if you like sushi please raise your hand
I mean press you can put your hands down
oh thank you
I’m sure some of you in the audience
have been to some really great sushi
restaurants you know they can have some
pretty strange stuff there for example
one of the Japanese delicacies that
recently became very popular in New York
is called abalone abalone is kind of a
water slug and generally speaking it
looks like something you would put in
your mouth only if you lost some weird
bit now and I know it’s gonna be
difficult I want you to forget the slimy
slug and think about your absolute
favorite food
what is the one dish you can have
forever and never get tired of think
about it we usually think of a
home-cooked meal made by our mom or dad
and since we all have different moms and
dads we have the naive notion that our
personal taste is personal maybe even
unique or special but is it really
that’s exactly what I would like to
speak about today I come from a family
who cooks for a living literally
speaking food is my mother’s tongue and
I’ve been exploring the notion of
personal taste for over a decade reading
and researching and talking to people
and looking into their plates I love
looking into other people’s plates
because food talks he tells stories and
I would like to share some of these
stories with you tonight on the path to
reevaluate some of our presumptions
about personal taste whatever you do
with it at the end is absolutely up to
you or as my mom says it’s your life you
can ruin it any way you want
my first story takes us to the
Philippines
I was traveling and lecturing in the
Philippines with a well-known Israeli
foodie and he proclaimed that Filipino
food was just terrible he said it was
too sweet and too loud and the truth is
I didn’t find it all that great either
but if we consider our starting point
that a home-cooked meal is the best then
I guess 400 million Filipinos Philippine
cuisine is just fine and we’re the one
that has no clue my second story takes
us to Ethiopia I was working on an index
our Tikal about Ethiopian cuisine
American star chef Marcus Samuelsson
that’s him with a friend had just opened
Mercato 55 serving hot Ethiopian cuisine
to the New York diners I was so excited
about this opportunity to speak with
Marcus Samuelsson himself however when I
mentioned it to my friends and my
editors I got one of the following
responses what are they going to serve
their empty plates
haha and Ethiopian food is just not
tasty I had to check these claims for
myself so I went online and used the New
York Times restaurant browser to look
for other European restaurants the New
York Times has a very precise system of
categorization in its restaurant browser
they have Irish restaurants and tapas
restaurants and Greek restaurants and
Ukrainian and Vietnamese restaurants
they even have kosher restaurants but
guess what
Ethiopian food could only be found under
the gigantic category African cuisine
meaning 1.2 billion people living on a
continent that makes up 20% of the dry
land of the world are all lumped
together under one category African
cuisine it took me two weeks to finish
my research but by the time I was done
Mercato 55 this pioneer ester
serving up skelita opium food had
already shot down the New Yorkers just
didn’t come the way we treat each
European and Filipino food made me
wonder if we regard food as a reflection
of everything else then there has to be
a reason why eto pian food is not given
its proper place let’s try and think why
Ethiopia located at the bottom list of
GDP worldwide is part of a continent
that is primarily linked with poverty
war AIDS
who wants to be part of that in many
senses the world is like a huge
classroom every country has a different
status in the global arena and the
country’s popularity will determine its
success in the international culinary
list and we’ll decide whether ordinary
diners like ourselves will readily part
from our $10 or $100 for one of its
dishes what will determine the status
most of the time its international
relationships or in other words money
not quite convinced yet so let’s take
India for example look at the way Indian
food has thrived in the past few years
for a long time Indian food was almost
restricted to casual everyday not to
expensive restaurants but what happened
after India’s economy picked up making
it more popular in the global classroom
fancy Indian restaurants pop up
everywhere and the demand for Indian
food increased this takes me to my first
insight our palate can develop and
change but it is dictated by forces much
stronger than our taste buds experiences
that’s why I asked you if you like sushi
because when I was growing up there were
no sushi restaurants in Israel so she
was the kind of food really that you
said yakin biting in
