SELECTED WRITING
In addition to these pieces, I have several academic journal articles out there, as well as my PhD dissertation, "Flavor Added: The Sciences of Flavor and the Industrialization of Taste in America." Email me if you'd like copies of any of those texts; I'm happy to oblige.
“Can You Boil Water? Then You Can Make Dulce De Leche,” The Takeout, May 2020.
“Sustainable Snack Food Startups Featured Among PepsiCo’s 2020 Greenhouse Accelerator Program Finalists,” Forbes, February 2020.
“The Forecasters Have Spoken: 2020 Is The Year of the Blueberry,” The Takeout, January 2020.
“How Your Toothpaste Gets so Minty Fresh,” Forbes, November 2019.
“From Beyond the Graveyard: The Rich Roots of Cemetery Terroir,” October 2019.
“Can this 19-Year-Old Tech Whiz Make Nuggets — and an Animal-Free Lifestyle — Go Viral with NUGGS?” Forbes, July 2019.
“A History of Flavoring Food with Beaver Butt Juice,” Vice Munchies, December 2018.
“How Activists Forced FDA to Blacklist ‘Carcinogenic’ Chemicals the Agency Says Are Safe,” New Food Economy, Oct 15, 2018.
"Taste the Mystery," Medium, August 23, 2018.
"How Scientists Are Hijacking Plant Skeletons to Make Lab-Grown Steaks," New Food Economy, July 30, 2018.
"The Weird and Wavy History of Wine Coolers," Vice Munchies, June 22, 2018.
"A Brief History of Soy Milk, The Future Food of Yesterday," Serious Eats, June 21, 2018.
"Can A.I. Usher In A New Era of Hyper-Personalized Food?" New Food Economy, May 14, 2018.
"A History of Stress Balls," Woolly, March 2018.
"Clean Label's Dirty Little Secret." New Food Economy, February 1, 2018.
"The Man Who Shook the United States by its Tastebuds." Aeon, December 17, 2017.
"Toxic. Sour. Atomic. Why We Love to Hate Gross Candy." NPR, October 30, 2017
"Smells Like Fresh: How We Arrived at the Refrigerator of Today." Lucky Peach Summer 2017. [Not online; email me if you're interested, and I'll send you a scan.]
"Straight to Your Head: Can Neuroscience Help Us Get the Most Out of Wine?" Cook's Science, May 1, 2017
"Why Does Wine Give You a Headache?" Food & Wine, April 2017
"Grapefruit and Salt: The Science Behind this Unlikely Power Couple," NPR, November 14, 2016
"Under the Microscope, Food Has a Big Personality," [Review of Ali Bouzari's Ingredient], Popular Science, September 27, 2016
"The History of Push-Button Cuisine," Lucky Peach, August 2016
"Can Science Build a Fake Wine That's Just as Good as the Real Thing?" Popular Science, June 1, 2016
"The History of Banana Flavoring," Lucky Peach, May 19, 2016
"Will the Future of Food Be 'Unnaturally Delicious'?" [Review of Jayson Lusk's Unnaturally Delicious], Popular Science, March 29, 2016
"How We Learn to Eat," [Review of Bee Wilson's First Bite], Popular Science, December 9, 2015
"The Inexorable Rise of Synthetic Flavor: A Pictorial History," Popular Science, November 23, 2015
"How to Make A Potato Chip That Tastes Like a Sandwich," The Atlantic, October 26, 2015
"This Smell Synthesizer Lets You Sniff and Play Flavors Like Music," Popular Science, October 23, 2015
PODCASTS & OTHER APPEARANCES
I love speaking about flavor, food, science and technology, culture, and history in non-academic contexts for audiences that aren't only grad students and profs (not that there's anything wrong with them!), and have given talks at the Museum of Food and Drink, and to the Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C., the Culinary Historians of New York, and Bitten. I’ve also talked about food history, flavor, culture, and policy at meetings of the Institute of Food Technologists, Society of Flavor Chemists, National Association of Flavors and Food-Ingredient Systems, and the Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association. Get in touch if you'd like me to speak to your group.
Gastropod, hosted by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley:
Snack Attack! (2020)
Snacking is revolutionary! I talk about the history of the modern snack, how snacking has transformed our sensory experience of eating, and the snack lifestyle.
Eating the Rainbow (2020)
In this episode about food colors, I delve into the story of “blue raspberry,” one of life’s enduring mysteries.
Savor Flavor (2015)
Flavor chemistry, history, and the future of flavor additives, and my very first appearance on a podcast!
Science Friday
Why Doesn’t Cherry Candy Taste Like Real Cherries? (2017)
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio
“I Cooked For Stevie Wonder” (2020)
Alas, I did not cook for Stevie Wonder (that would be Makini Howell); I’m on here talking about the history of flavor science.
The Nod
“I Want That Purple Stuff” (2017)
I talk about the pleasures of fake grape, and ponder its Southern roots and Great Migration