This newsletter may contain some affiliate links. I only recommend things I personally use and enjoy—if you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Flavor Brief A weekly letter about food, science, and why things taste the way they do Read Past Newsletters Hi Reader Last week, I celebrated another year around the sun, surrounded by family, close friends, and my pets. This year, I intentionally kept things quiet, sticking to familiar routines: I...
12 days ago • 3 min read
This newsletter may contain some affiliate links. I only recommend things I personally use and enjoy—if you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Flavor Files + Go deeper into food, technique, and the recipes that reward it Read Past Newsletters Hello Reader Welcome to the May edition of The Flavor Files+, my premium content newsletter. This month is all about beans. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been digging through years of recipes, kitchen notes,...
13 days ago • 9 min read
This newsletter may contain some affiliate links. I only recommend things I personally use and enjoy—if you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Flavor Brief A weekly letter about food, science, and why things taste the way they do Read Past Newsletters Hi Reader Have you ever picked up two identical-looking peaches from the same crate, only to find that one is a honey-sweet explosion and the other is muted, even mealy? In the kitchen, we tend to...
19 days ago • 5 min read
This newsletter may contain some affiliate links. I only recommend things I personally use and enjoy—if you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Flavor Brief A weekly letter about food, science, and why things taste the way they do Read Past Newsletters Season 2 of Flavor Forward is live on YouTube. Watch the premiere here. Hi Reader Pick up a piece of good cheese and eat it slowly. There's something happening in your mouth beyond the salt, beyond...
21 days ago • 3 min read
This newsletter may contain some affiliate links. I only recommend things I personally use and enjoy—if you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Flavor Brief A weekly letter about food, science, and why things taste the way they do Read Past Newsletters Hi Reader I wasn't expecting the flowers on my newly planted hachiya persimmon tree to do anything but bloom and fall, but they held on and I can see little nubs of fruit forming. If they do end up...
26 days ago • 4 min read
This newsletter may contain some affiliate links. I only recommend things I personally use and enjoy—if you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Flavor Brief A weekly letter about food, science, and why things taste the way they do Read Past Newsletters Hi Reader There's a mathematics paper I recently read, it's called "N-Person Cake-Cutting: There May Be No Perfect Division," and it proves something that feels almost philosophical: you cannot...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
This newsletter may contain some affiliate links. I only recommend things I personally use and enjoy—if you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Flavor Brief A weekly letter about food, science, and why things taste the way they do Read Past Newsletters Hi Reader The little dwarf Nagami kumquat tree in my front yard is loaded right now, small orange orbs covering every branch. I always stop to eat one straight off the tree, and it catches me off...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
The Flavor Files + Go deeper into food, technique, and the recipes that reward it Read Past Newsletters Hello Reader, Thank you so much for your support as a subscriber — it means everything. I'm really excited to share what Flavor Files + is evolving into. Based on your feedback, I've given it a new format, and this issue is your first taste of it. Going forward, you can expect more in-depth guides — food culture and travel, cooking and baking technique, even some deeper food science — plus...
about 1 month ago • 7 min read
The Flavor Brief A weekly letter about food, science, and why things taste the way they do Hi Reader Last week I had a little accident involving a bread knife, nine stitches, and a valuable lesson about washing sharp objects. The knife slipped, somersaulted through the air, and landed perfectly between my fingers like it had been practicing. I've been dictating this entire newsletter by voice, which has made me deeply, genuinely grateful for whoever invented voice-to-text. Anyway. While I was...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read