Why Do Meals Taste Better at Such Great Heights?

Proof

America's Test Kitchen

Cooking, Culinary, Food, Arts, Society & Culture, History

4.4 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ever wonder why food tastes so much better after a long hike? Reporter Otis Gray climbs up the White Mountains in New Hampshire in search of answers at the Mizpah Hut, a lodge along the Appalachian Trail. Food Scientist Arielle Johnson makes an omniscient appearance. April 17 is the last day to vote for our miniseries '100 Proof' in the Best Limited Series categories for this year's Webby Awards! Hungry for the kind of roasted chicken that Grace craves in the episode? Try our Oven-Roasted Chicken Thighs, which you can make under an hour. Get a 14-day free trial for an America’s Test Kitchen digital subscription here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:07.2	The White Mountains in New Hampshire are known for their rugged beauty and unpredictable weather.
0:13.6	The highest wind speed ever recorded in the U.S. was atop Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the whites.
0:20.3	231 miles per hour on April 12, 1934.
0:25.6	Yeah, it's often windy up there. But the White Mountains are also known for gourmet meals served at eight remote huts that house weary visitors spending a night off the trail.
0:42.4	Cruise of hikers who love to cook, or maybe cooks who love to hike,
0:47.0	prepared legendary four and five course meals in these huts.
0:52.7	Our reporter Otis Gray hiked with one of these crews last July.
1:00.0	He wanted to understand why food prepared at the top of the mountain was so incredibly delicious.
1:08.0	Today on proof from America's test kitchen, how does physical exertion and extreme environments change the way we taste our food?
1:22.5	I'm Jack Bishop. Load up your backpacks. We're going hiking.
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2:06.9	Reporter Otis Gray has the story.
2:11.0	When I think about hiking, I think about food.
2:13.3	Like some of my favorite food memories.
2:16.4	If someone asked me what's the best meal I've ever had,
2:21.3	some of the ones that would make the shortlist are just simple meals that I've had at the end of hikes. Like this one time when I was hiking in the Alps, I was with some really close friends and I was overlooking a glacier.
2:28.3	We made this little fire and we boiled water and we made standard instant ramen from a bag with a little seasoning packet.
	...

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