to roughish that was just skin it was as
crazy as biting that slimy abalone slug
that I showed you before but we learned
our palate our personal taste is much
more a social taste than we would like
to think it is I know there are few of
you in the audience who are thinking
well I’ve always loved sushi I never
found it repulsive and that’s okay so
how about cigarettes how did the first
cigarette you smoke taste like it was
disgusting you choked on it it wasn’t
healthy but you still it another one how
about alcohol spicy food coffee so why
not Ethiopian food a personal taste as I
said is much more a social taste than we
would like to think it is not just
determined by the sensations we have in
our mouth but rather it follows the
directions it is given according to what
is right to like but wait a second does
it mean our taste buds have no say what
about biology doesn’t it play a part I
mean there has to be some food that we
do like because it is objectively tasty
don’t you think so there is in fact a
biological component to our taste but it
is very primitive and very basic it’s
not cool it’s not well educated it’s
about survival this takes me to my next
insight what do we like to eat from an
evolutionary point of view let me tell
you a story a few years ago I was
invited to a grand culinary event the
world’s most acclaimed chef Alain
Ducasse invited some of his closest
friends to celebrate his rest
anniversary or as he put it in the
invitation 200 shifts 300 Michelin stars
for the first time in the history the
entire international culinary elite was
there in one room I’m talking about
names like Abu Shawn Redzepi hello me
Massimo Bottura
even the Prince of Monaco himself was
there wow really
in the morning of this big gala dinner
there was a press conference and the
cast was asked how he changed in the
past 25 years and he replied without
hesitation he said I cooked today with
no seasoning or fat I want to feel the
real taste of things beautiful then the
evening came and it was directed in the
most classical French manner a quiet
almost ghostly service pouring stock
shaving truffles refilling the champagne
a profound display of professionalism
and we were all sitting there surrounded
by people we hardly know eating in
sold
oh my dear God how I wish had one of
those little bags from the airplane with
sold to fizzle this beautiful potato
risotto the castle’s blend food was a
clear declaration and yes he did it on
purpose he’s he’s such a genius he
showed us how we almost lost the ability
to appreciate the real taste of things
so what do we like to eat from an
evolutionary perspective obviously we
like salt our body cannot function
without a certain amount of salt from so
from infancy we learn to identify salty
taste and to like them what else do we
like we definitely like sweets sugar is
an immediate source of energy
sugar is our fuel you know when women
used to go out foraging looking for all
kinds of plants and weeds to bring back
to their tribe if they happen to fall on
a raspberry bush or an apricot tree this
one they would gobble up quickly and not
say a word to their neighbors people
used to laugh at me because for years I
thought I was addicted to sugar but the
truth is were all addicted to sugar we
were born that way let’s embrace it it’s
not our fault the last thing we like is
a little bit different it’s crispy food
an American study found that when you
add the word crispy to the packaging you
increase sales by 30% there’s no other
adjective that has a similar effect on
us but why do we like crispy food when
Mother Nature doesn’t have too many
crispy foods to offer some insects a
tree bark apple uncooked turnip but
overall not a lot of variety so let me
share with you a chef’s secrets on how
we draw the line between crispy and on
crispy food its temperature
there are hundreds
there are hundreds of proteins the
developed Christmas when exposed to high
temperatures and when Homo sapiens learn
how to control fire a whole new variety
of foods became available but also
crispy including that mammoth carcass
over there that used to give us awful
diarrhea and had now turned into a
viable option so there we go
we love crispy salty and sweet
all of us that includes you
it includes you it definitely includes
me
all over the world even in Theo pians
even Japanese even Filipinos even Trump
even Hillary and the truth is there is
no problem with this biological
inclination except for the fact that the
food corporations also know it they
discovered that in order to sell us food
it just has to be salty sweet or crispy
it doesn’t need to contain anything else
as a matter of fact it can be a blank
paper as long as it was deep fried
covered with a little bit salt and sugar
and will devour it because biology has
determined that for us walking into a
