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The Chemistry of Food & Taste | Dr. Harold McGee

Episode 235 Jun 30, 2025 2h 13m 20 insights
Dr. Harold McGee, PhD, is a renowned author on the topics of food chemistry and culinary science. He explains how cooking methods, types of cookware and temperature can be used to transform food and drink flavors and presents simple but powerful ways to improve nutrient availability. We also discuss how our individual biology, genetic and cultural backgrounds shape our taste preferences. Whether you’re a seasoned cook or someone who simply loves to eat, our conversation will change how you think about food and cooking, give you actionable tools to try and deepen your appreciation of the experience of eating and drinking. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.
Actionable Insights

1. Avoid PFAS Cookware

Use PFAS and toxin-free cookware, such as titanium pans, to prevent exposure to harmful “forever chemicals” linked to major health issues like hormone disruption and gut problems.

2. Eat Food Slowly

Enjoy your food slowly, taking pauses between bites and food types, to allow complex flavors to develop and to fully appreciate the dynamic sensory experience. This enhances pleasure and allows new flavors to emerge.

3. Train Taste Preferences

Gradually adjust your taste preferences over time by reducing intake of overly sweet or salty processed foods. This can reset your palate, making natural, unadulterated flavors more enjoyable and richer.

4. Optimize Sleep Temperature

Ensure your sleeping environment’s temperature is correct, as a slight drop in body temperature is crucial for falling and staying deeply asleep, and a slight increase helps you wake refreshed.

5. Use NSDR for Sleep

Incorporate Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) audio scripts into your routine for relaxation, recovery, and to improve your ability to fall back asleep if you wake during the night.

6. Add Salt to Bitter Foods

Add a pinch of salt to bitter-tasting foods or drinks, such as coffee or grapefruit, to diminish the sensation of bitterness due to the opposing chemical interaction between salt and bitter compounds.

7. Sequence Meal Courses

Adopt a meal structure of soup first, then the main course, and salad last. Soup helps fill the stomach for satiety, while salad refreshes the palate and closes out the main part of the meal.

8. Comprehensive Lab Testing

Utilize comprehensive lab testing services to get a snapshot of your bodily health, including heart, hormones, immune function, and nutrient levels, to gain personalized insights and detect potential issues like toxin exposure.

9. Mitigate Onion Crying

To avoid crying while cutting onions, wear goggles, frequently rinse the cut surfaces with water to remove volatile irritants, or opt for non-pungent onion varieties like Maui onions.

10. Reduce Bean Gas

To reduce gas from beans, soak them in water and then boil and discard that water before cooking. This leaches out the gas-causing oligosaccharides.

11. Adapt Gut to Legumes

Introduce beans and legumes into your diet more frequently over time. Your gut microbiome can adapt, reducing initial discomfort and gas production from these beneficial foods.

12. Freshly Grind Coffee

Grind coffee beans fresh each time you brew to maximize flavor, as this can significantly impact the taste of the beverage.

13. Experiment Coffee Temperature

Play around with the temperature of the water used for brewing coffee, as different temperatures extract different molecules and can profoundly alter the resulting flavor and pleasure.

14. Experiment Coffee Extraction

Conduct an experiment by collecting coffee at different intervals (e.g., every 30 seconds) during brewing to taste what comes out early, middle, and late. This helps understand how extraction time affects the presence of larger, more tannic molecules.

15. Use Copper for Egg Whites

Whip egg whites in a copper bowl to achieve a superior texture, color, and consistency, as copper ions interact chemically to stabilize the foam.

16. Use Copper for Jam

Use copper bowls when making jams and jellies. Copper inhibits the breakdown of sucrose into glucose and fructose, which helps maintain the desired texture and behavior of the preserves.

17. Consume Yerba Mate

Drink yerba mate as a preferred source of caffeine for a steady rise in energy and focus without a crash, while also benefiting from its blood sugar regulation, high antioxidant content, and digestive support.

18. Support Health with AG1

Incorporate AG1, a vitamin-mineral probiotic drink, into your daily routine to support digestive health, immune system function, bowel regularity, and overall well-being.

19. Understand Taste Sensitivity

If you are a professional in the food world, understand your personal taste sensitivity (e.g., if you are a “super taster”) to compensate and avoid making food bland for customers with different sensitivities.

20. Deepen Poetry Appreciation

Read John Keats’ poem “To Autumn” with the knowledge of his medical background and personal experience with death (mother and brother died of TB). This context adds a deeper dimension of appreciation to his work.