ignore it. Since the condition has a term coined for it, what we could do for now is probably talk more about it.

It is thus vital to note that Misophonia seems to be quite common and this implies you are not alone if you feel an anger spike when you hear someone eating a fruit or tapping pencil on desk. It is harmless to probably just add Misophonia to your list of discussion topics.

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“I am Salt. And I am Pepper. We belong together. Always.” - Why?

A shaker of salt coupled with a shaker of pepper has become a constant table setting across the globe. Every household’s dinner table or kitchen has a special place for this pair. With so many creative minds around, they have been given lovely makeovers and this couple forms a great choice for gifts as well especially in weddings. They have found their way into a popular choice for couples’ costume as well. They have become quite an integral part of our lives.

What is so special about these two items? Why can’t we just have a single salt shaker on the dinner table or a single pepper shaker? Out of all the spices and herbs, what makes black pepper exceptional that we have to have it? Why do they have to be on the dinner table at all and why not just in the kitchen with the rest of the spices or herbs?

We have realized the utmost importance of salt in our food. Biologically, we require sodium in our diets. Food we eat has at least some amount of sodium in it and salt helps in bringing it out which is received by our receptors. The receptors on our tongue dedicated for this sodium or ‘salty’ taste determine the intake of salt and hence it seems logical & convenient to have it on table to fine-tune quantity.

Pepper on the contrary still might not be comparable to salt in terms of volumes, but it is a highly valued one. Pepper is native to Southeast Asia and found its way around through the spice trade routes. Similar to how salt was once traded commodity instead of money, pepper was too. Some state that it was known as ‘black gold’ due to its high value and scarcity in quantity.

Historically peppers were used as a spice and medicine. The variety that was popular and more priced was the long pepper. But since this was hotter and more valued, usage was restricted to the elites. Comparatively the black pepper that we know of was cheaper and hence easier for traders to supply. This contributed to the proliferation of black pepper across the world.

It has been stated that King Louis XIV was specific in having only pepper as garnishing on his table and discarded all others. To quite an extent the usage of pepper in European and american cuisine & table is attributed to this factor as well.

Black pepper carries a pungent smell, bitter sharp acidic taste and heat (comes from piperine). We could say that this helps in other unfavorable tastes clinging on to our taste buds. Probably why it is said that earlier this is why black pepper was used on decayed/slightly old meat or rather any meat with unacceptable smell and taste to mask the unpleasant experience.

If we come to think of other garnishing to replace black pepper such as cinnamon, cumin, parsley, lemon, soy sauce, Tabasco, etc. somehow nothing seems to be as versatile as black pepper or rather not ‘peppery’ enough. Black pepper is strong in taste but does not seem to overpower or take the essence of the dish away.

Either we are too used to black pepper or maybe there isn’t any replacement for it. Salt and Pepper, the black-white, the yin-yang, the two opposite extremes, are incomplete without each other. Keep enjoying their synergy till then with your food and experience the historical salt n pepper duo.

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“Done with my meal. Now I need something sweet!” - Why?

You had a hot bowl of chicken soup with a colorful salad, a grilled fish fillet with veggies or just a plate full of spaghetti, be it a two-course meal or a grand seven-course meal, it is always better with a sweet ending. After consuming a hearty sumptuous meal, you crave for something sweet and that ‘dessert’ completes the meal.

Across the planet, across various cultures, the sweet dish or the dessert puts an end to the meal. We have all been in the situation where our brain is signalling strongly that stomach is packed, but somehow there is always space for some dessert and you can’t seem to say ‘no’ to a say a sliver of pie, a pudding or a bowl of ice cream!

Etymologically, dessert comes from the word ‘desservir’ (French) which means ‘clear the table’. So, it is stated that serving a dessert helped restaurants or hosts to put an end to the meal and also leave the guests satiated and happy.

There is no definitive and agreed upon theory explaining the craving of sweet at the end of meal. But, the studies and research performed in this area has been primarily based on biology and psychology.

After eating a meal, especially a high-carb one, due to decreasing blood sugar levels the body craves for sweet to replenish the levels. It has also been stated that consuming something sweet or sugar content, enhances absorption of ‘tryptophan’ (amino acid) present is most of food items such as fish, cheese, nuts, lentils, etc. which in turn results in generation of ‘serotonin’, the happiness/mood controlling chemical.

