In Good Taste.

Hi everyone! I was recently featured in Substack’s “What to Read” newsletter and have a ton of new subscribers, so I just wanted to say hello + welcome to Food For Thought.! I love talking about all things food + culture and hope that you do too. This newsletter is kind of my haven to write about all the things that run through my mind when I’m reading about food, chowing down on food, or doing research about food. I try to keep things light + fun, although I have my moments when I dig a bit deeper into pressing issues. I hope that you enjoy my journey through the world of food one newsletter at a time!

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Taste the Rainbow.

Just recently I was thinking about tastebuds and how unique they are to each one of us. Our tastebuds can be collectively similar based on where we live - for example living in South East Asia you might have a higher tolerance for spicier foods and a better appreciation for fermented ingredients as opposed to someone living in the States somewhere in the Mid West where dairy + meat are more appreciated. I find it fascinating how we can adapt our tastebuds to our environments and how so much of that adaptation is psychological. If something doesn’t look appetizing our brains automatically forewarn our tongues that what we’re about to eat might not taste good. Some people can get over that hump and eat things that look different or odd to them and some people just can’t. Their brains just won’t allow them to look past the unfamiliarity of what is in front of them. 

I get asked pretty frequently how do I have a palate for so many different flavors and my answer is pretty simple: objectivity. Anytime I eat something that I have never eaten before or I’m not familiar with I go in as a taste explorer first + foremost then as a regular customer/patron/person second. If a texture, flavor, or smell is not to my liking I don’t make that my main judgment of that dish. I chalk up any dislike of a dish to just not being my thing. Other folks may enjoy it, but for me, it’s just not my jam. I’m exceptionally cognizant of this when I write my Eating A-Z in NYC series. As I’ve said before I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum especially if it’s food from a culture that I do not belong to.

My best advice to push your tastebud boundaries to the max is to start off small. Try small amounts of different things to get you out of your comfort zone. Focus on experiencing the flavors instead of enjoying the flavors. Eating something without putting enjoyment at the forefront is hard AF, but can be done! Do you honestly think chefs with shows who travel around the world enjoyed everything they ate on camera? NOPE! They trained themselves to be objective and so can you. Next time you pass an uncommon ingredient, buy it! Next time someone asks you to try something peculiar, taste it! Life is too short to not explore + taste everything that the world has to offer.

The Gatekeepers of Taste.

I get an obscene amount of food-related newsletters to my inbox (thanks for subscribing to mine!), which honestly take me a while to read through every single day. Some of these newsletters are wonderful pieces of writing from fellow Substack writers + a good chunk comes from food media outlets such as BA, Eater, and TASTE just to name a few. Food media has exploded in recent years and has become the gold standard on what is “in” + what tastes “good”. 

Several newsletters have recommended pistachio-based products in the past few months, which I guess is good for the green nut (I heard it was getting jealous of all the attention almonds get), but what does pushing green-hued products actually mean to us in the long run as consumers/cooks? Do I necessarily need to buy a six-pack of pistachio milk for $48? Probably not and probably won’t, but others might. So much of what is sold to us through seemingly innocent articles/newsletters are actually marketing tactics by the outlet that sends it to you. Of course, magazines + online publications need to make money + pay their staff, but at what price?

We rely on them to tell us what cuisine is on-trend, where to eat, who’s the hottest chef in town, what ingredients we should stock our fridge with, but we never really question the motives behind it. This is one of the primary reasons why I am trying to be better about not reading Yelp reviews of restaurants, instead of just walking out my front door and doing the leg work by trial + error. If I base all my food choices on the opinions of others (by way of food publications + reviews) how do I know where their point of view ends + mine begins? So often we want to desperately be a part of something + want to believe that it’s good, but how much of that really boils down to outside influence? Chew on this thought the next time you run to read the next list of “Top 10 Places for XYZ” or an article about the next “it” ingredient that you need right now.

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EATING

As usual, I love showing you what I’ve eaten recently. I ate the most decadent + insanely huge donut from my fave place The Donut Pub. S’mores in donut form = donut bliss!

Mammoth of a donut.

This is why Homer Simpson loves donuts.

Tamales from my favorite street vendor EVER.

I cannot seem to find tamales better than hers + I’ve tried A LOT of them. These had cheese + rajas inside.

Peruvian chicken tamales made with rice + cassava. Head to my IG to see the process on how these are made + who I made them with.

Cassava + rice mixed with aji panca seasoning.

READING

I’ve taken a break from reading food writing + am looking for some great fiction to read to give my brain a mini-break!

This week look out for the next newsletter in my Eating A-Z in NYC series, where I’ll be visiting the small country of Andorra!

Let’s be friends on social!

Cook. Eat. Repeat.

Natalie