About
I’ve always had a thing with sensory experiences. From a young age, I couldn’t stand shirts with tags or itchy tights—those textures drove me crazy. At the same time, I loved the feel of Red Vines but preferred the taste of Sprouts’ black licorice. Food became my playground for what scientists call dynamic contrast: the interplay of textures and flavors that makes eating so satisfying. I baked endless cookies and cakes, experimenting with textures and flavors to create that effect. My greatest joy was watching people bite into a pastry and pause, wondering how something so small could deliver such layers of taste, texture, and crunch. You’d think I would have gone on to study food science. Instead, I earned a degree in clinical nutrition and later designed a food systems and science class for kids struggling with weight. I taught them nutrition through the lens of food science — showing how the very textures and flavors they loved could also teach them about health.
That’s why I chose to continue this journey—not from the angle of nutrition, but through memoir-style food stories with science woven in. I’m especially fascinated by tastants: the compounds that create taste. I love exploring their chemical structures to understand how they influence wellness, the mechanisms behind them, and why people might prefer one tastant over another. I’m also curious about whether all the “tastes” we think exist are truly tastants at all.
This newsletter will be a space where those explorations play out: stories, science, and whatever else I decide to fold in along the way.
Paywall Notice
I’ll be monetizing this newsletter down the road, but for the first three months it’s totally free. Think of it as a taste test before the paywall kicks in.