Some suggest that the other tastes - salt, sour, bitter and umami, in a way stimulate the digestion. Hence, if the last bite of your meal is one of them, there is a good chance of facing false hunger - just feeling hungry although you would be full. Sweet taste is probably the only one that leaves you sate.

The other aspect of the craving for sweet is psychology. The most common reasoning is the conditioning or Pavlovian reaction. It is a common practice for parents to reward children with dessert for say finishing up veggies in a meal. The habit of eating dessert after a meal, generating serotonin, uplifting the mood, also leads to the conditioning of sweet craving.

From an evolutionary perspective, the craving is probably stronger in today’s date. The hormones Leptin and Ghrelin help in controlling the hunger-satiety cycles. With the current scenario of readily available food, it is suggested that the critical equilibrium is being disturbed. The pleasure or happiness sensation takes over the actual hungry/satiated feeling, which might be leading to stronger and recurrences of sweet cravings.

It is important to have a dessert or something sweet at the end of meal. Anything is excess is bad, so controlling portions or healthier options is the solution. Eat sweet, be smart and be happy.

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“Toast or meat, I prefer brown” - But why?

Standing in front of a grill in your backyard, having a bottle of chilled beer, catching up with the neighbors or maybe just some country music and tossing up the veggies and meat till they turn brown, would be a barbecue day. Now the stuff on the grill can be on various shades of brown - light brown, dark brown, golden brown, etc. and there are usually preferences on that as well.

One must have perceived at some point or the other, that the shade of brown influences the taste and flavor to a large extent. What is it about that process that cooks the food and also enhances the flavor? Why does it result in a brown palette? How is it that the shade usually a credible litmus test to determine if food is cooked?

It has been over a century since the ‘browning effect’ in food was studied by Louis Camille Maillard and hence the term associated with this phenomenon - Maillard reaction. This formed an crucial step in category of food science. The brown shades of crust of bread, tarts, biscuits, seared steaks, and so on, undergo the Maillard reaction and result in what we know of the delicious items.

The browning of food cannot be completely considered synonymous with Maillard reaction. The reaction does result in the brown shade, but more than the color it is the aroma and taste of the food that vary due to Maillard reaction.

From a chemistry standpoint, the process triggers the reaction of amino acids and sugars but goes on into further complicated ones, generating the molecules giving the distinct aroma. These molecules are generated in relatively lesser amounts, but they are the most important ones.

The amino acids and sugar compounds vary across the food items and thereby producing unique aromas which is primarily the essence of the Maillard reaction. Hence the captivating aroma from a bakery can never be confused with the rustic aroma of a grilling station. If the same food item is steamed, boiled, poached, etc. where the Maillard reaction does not occur, the aroma and taste are disparate.

As a common direction which is given for browning food is generally to avoid/removal of moisture. The scientific explanation is that if there is water say in a steak, the temperature does not rises beyond the boiling point of water. For the Maillard reaction to trigger the range is around 300 F and hence once the moisture dries up, the temperature rises and initiate the chain of processes.

Temperature and moisture levels are determining factors for the reaction. Water could be present to initiate, say if one is using a pressure cooker, the Maillard reaction is triggered as the boiling point of water is raised in a pressurized environment. Taking the temperatures further high could enhance the reaction, but only to a certain point, and around 355 F, it is just burnt.

Next time you walk into a bakery or set up your grill, witness the chemistry, appreciate the intricacies built into simplicity.

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Pregnancy Cravings and Aversions - Why! Why! Why!

We have all heard, witnessed or experienced the food cravings/aversions during pregnancy at least once in our life. The food cravings are usually for a very specific food item say a mint & chocolate chip ice cream or a five cheese pizza. It is not only restricted what food or what kind of food the expecting mother wants, but it is also the food that she does not want at all or develops aversion towards it.

What is it about being pregnant that affects the food pattern to this extent? When an expecting mother should be eating more of food to supplement for herself as well as the baby, why do they develop aversion towards food items? Why isn’t it that the expecting mother consumes slightly more portion of her routine meals?

Humans have come a long way in the process of reproduction, the pre and post steps in the process. Across cultures, pregnancy is considered as a quite revered process and hold their own steps or techniques attached to it.

Usually every expecting mother has her share of cravings and aversions which might fall into the category of being peculiar or bizarre. There are also pregnant mothers who do not experience these at all.

Craving of or aversion to a food item during pregnancy might not be restricted to just the taste of food after consuming. It has been observed that it could be even a whiff/smell of the food or just a plain, simple thought of that food or dish.

