So what does it say, Kenji, that there are so many conventional

wisdom about something as basic as cooking food, which we've been doing for

thousands of years that are, if not wrong, at least kind of misguided.

Isn't that sort of strange?

It is strange, but I think it's precisely because we've been doing it for so long

and because everybody does it and it's sort of an essential part of everyday life

that I think it's one of those things that rarely gets a sort of a second thought.

Today we're going to give a lot of second thoughts to what we eat and how we eat it.

My name is Kenji Lopez-Alte.

I'm the managing culinary director at SiriusEats.com and I write about the science of food.

Uh-oh, the science of food, doesn't that sound kind of unnatural?

I think a lot of people think of science as sort of the opposite of tradition or the opposite of natural.

And really it's not, you know, science is just a method, right?

It's a method about thinking about the world and it can be used for many different ends.

All right, and I'm on board. How about you?

Would you like to know whether the secret of New York pizza really is the water?

What we basically end up finding was that the water makes almost no difference

compared to other variables in the dough.

Would you like to know how Frekenomics radio listeners do things in the kitchen?

If we can pick it up with chopsticks, then that means it's completely cooked on the inside.

And would you like to know the true nutritional value of one of America's favorite vegetables?

Veterinarians don't even recommend it as rabbit food.

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