The Secrets of Your Food
Dr. Michael Mosley and botanist James Wong celebrate the physics, chemistry, and biology hidden inside every bite of your next meal. Learn how the hidden chemistry of food keeps our bodies fit and healthy; take a global culinary adventure to reveal the science that makes our food taste delicious; and discover how the chemistry in our food affects our brains and creates our deepest cravings.
- 2017-2017
- 1 season
- PBS
- Documentary
- TV-PG
Dr. Michael Mosley and botanist James Wong celebrate the physics, chemistry, and biology hidden inside every bite of your next meal. Learn how the hidden chemistry of food keeps our bodies fit and healthy; take a global culinary adventure to reveal the science that makes our food taste delicious; and discover how the chemistry in our food affects our brains and creates our deepest cravings.
Season 1 Episode Guide
3 Episodes 2017
Episode 1
Food on the Brain
Wed, May 17, 2017 54 mins
Food: Delicious Science is the delicious science story of the food on your plate. Michael Mosley and James Wong present a celebration of the physics, chemistry, and biology that lies hidden inside every bite. Together they travel the world as they deconstruct our favorite meals, taking us inside the food, right down to the molecular level. In the final episode, Michael and James explore the effect of Food on the Brain. The brain is one of the greediest organs in the body in terms of the energy it needs to run. It influences our diet is by generating the cravings we all experience. The food we put in our mouths has a very direct effect on all the grey matter lurking above. And the brain does something rather ingenious with all this sensory input. We all have a series of interconnections in our brains called the reward pathway. This allows us to make pleasant associations between the food we eat, who we eat it with, and where we eat it-and these feelings keep us coming back for more.
Episode 2
A Matter of Taste
Wed, May 24, 2017 54 mins
Food: Delicious Science is the scientific story of the food on your plate. Michael Mosley and James Wong present a celebration of the physics, chemistry, and biology that lies hidden inside every bite. Together they travel the world and take over the UK's leading food lab as they deconstruct our favorite meals, taking us inside the food, right down to the molecular level. In this episode, Michael and James explore how the marriage between chemistry and biology is the root of all the sensations, tastes, and flavors that we enjoy in our food. Michael begins by deconstructing a Thai meal. Its effect on the tongue can be reduced down to just five tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and the less well-known umami. Umami is the most recently discovered of all the tastes. It's a Japanese word that translates as 'pleasant savory taste.' By the end of their journey through flavor, they reveal that taste is far more than just being delicious-it's a matter of survival.
Episode 3
We Are What We Eat
Wed, May 31, 2017 54 mins
Food: Delicious Science is the scientific story of the food on your plate. Michael Mosley and James Wong present a celebration of the physics, chemistry, and biology that lies hidden inside every bite. Together they travel the world and take over the UK's leading food lab as they deconstruct our favorite meals, taking us inside the food, right down to the molecular level. In this episode, Michael and James explore how the chemicals in our food feed and build our bodies. The world is full of different cuisines and thousands of different meals. Yet when they're reduced to their essence, there are actually just a handful of ingredients that our bodies absolutely need from our food to survive. These essential molecules come in a series of familiar sounding groups-carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals-but Michael and James discover plenty of surprises as they seek to understand exactly why each class of molecule is so important for the way our bodies work.