There have been a lot of studies and research conducted to explain the cravings and aversions. But surprisingly till date no one has been able to provide a viable reasoning with certainty. The closest explanations I can understand are related hormonal and psychological changes in the female body.

During pregnancy, the hormonal imbalance causes resistance to leptin and increase in Nueropeptide Y, an orexigenic agent, unleashing the hunger beast more frequently than usual.

From the psychological perspective, there are a lot of changes in the female body primarily uncomfortable in nature. The cravings could be a signal from the brain to make yourself feel good to help in coping with the changes. The aversions could be a way to help your body from going through the unpleasant experience and thus feeling of disgust is sent by the brain.

Most of these are usually visible in the initial stages. If we look at from a biological and logical perspective, the baby initially is like an unknown agent inside the expecting mother. The to-be mother’s body needs to accept the baby and hence during the last few months of pregnancy the cravings or aversions are pretty much nil.

There are couple of other theories as well but do not seem to fit in the phases of pregnancy and how the cravings & aversions tend to reduce progressing from one pregnancy to the other.

It is completely fine if you experience intense craving/aversion or go through the entire pregnancy without them, it is only vital to keep your body healthy and taste buds satiated.

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Why do we use cutlery and so much of it?

We are familiar with the grand cutlery table settings, the planning it goes through and the importance that is given to it. Even in a restaurant setting there are at least three pieces of cutlery that one would use while dining. It’s quite bizarre that at a formal multi-course meal, there could be minimum fifteen pieces of cutlery per person!

There are still no definitive evidence on an exact time frame of the origins of cutlery. Although, it has been stated that based on the numerous historical evidences, it was the knife that we started with. It was one of the multipurpose tools available to the mankind being used primarily for cutting, weapon for hunting & protection and eating.

Knives have come a long way through evolution and the modern table knives that we know of came in not so long ago, around 1600s. The table knives were designed to be more presentable and mostly blunt, minimizing perception of danger, to be used in a social setting.

Spoons came in probably a little later. They would have been primarily to consume semi-liquid or liquid food items, especially if they were warm or hot and hence not advisable to use bare hands. Spoons also might have been useful to scoop out food say in case of fruits, during serving, etc.

Fork was a late entrant to our tables. The two pronged version have been in use since ancient times, but these were only used for cooking and serving food. Another cutlery item which was majorly part of the Asian region and culture are the chopsticks. The cuisine in areas of China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan comprised of dishes comprising of pre-cut pieces of food, thus requiring minimal cutting of food and hence ideal suited for chopsticks.

The use of cutlery has helped in consuming food in a more human way, when compared to eating with hands, which could be considered as inefficient and messy. We can prevent from getting our hands dirty from things such as cooking oils, natural meat oils, food coloring, etc. They have helped in making the journey of food from serving plates to our plates and to our mouth, a lot more comfortable, tidy and to a large extent safe.

In today’s date we find can see that cutlery has evolved in terms of factors such as material used, size, patterns, shapes, etc. The primitive materials used for cutlery which might have left some taste of their own moved to used of metals such as silver, but they were still restricted to the wealthy class. Then came along steel, plastic, etc. which were more affordable for the masses and did not react or influence the taste of food.

Recently there has been concern of phenomenon of overbite in humans. This occurs with weakening of our jaw muscles. When compared to our ancestors, we eat less of raw food and also the food is pre-cut in small-sized bites. You could say that although cutlery makes you more human, it might also be altering your face structure. Thus it is quite important to have a right balance of raw and cooked food to give jaws the exercise required.

Be human, be civil. But don’t let cutlery inhibit you from enjoying your food experience. After all the best way to eat a burger is with the most primitive cutlery - fingers.

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“Happy Birthday to you!”

After completing a year around the sun, the day comes where people gather to wish you the best, celebrate your day with a Birthday Cake. You are the center of attraction on that day. People stand all around you, wait for you to blow out the candles, sing the song and cut the cake. With all the preparation and planning that goes into a birthday, it is a big deal!

Be it a 3-year old or a 60-year old or any age, a birthday cake is always a special part of tradition and not to forget, so tempting, the sight of it usually does leave your mouth filled up with saliva. But why is it so? Why is it that a birthday is always associated with cake? With so many cultures and traditions around the world, why is it a only cake?

Egyptians are attributed for ‘Birthday’ celebrations, which was marking the crowning of a Pharaohs, after which they were considered to be transformed into Gods. There is no exact date or proof of origin of birthday cakes, but the most acceptable credit is given to the Greeks. They offered round-shaped cakes to their Goddess of Moon, Artemis. It is also believed that they adorned the cake with candles to depict the light from moon.

