The Mystery of Taste: Beyond Sweet, Sour, Salty & Bitter

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio

Milk Street Radio

Food, Arts

4.2 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are humans the only species that loves sour? Does everyone taste bitter the same way? And could there be flavors we can’t even comprehend yet? Emily Kwong and Aaron Scott from NPR’s “Short Wave” join us to explore the amazing science of taste, from the mysteries of salt to why dolphins can’t taste sweet. Plus, chef Khánh-Ly Huynh shares Vietnamese street food from Paris; Adam Gopnik investigates what it takes to become a culinary maestro; and we go to Bangkok for Thai Cashew Chicken. (Originally aired March 23rd, 2023.)

Get the recipe for Thai Cashew Chicken here.

Listen to Milk Street Radio on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is Mill Street Radio from PRX.
0:05.7	I'm your host, Christopher Kimball.
0:08.0	And today we're experimenting.
0:09.7	Let's try the dill pickles.
0:12.2	Okay, dill pickle.
0:13.2	Here we go, dill pickle.
0:14.2	Oh.
0:16.2	Oh.
0:17.2	Oh.
0:18.2	It's weird.
0:20.2	It's like you're riding a bicycle and somebody jumps on the back unexpectedly.
0:24.5	So you get sweet, but at the same time, the sour is still lurking in the background.
0:29.0	That's like listening to a song that's been overproduced electronically, and they did weird things to the guitar.
0:34.9	You guys are both such purists.
0:37.0	What can make a dill pickle taste so strange?
0:40.0	Well, Emily Kwong and Aaron Scott from NPR's shortwave are here to share the amazing science of how taste works and how it can be tricked.
0:48.8	I love hijacking my body's natural responses.
0:52.1	We'll hear more from them later on the show.
0:55.4	First, it's my interview with Vietnamese French chef Conley Huin.
0:59.7	She's the co-founder of two restaurants in Paris, The Hood, which serves Southeast Asian
1:04.3	Street Food and Nonet, which specializes in Bonnbee and donuts.
1:09.2	Conley, welcome to Milk Street.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Milk Street Radio, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Milk Street Radio and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.