Episodes

  • Ep 1: The Case for Taste

    Ep 1: The Case for Taste
    May 4 2022
    Adam Liaw cracks the code of taste in cooking. He is joined by superstar chef, author and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi who explains how taste guides our hand in the kitchen even when we aren’t even thinking about it.
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    33 mins
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Ep 2: Sweet

    Ep 2: Sweet
    May 4 2022
    Our taste for sweetness guided our evolutionary forebears to energy-rich fruit but its effect on civilisation has been anything but sweet. Facilitating the enslavement of millions and bringing forth the Industrial Revolution.
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    40 mins
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Ep 3: Bitter

    Ep 3: Bitter
    May 4 2022
    Bitterness helps us avoid toxic foods. Yet in the case of chocolate, coffee, tea and pepper - many of our favourite foods are bitter. Our quest for these foods directly resulted in globalisation and even modern democracy.
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    45 mins
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Ep 4: Salty

    Ep 4: Salty
    May 4 2022
    All animals need salt to survive and humans are no different. But salt also gave us the ability to preserve food as well as shifting human society from hunting and gathering to agricultural trade. From the Celts and Romans to Ancient China, salt underpinned the global economy for thousands of years.
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    39 mins
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Ep 5: Sour

    Ep 5: Sour
    May 4 2022
    Humans are one of just a handful of animals unable to produce the Vitamin C necessary for our own survival. Our taste for sourness has guided us to vitamins as well as fermented foods that are vital to the health of our microbiome. Perhaps the key to understanding our own humanity.
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    37 mins
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Ep 6: Umami

    Ep 6: Umami
    May 4 2022
    Savoury umami led humanity to cooking, with cooked foods providing greater bioavailability of nutrients for human development. But our newest taste is also our most misunderstood – MSG is the pure taste of umami and occurs natural in mother’s milk, so why is so much of the world convinced it’s harmful?
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    43 mins
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Ep 7: The Future of Taste

    Ep 7: The Future of Taste
    May 4 2022

    With our understanding of taste still relatively new, are there other tastes we haven’t identified yet? In this final episode Adam shows how our sense of taste can guide us to better cooking, better health and a healthier planet. We take a peek at what the future of taste may hold.
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    44 mins
    Free with 30-day trial