Originally cakes seemed to be a form of sweetened bread. Romans are said to have started the tradition of celebrating birthdays for the common man. They celebrated birthdays for birth of cities or temples, a private affair among family and friends and signifying birthday of a famous person in their society.

The tradition of celebrating first birthday of a child is considered to have initiated by Germans where they called it as ‘Kinderfeste’ probably around 15th century. The cakes  fell under category of extravagance, kept for very special occasions and mostly affordable only by the elite & affluent.

Candles became part of the birthday cake as well symbolizing wishes that could be carried to Gods above via smoke. It has also been referred as the ‘light of life’. The tradition of ‘age plus one’ candles is believed to have wishing for another year for the young one.

With the dawn of industrial revolution, the cakes were made available at affordable prices to the masses. The ingredients required to make a cake, which were considered a luxury previously, with the increasing quantity of ingredients and mass-production of cakes, brought down the prices to a large extent. This also paved way for the ready made cakes at bakeries.

After all these years, cakes have become a huge part of our life. They are used in so many occasions or even just like that, come in various shapes and sizes, have long list of flavour combinations to choose from, have all kinds of baking & adorning apparatus, and have become far more complex & innovative, thereby being categorized as a separate skill. They are being made as far as our imagination could go.

You could keep the revered tradition of birthday or start a new special one of your own. Whatever be it, keep celebrating life. Keep having cake!

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Why does Soup hold such a special place?

Soup is one of the dishes that can be complex and simple at the same time in various permutations in their preparation and taste factors. Preparation could be simple, taste complex or preparation could be taxing with a well-defined taste or both could be intricate or penny plain.

If we go back to the early time period, the agricultural produce was limited. The families were relatively larger as well. When it came to cooking and eating, it was more of a society affair. The cooking apparatus would have been large and basic suited for a large group. Putting in all the ingredients together and adding water to it, made the meal wholesome and increased volume too to satiate as many as possible.

The closest origin of word soup is probably the gruel. As a meal, bread, which was most common food item, was topped with gruel which was called ‘sop’ or ‘sup’. This could also be one of likeliest reasons why usually soup is consumed till date with bread, breadsticks and likes.

One of first steps and most commonly & globally accepted remedies when hit by a cold/flu is to have nice big bowl of hot steaming soup. In olden day, soup was also known as a ‘restoratifs’ or something that restores physical strength. Thus people used to enjoy a bowl of soup after long work day. It has been stated that in 1765, Monsieur Boulanger, opened up a place serving soups only. This is where the word ‘restaurant’ also originated!

In today’s date if not as a whole meal, soup is still a very important element of our meals. It is usually the first course we have in a course meal. While having food at a restaurant or hosting a dinner or maybe just having a nice dinner at home with near n dear ones, a soup helps you prolong the social interaction and also gives time to prep for the upcoming dishes.

A lot of people have the feeling of satiety after having a bowl of soup, even if it is a light one. As mentioned one of earlier posts, Ghrelin is one of prime hormones signalling the brain sensation of hunger. Usually whenever stomach is empty, ghrelin travels through the bloodstream to your hypothalamus with the message ‘Hungry - Look for food’. When one consumes soup, as the volume of soup fills up the stomach, ghrelin production is halted.

Combining soup with main dish, with both items having ingredients to breakdown, it usually takes a longer time to digest, thereby increasing the duration when one feels satiated. Thus consuming soup before meals might just help in controlling food portions as well and contribute towards healthy eating.

Don’t ignore soup. Savour it. Experience it. It is not just a hot liquid. It is a meal. That is why we ‘Eat’ our soup!

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“With all the services provided, why can’t airlines give me a decent meal?”

Travelling at 30k+ feet above the ground, trying to make sense of teeny-tiny things on earth from that level, trying to fathom the beauty of the expanse, dark or bright - it always makes one pause, look, absorb and appreciate the experience of flying in an airplane. If the moment is depicted in a piece of art, say a painting, a big blotch would be of airplane food.

With the fastest commercial options of transport, best of class infrastructure and aiming to provide the highest standards, why is it that a basic thing as part of their services - food, cannot be categorized as good or even decent quality? Are they not trying hard enough to make that one simple aspect of experience good? With such a huge sample set of humans travelling, with each person having varied taste preference, how is it even mathematically possible that none can share a positive experience of food served?

