All the Feels: How Texture Makes Taste

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The squish of bananas, the squeak of mushrooms, the pop of a grape: for some people, these textures are a delight—but for others, they’re a total nightmare. Texture plays a huge role in how we experience food, and yet it’s kind of a scientific conundrum. Why do people—and entire cultures—experience the feeling of food differently, and what’s going on in our mouths when we do? To find out, we talk to scientists who've experimented with tooth-mounted microphones, tongue twists modeled after pro swimmers, and all-you-can-eat buffets. Plus, we go on a New York City Q adventure (mochi doughnuts and boba tea!), and hear from lots of you listeners about the feelings that make you squirm and swoon. Join us this episode and get up in your mouthfeels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So in general, I do not like savory creamy foods, so I don't eat butter.
0:09.2	I don't like Alfredo sauce.
0:11.2	Yeah, like ranch.
0:13.2	Why?
0:14.2	Because it's delicious.
0:15.2	No one.
0:16.2	I don't think it should exist either.
0:17.8	I literally wish I heard sorry.
0:20.0	We called up Kendra Pierre-Louis not because she's an amazing climate reporter, which
0:24.0	she is, but because she is also very public about her very strong feelings about food
0:28.7	texture, and because she has such strong feelings about texture, she's done what science
0:33.2	journalists do and written a bunch of articles about it.
0:36.2	I probably should have introduced myself as my name is Kendra Pierre-Louis, and I'm the
0:39.6	author of the story Manay is Disgusting and Science agrees.
0:43.6	It is also the first story, maybe the only story that I've ever done that had an industry
0:48.6	trade group try to get my boss to take it down off a website.
0:52.3	Big mayo tried to take you down.
0:54.1	Yep.
0:55.1	It's actually a food I hated as a kid for both texture and taste reasons.
1:00.6	Although now I'm supposedly a grown up, I can't really find it in me to hold a grudge against
1:05.4	mayo anymore.
1:06.4	That's it.
	...

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