Why is artificial sugar sweet? Because they have molecules that fit into the sweetness receptors in our taste buds. We have about 8000 taste buds on our tongues, although we cannot see them. The tongue is covered in tiny lumps called papillae. The taste buds are inside these papillae. Taste buds are made up of […]
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Why are some people lactose intolerant? Because their body doesn’t make enough of an enzyme called lactase. Milk is a liquid produced in the mammary glands of most mammals. It is made of 87% water with the remainder made up mostly of fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. The proteins act as an emulsifier because
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When did ultra processed food start? Technically, humans have always processed food, but the modern style of processed food came into being in the middle of the 20th century. The literal definition of processing food is to “perform a series of mechanical or chemical operations on food in order to change or preserve it.” That
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What is the difference between a herb and a spice? Herbs are the fresh part of the plant and spices are the dried root, stalk, seed, or fruit. Herbs and spices have been used for thousands of years. People have used them to flavor food and as medicines. They are both different from vegetables because
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What vegetables came from the New World? There are many, but potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, chili, cacao, peppers, and vanilla are good examples. The foods that came from the New World into Europe ended up changing world cuisine in surprising ways. In the end of the 15th century, Spaniards and other Europeans first reached
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Why are emulsifiers used in processed food? They help different compounds to combine, and they make foods less sticky and easier to eat. What are emulsifiers? Their basic job is to combine two compounds that wouldn’t normally be able to hold together. An obvious example is oil and water. If you tip olive oil into
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Why do many Americans drink coffee and many British people drink tea? Because Americans boycotted tea before, during, and after the War of Independence and because the British government gained more money from taxing tea. The two countries both started as polar opposites and have ended up as polar opposites. Tea was more popular than
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Why are bees transported across countries by truck? Bees are the largest pollinator of many of the foods we eat and they have to be transported to where the foods are grown. Bees are the most common pollinator but not by any means the only. Bees travel from their hive to find flowers. When they
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What are food additives? They are things that are added to food to preserve the flavor, or improve the taste, appearance, or other qualities. There are a huge number of food additives and some of them are completely natural. Salt and sugar are both food additives. Humans have been using food additives ever since we
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How does cacao become chocolate? Through fermentation, drying, roasting, grinding, and adding milk and sugar. Cacao beans grow on a cacao tree, which is native to the Amazon basin in South America. The tree is called “Theobroma cacao.” “Theobroma” means “food of the gods” in Greek and “cacao” is the Spanish form of “kakaw” and
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