The lack of taste in the dishes one consumes during flight might not be entirely the airlines fault. At such an high altitude, there are changes in human body as well. Other than the visible or felt strong enough effects of airsickness, the not-so visible are the weakening of sense of taste and smell. As stated in one of previous posts, sense of taste is by nature organoleptic i.e. it is influenced to a large extent by other senses - sight, smell, hearing and touch.

There have been efforts to analyze the effect through experiments & studies. While flying, inside an airplane the humidity is low rendering the air dry and also the air pressure at high altitude tends to drop. This affects a lot to the sense of smell. In the conditions of dryness and low pressure, our olfactory receptors usually do not respond. When it comes to sense of taste, the studies found that our salt and sweet taste receptors are weakened whereas sour, bitter and umami remain almost uninfluenced.

In addition to the weakened senses, the preparation and serving process also takes away from the taste experience. The food is prepared at a huge scale. In order to be sent to the aircraft the food is then packed, chilled and then stored under refrigeration to be set for the journey ahead.

Before serving the to guests this packaged food might be heated. Due to safety standards, the most used ovens are of convection which heat food using dry air. The process of cooking, packaging conditions, the time difference between preparation and serving, etc. take away a lot of taste too from the food.

The airlines are trying to make the food experience better by conducting experiments and studies mimicking the cabin conditions. They are trying to work with the sour and umami flavours which tend to remain unaffected in such conditions. This is probably the reason why tomato juice which usually is not part of a household’s refrigerator is ordered more often during a flight.

Yet again, it all about the right balance of taste. There is hope. Airplane food can be tasty as well.

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Cooking food - Isn’t it a task?

Everyday we think about our meals either what we would cook or what would we order. We make the decision on an average thrice on a daily basis and it does require at least a minute to make up our mind. Over the years humans have devised multiple innovative methods to cook food ingredients to make it more palatable and appealing.

Cooking as a process includes a series of steps, ingredients and tools. Implementing the process on a day-to-day basis should seem a lot of work. This obviously does not include people who enjoy cooking because for them it is not taxing. But would it be beneficial for us as humans to do away with cooking? Would be able to save more time and effort by simply consuming the food items as it is?

Cooking raw materials into food items is one of prime factors that make humans more civilized and less animal. It might take time to prepare, but credit should be given to its discovery as it helps to a large extent in breaking down the food aiding the digestion process. This ultimately gave us more time for other tasks instead, otherwise for all we know, time spent by us would have been only on hunting for food and consuming to fulfil our nutrient levels. Thus cooked food consumes less energy while going through digestion.

After looking at other species, many studies have concluded that usually with a large body the size of the brain is not large as most of energy is towards metabolism. When it comes to humans, we have a larger brain in proportion to our body size, also known as Encephalization. Cooking agrees with the evolution of humans, where it contributed in the development of our brain when compared to other species.

Exercising brain exhausts us and hence requires a lot of energy. Raw food comprising of glucose, fats, starch, carbohydrates, vitamins, etc. are quite complex compounds. Scientifically it has been seen that cooking helps in loosening the bonds and breaking them down. This could be done by using ways such as heating, fermenting, crushing, etc. This leads to better absorption by the human body and taking a lot less amount of energy from our body for the same.

Continuing on the logic, people suggesting the salad diet which helps in lowering high calorie intake, is in a way a cumulative effect. Digestion of raw food would need more energy and as it is not being supplemented by food, it shifts to the energy stored in our body in calories. We could also say what we have is quite a high maintenance brain, but in it does return the favor always.

Cooking not only helped our body biologically, but also helped to a large extent in socializing. The time saved on metabolism activity would have been utilized and also the process of cooking would have been a social affair, and so it continues today as well. A lot more has been explained by Richard Wrangham about cooking and humans in his book ‘Catching Fire’.

Try the art of cooking with your dear ones and experience the wholesome effect of cooking on your mind and body. Also send a thank you to our ancestors who discovered it and saved us a lot in limited time dimension.

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“Water, water everywhere, not a taste to taste”

Water has proven to be the most essential elements for consumption for all living beings. Be its presence in the external environment or internally i.e. our body, it forms the major chunk. Across the globe, the primary scientific facts about water and its properties are part of the standard syllabus.

Water forms part of the natural cycle in the atmosphere. It also is the most essential part of our, humans, lifecycle as well starting from birth to our death by occupying vital role in various ceremonies & rituals. As far as I have witnessed, asking for drinking water has the globally accepted sign language too.

