Why does a curry, stew or pot of chili sometimes taste better the next day…while leftover fries are basically a punishment?

In this episode, we’re looking at leftovers from the beginning: how people preserved and reused food before modern refrigeration, how the rise of the icebox and refrigerator changed what “leftovers” even meant, and why saving food became tied to thrift and wartime conservation.

Then we get into the actual question: what really happens to food overnight? We’ll look at flavour redistribution, sensory adaptation, texture changes, starch retrogradation, resistant starch and why some foods genuinely improve while others absolutely do not.

In this episode:

• How people reused and preserved food before modern refrigeration

• How iceboxes and electric refrigerators changed household eating habits

• Whether flavors actually “marry” overnight

• How sensory adaptation may explain why food can taste better the next day
• Why certain foods tend to hold up well while others don't
• Exploring resistant starch
• Leftovers vs meal prep

Connect with Noha:

• Topic requests: itsneverjustfood@gmail.com
• Follow Noha on: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Learn more about working with Noha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

References mentioned/used in the episode:

• Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Leftovers and the History of Refrigeration.
• U.S. Food Administration historical materials on food conservation during World War I.
• Good Housekeeping (1930). Leftovers Shouldn’t Be Left Over.
• Health Canada. Food Safety Tips for Leftovers.

It’s Never Just Food is a Foodies in the Kitchen podcast, hosted by Noha Gerges and operated by 17928238 Canada Inc.

This podcast is for general educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical, nutritional or professional advice.

Chili peppers feel so deeply connected to cuisines around the world that it’s hard to imagine Indian, Korean, Thai, Chinese, Hungarian, African and countless other food traditions without them.

Except…until about 500 years ago, none of those places had chili peppers.

In this episode, we follow the chili pepper from its origins to its journey around the world, before getting into our modern obsession with making peppers hotter and hotter, the surprisingly fun science behind the burn, and, of course, how understanding chilies can make us better cooks.

In this episode:

• Where chili peppers originated and how long we have been eating them
• Why bell peppers, jalapeños, poblanos and many paprika peppers are all members of the same species
• Why chili peppers got their name from

• How the original Scoville test used human tasters to measure chili heat and our modern obsession with superhot peppers

• What capsaicin actually does to make your mouth feel like it’s burning
• Why birds can eat hot peppers without experiencing the same burn we do
• What the hottest part of a chili (it’s not what you think)
• Whether you can build up your spice tolerance

• How to use flavour-packed ingredients like chilies and chili condiments to create variety from the same meal-prepped components

Connect with Noha:

• Topic requests: itsneverjustfood@gmail.com
• Follow Noha on: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Learn more about working with Noha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

References mentioned/used in the episode:

• Kraft, K.H. et al. (2014). Multiple lines of evidence for the origin of domesticated chili pepper, Capsicum annuum, in Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Perry, L. et al. (2007). Starch fossils and the domestication and dispersal of chili peppers (Capsicum spp. L.) in the Americas. Science.
• Tewksbury, J.J. & Nabhan, G.P. (2001). Directed deterrence by capsaicin in chilies. Nature.
• Tewksbury, J.J. et al. (2008). Evolutionary ecology of pungency in wild chilies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Szent-Györgyi, A. (1937). Nobel Lecture, Oxidation, Energy Transfer, and Vitamins. Nobel Prize.
• Fattori, V. et al. (2016). Capsaicin: Current Understanding of Its Mechanisms and Therapy of Pain and Other Pre-Clinical and Clinical Uses. Molecules.
• Antonio, A.S. et al. (2018). Research on capsaicinoid biosynthesis and distribution in Capsicum fruit.
• Guinness World Records. Pepper X dethrones Carolina Reaper as world’s hottest chilli pepper (2023).

It’s Never Just Food is a Foodies in the Kitchen podcast, hosted by Noha Gerges and operated by 17928238 Canada Inc.

This podcast is for general educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical, nutritional or professional advice.

What do Parmesan, tomatoes, kombu, mushrooms, miso and soy sauce have in common? They’re all connected by one of our five basic tastes: umami.

In this episode, we’re going back to Japan in 1908 to explore how umami was identified, how we have been making umami-rich foods long before we understood the science behind them and what’s really happening when certain ingredients make food taste so much better.

Of course, we’re also talking about MSG; what it actually is, how it became so controversial and what the evidence says about its safety.

Most importantly, we’re taking all of that science into the kitchen to figure out how understanding umami can make you a better, more intuitive cook.

In this episode:

• How Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda identified umami in 1908

• Why foods like Parmesan, tomatoes, mushrooms, miso and soy sauce can add so much depth to a dish
• How to tell when your food needs more umami and not just more salt
• What MSG is
• The origins of the MSG controversy and the infamous term “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome”
• What current evidence says about MSG safety
• How understanding what ingredients do can make you less dependent on recipes

Connect with Noha:

• Topic requests: itsneverjustfood@gmail.com

• Follow Noha on: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Learn more about working with Noha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

References mentioned in the episode:

• Ikeda, K. (1909). New seasonings. Journal of the Chemical Society of Tokyo.
• Kurihara, K. (2015). Umami the Fifth Basic Taste: History of Studies on Receptor Mechanisms and Role as a Food Flavor. BioMed Research International.
• Zhang, F. et al. (2008). Molecular mechanism for the umami taste synergism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Nelson, G. et al. (2002). An amino-acid taste receptor. Nature.
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Questions and Answers on Monosodium Glutamate (MSG).
• Kwok, R.H.M. (1968). Chinese-Restaurant Syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine.

It’s Never Just Food is a Foodies in the Kitchen podcast, hosted by Noha Gerges and operated by 17928238 Canada Inc.

This podcast is for general educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical, nutritional or professional advice.