When modern people learn of the spiritual and religious undertone of monastic cooking traditions, they usually encounter surprises. Contemporary culinary practices and diets differ significantly from those found in the kitchens and dining halls of monasteries globally. Monastic cooking reflects centuries-old practices of not just asceticism, but also culinary minimalism. However, these traditions have outlived…
A breakdown of the dopamine-sugar-brain interplay is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of how sugar affects the brain. There are very few food components that stimulate the brain as effectively as sugar does. Metering its consumption may be the key to improving your cognitive ability and self-regulating certain habits. By default, our body is designed…
There’s more to the chocolate supply chain than meets the eye. When you pick a cocoa product off a store shelf, what you see is a nicely branded delicacy. However, the story behind the farm-to-table journey of chocolate has, over the years, been marred by poverty, exploitation, and environmental damage. West Africa has been the…
The notably crisp texture of vegetables that have undergone the pickling process is more than just culinary art. Pickling science involves adding value to food through fermentation, which also enhances the taste. Pickling, in simple terms, is the steeping of edibles in solutions rich in either alcohol, acid or salt (sometimes sugar). The primary, or…
Edible water pods seem like an idea straight out of a science fiction novel. Shocker alert: this food innovation has been around since 2014. Imagine yourself gulping down packaged water on a summer afternoon, and being able to eat the bottle too. The described product is not something bizarre, as a commercial variant featured prominently…