With such a high consumption rate on an hourly basis by us in various activities, presence of high to at least some percentage of water content in most food items, existence of water in at least one of its physical states everywhere, it is hard to believe that humans like or prefer or maybe just habituated to consume something without taste.

We know the five basic tastes - sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. These are primarily driven by our taste buds and their receptors. We could thus say that water does not have the composition which binds to our taste buds, but could very well have a certain taste of its own.

We have been taught time and again the definition of ideal water which is tasteless, colorless and odourless. It is again something which was passed on from one generation to the next. This definition acted like a litmus test for us.

With the various purification processes such as using ultraviolet radiation, reverse osmosis, adding minerals, etc. to make water ‘healthy’, there could be a certain taste that is being added. This is highly visible when we taste it for the first time. But as we get accustomed to it, the taste vanishes. We could apply the same to our saliva. Ever wondered, does our saliva have any taste?

There are some studies which are suggesting that only while drinking water does trigger a part of neurons in our brain implying that there is a possibility that it does activate or trigger a receptor. The taste which one might get from water at times, could also be influenced by what one has eaten as well prior to drinking water.

The taste of water is quite debatable with varied opinions based on different facts and findings. There has been nothing concrete presented which has been acceptable across. Ideal water still goes by the standard definition. It is primarily a medium for carrying other tastes.

We couldn’t possibly try to determine the taste of water because of quite a heavy influence of conditioning, bias, notions, and so on, but the least we could do is concentrate on taste of water while drinking water. Give water its due importance.

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“Oooooooo.. That’s spicy!”

At least one member in your family or group of friends or colleagues gives specific instruction while ordering food - Make it little more spicy. On the other hand, there is another member, completely polar. S/he cannot handle spice at all. The scale of most-spicy to no-spicy, places all of us, with each one holding a threshold of handling spicy food.

We tend to associate or categorize ‘spicy’ as a taste (known categories being - sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami), whereas it is a feeling or sensation. It is not only on our tongue that we feel the spiciness, but also on our skin. For instance, if in an unfortunate incident to rubbed chilli on your eyes, the unpleasant pain you would go through is all proportional to spicy level of that chilli.

But why is spicy food associated with heat? Science explain it with the VR1 receptors which belong to a special category of vanilloid receptors. These are present in our mouth as well as our skin. The ‘Capsaicin’ component, present in the spicy items, binds to these receptors.

The unusual aspect is that the VR1 receptors are used to sense heat stimuli or thermoreception and it is not their job description to detect spiciness. Thus VR1 receptors are the soldiers protecting us from burning our tissue by signalling the high temperatures and pain associated. But the capsaicin element in spicy food items bind to these receptors. We could safely say that there is nothing ‘hot’, per say, about spicy food.

All this does not sound inviting, and still the spicy lovers are back to consuming the same again and again, keep going back to the challenging hot sensation. Science has answer to that as well. Once we start feeling that heat followed by the pain, our body helps us by our brain releasing endorphin and dopamine. Endorphin helps in impeding the pain and dopamine contributing to the ecstatic sense.

Alcohol or chemically ethanol is known to lower the temperature of the receptors, resulting in sensation of hot when you consume the same. Also, the primary reason when if after having alcohol, a spicy food is spicier.

As a solution to douse the fire, we generally go and fetch a glass of water. Except, capsaicin is an oil and as per chemistry, oil and water does not mix. So one might end up spreading the burning sensation further. To alleviate the pain and heat, apply science. Try to consume milk products, fatty foods, sugar, etc. which would dissolve capsaicin and prevent them from attaching to the VR1 receptors.

There is no physical damage done as such by consuming capsaicin to your tongue or body (in controlled quantities, of course!).

Don’t be intimidated by capsaicin. Go ahead and give the hot-n-spicy ‘sensation’ a try. It's worth it and perhaps the experience could be an addition to your list of anecdotes.

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The Peel - Are you doing it right?

Every time we eat or cook a fruit/vegetable, approximately one-fifth of it gets discarded in form of peel. It is a ritual to be followed, and if not observed there is a high probability of frowning and eyebrows being raised with a probable blend of cursing as well.

The peel or not-peel categories of food are usually influenced by the culture or primarily environment that we stay in, which sets the socially acceptable to-be or not-to-be peeled food. In today’s date of quite globally mobile beings, it is thus acceptable for a vegetable say a potato to be admissible as both with and without peel, as we have seen that it is quite palatable (and even tastier) and harmless with skin too.

The peeling of food with thick or hard skin makes sense as our digestive system might have not been able to support it. For instance consider fruits such as pineapple, lychee, dragon fruit, etc. where the skin is deemed as inedible for humans and hence required to be peeled off. Lately with the rise of awareness and use of not-so-natural ways of growing fruits & vegetables using artificial/chemical elements, to prevent consumption of harmful things, the outer layer is suggested to be removed before consuming.

Consider vegetables, which are generally cooked (if not a salad). Cooking involves heat, which is the combatant of microbes. It counters our reason of peeling vegetables as the microbes will be taken care by the cooking process aided by high temperature. This implies washing the vegetables should be suffice before cooking.

Many cultures across the globe if not consume the peel of fruits directly have quite a lot of uses of it. For instance, some of most commonly known are lemon or orange zest, peel of citrus fruits as marmalade, cake from banana peel, etc. Kiwis which are usually eaten without the skin should be very much consumed with the skin. All is required to rinse it in water and if needed slightly scratching its skin with fingernails, and then it is ready to eat.

There are continuous studies and research on benefits of consuming the peel. There is lot of content with enough evidence that it is packed and locked with good amount of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, etc and in most cases even more than the inside of the fruit/vegetable. We have been advised by someone or the other about the multiple advantages of fiber as part of diet and fortunately the peel of fruits is quite high on the fiber content.

Consuming the skin/peel has an added benefit of giving a satiated feeling. Considering the usual texture of the peel, it requires more chewing, spends more time with your taste buds building up the satiate state.

If your immune system can handle it, try not to think about the acceptable norms and ways to eat fruits and vegetables. Be creative, be smart and not waste food.

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“Mind your table manners”. But why?

We have all been asked at some point or the other to be aware of and follow certain guidelines in society for various categories or as we know it as ‘etiquette’. These helped in establishing the rules and manners to survive in the social setup.

Table manners might not have been on top, but have evolved to be of pretty high importance. These primarily include rules to be followed eating socially and the also establish the ways of using utensils. The table etiquette/manners followed in the social eating affair vary from different cultures and regions across the globe. With varied food produce, cooking styles, eating habits also led to varied utensils used across regions.

Eating food is a bare necessity for us, but the social setting of having a meal forms part of traditions and rituals. This in a huge way contributed to creating that entire experience more cordial and pleasant. Most of them have been going on quite some time now (though contemporary considering span of human evolution) and have been passed on from one generation to the next.

Eventually came in the multi-course meal as well which not only helped in adding to the entire experience of the meal - making it grand and more inviting, but also prolonged the socializing time. A multi-course meal became part of not only occasions but also family meals at home.

At an occasion where the scale of gathering is relatively large, it was essential to cater not only the people, but also their senses. This led to the lovely elaborate setting of the table and the theater of serving each course pleasing the human senses primarily sight and smell

As the course meal crawled into homes, it improved the socializing family time. With the traditional setup of having the evening meal after a day’s work for elders and school for kids, this gave them the time to talk, catch up on the daily events. As conventionally it was the lady in the home responsible for the food, the courses gave her more time to prepare the food as well.

The importance of social being socializing with other socialites gradually growing, made sure that the rules and manners are followed to prevent unpleasant experience as far as possible and encourage continual socializing.

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Chew, Chew, Chew, That’s all you have you have to do!

We all one such person who at some point or the other said “Give me something which I don’t have to chew. It’s a task!”. Maybe she/he is right. Why should we chew our food? Why can’t we just eat things which do not require any chewing? What happens when we chew our food? How did we even fall into this chewing food business?

Chewing is often the most neglected process, although it is performed a number of times, and also on a daily basis. We end up just putting the food in our mouth, chew it a couple of times, swirl it around and swallow it to move on to the next bite as we tend to have much better and important things to get to!

Chewing is the foremost step of the digestion process. When we chew our food, we break it down into smaller pieces which is reasonably important to make it pass through the food tract or esophagus effortlessly. Our tongue, teeth and saliva aid the chewing process in mouth. Thus the food is physically and chemically broken down to ease the digestion process as it proceeds further.

There is a technical term - cephalic phase of gastric secretion, which signals the body to prepare for the digestion process. This is through the taste, smell and sight senses. The duration of chewing is directly proportional to the intensity of the cephalic reaction, the more one chews prolonging the phase results in a more effective digestion process.

The law of diminishing returns very well applies to our food experience as well. As we go on eating a meal, the satisfaction from it decreases. This phenomenon is known as ‘satiety cascade’, which could help us in preventing overeating. When we chew for a good time or prolong it, the food is in contact with the taste buds for an extended time, building the pleasure or satisfaction of the food experience.

There is no fixed or definitive number when it comes to the number of times you should chew your food before swallowing since the texture of food items vary. The magic number of 32 came from Horace Fletcher who attributed his high fitness level to the number of times he chewed his food - 32. There have been no clinical tests as such on this. Thus, It is not necessary to sit and count every chew on every bite of your food!

One should try to focus on chewing the morsel to make it soft enough to pass through your food tract and aid in the digestion. It usually takes an average of 20 mins for your brain to signal that your stomach is full. Hence chewing prolongs the time of consumption which could help eventually in controlling your food portions.

As a small experiment, try this. For breakfast, one day have a nice full glass of one of thick favorite shakes and the next day have a nice big bowl of one of favorite crunchy cereal. On these two days, note the time difference between your breakfast and lunch.

Make every bite of your food an experience, chew your way into the experience.

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“I like alcohol” - “Sure?” - “Yes!” - “Why?”

Alcohol has been used extensively in almost our entire history dating way back to 10,000 B.C for medicinal, merriment/socializing and trade purposes. There is enough evidence of manufacturing and processing of alcohol across the globe with various methods which have evolved into commercial ones that we know of today.

Alcohol is primarily fermented formulas of one or more ingredients with the time of the fermentation process playing a critical contributing role. We have ingredients as simple as rice, honey, grapes, etc. from which the sugars acted upon by yeast are transformed to ethyl alcohol or ethanol.

The fermentation process gives it the strong taste and sharp aroma. It is hence important to strike that right balance of ingredients and the time of the fermentation process to give the taste and smell accepted by us, if not all, at least by most or a fraction of us.

The taste of alcohol is usually not acceptable or consumable at first by us because of the very nature of the fermented product. Why we go back to have the drink again is primarily due to two factors: brain’s reward system and social/peer pressure.

Alcohol activates the Ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex which constitutes the human rewards system and impulsive behavior. This results in the feelings of gratification and enjoyment. As we go on drinking, there are several other things such as senses, motor function, memory, thinking, understanding, etc. are weakened, thus acting like a sedative to the central nervous system. This is intoxication stage.

Even if you did not like the taste of alcohol first time and the whole experience was unpleasant, you still might have it again due to the pressure of socializing. Eventually you would develop the taste or rather as we say, acquire the taste of alcohol.

There have been recent revelation in the journal ‘Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research’ that the acceptable bitter taste and burning sensation depends on our genes. These genes not only contribute towards the intake of alcohol, but also towards the perception of taste of bitter taste of alcohol.

We have read, heard, advised about the benefits of alcohol which supports the history, but it is the addiction - the release and control of dopamine over your brain activity, which we need to keep a check on to avoid it from taking control of you.

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Why do we eat and dine out?

Eating in a group has been the tradition for ages now and is not only restricted to humans. With the discovery of fire, human started to cook. Thus, it transformed into a group activity with roles/tasks assigned to every/set of individuals such as hunt/gather, prepare ingredients, cook and serve.

Eventually, civilizations developed. People had houses, families, jobs. As we moved into an agrarian society, we ate what we grew or could buy locally. Hence, humans used to eat at home. As a typical patriarchal culture, the men used to work & earn and women were back home cooking & doing chores.

The local travelers were usually the ones who used to eat out at inns, dining halls, etc. which provided a similar home setting and homely meals while they are on the road away from their homes.

Restaurants and cafes started with the French. Restaurer, which means to restore. Thus, restaurants were a place where people not keeping well were fed to give them strength. Whereas cafes were places where people used to gather to discuss and share new ideas. They served not only coffee, but alcoholic and chocolaty drinks with food. these were considered to be higher in class than other eating joints.

It was the French chefs to introduce menu with dishes, measured portions of food and corresponding pricing.

The modern food and the related services as we know it today, started only after the industrial revolution trying to develop better making, distributing, processing and storage of food.

With having a common seating table to individual seating; from home cooks to caterers/ professional chefs; the various aspects of the industry has evolved. A major factor which has contributed to the diversity in the sector is immigration. Immigration brought people, their culture and food with them to different parts of the world, brought Chinese noodles and american cheese burger across the world.