supermarket these days is like walking
onto a pornographic set it sets of our
primal needs and desires and exploits
them we’re surrounded by product that
stimulate us in the most twisted and
unnatural manner we live in a world of
food porn underneath our shopping carts
underneath everything we regard is
personal there’s an intricate web of
powerful forces that don’t have the
slightest concern of our health our
nutrition our well-being so let me ask
you this again between the weight of
biology and the weight of social
influence reeling how personal is your
I know it is difficult to start
regarding your personal taste as a mere
subject of social manipulation and greed
sometimes it is fashion that dictate it
in other times it’s the evolution to eat
and to like the wrong things and as it
seems most of the time we just have
hardly any control over it so what
should we do about it
let me promise you one thing you don’t
have to start eating only buckwheat and
you don’t need to check a country’s GDP
before you reserve a table for dinner
you just have to take it into
consideration the next time you load
your shopping cart the next time you
order takeout and the next time you
judge a dish or cuisine and say that
it’s simply not tasting as if it was a
fact stop for a moment and think who is
picking right now an international
popularity list and Instagram account
that you follow a sugar craving beast or
is it really
finally you thank you [Applause]
I mean press you can put your hands down
oh thank you
I’m sure some of you in the audience
have been to some really great sushi
restaurants you know they can have some
pretty strange stuff there for example
one of the Japanese delicacies that
recently became very popular in New York
is called abalone abalone is kind of a
water slug and generally speaking it
looks like something you would put in
your mouth only if you lost some weird
bit now and I know it’s gonna be
difficult I want you to forget the slimy
slug and think about your absolute
favorite food
what is the one dish you can have
forever and never get tired of think
about it we usually think of a
home-cooked meal made by our mom or dad
and since we all have different moms and
dads we have the naive notion that our
personal taste is personal maybe even
unique or special but is it really
that’s exactly what I would like to
speak about today I come from a family
who cooks for a living literally
speaking food is my mother’s tongue and
I’ve been exploring the notion of
personal taste for over a decade reading
and researching and talking to people
and looking into their plates I love
looking into other people’s plates
because food talks he tells stories and
I would like to share some of these
stories with you tonight on the path to
reevaluate some of our presumptions
about personal taste whatever you do
with it at the end is absolutely up to
you or as my mom says it’s your life you
can ruin it any way you want
my first story takes us to the
Philippines
I was traveling and lecturing in the
Philippines with a well-known Israeli
foodie and he proclaimed that Filipino
food was just terrible he said it was
too sweet and too loud and the truth is
I didn’t find it all that great either
but if we consider our starting point
that a home-cooked meal is the best then
I guess 400 million Filipinos Philippine
cuisine is just fine and we’re the one
that has no clue my second story takes
us to Ethiopia I was working on an index
our Tikal about Ethiopian cuisine
American star chef Marcus Samuelsson
that’s him with a friend had just opened
Mercato 55 serving hot Ethiopian cuisine
to the New York diners I was so excited
about this opportunity to speak with
Marcus Samuelsson himself however when I
mentioned it to my friends and my
editors I got one of the following
responses what are they going to serve
their empty plates
haha and Ethiopian food is just not
tasty I had to check these claims for
myself so I went online and used the New
York Times restaurant browser to look
for other European restaurants the New
York Times has a very precise system of
categorization in its restaurant browser
they have Irish restaurants and tapas
restaurants and Greek restaurants and
Ukrainian and Vietnamese restaurants
they even have kosher restaurants but
guess what
Ethiopian food could only be found under
the gigantic category African cuisine
meaning 1.2 billion people living on a
continent that makes up 20% of the dry
land of the world are all lumped
together under one category African
cuisine it took me two weeks to finish
my research but by the time I was done
Mercato 55 this pioneer ester
serving up skelita opium food had
already shot down the New Yorkers just
didn’t come the way we treat each
European and Filipino food made me
wonder if we regard food as a reflection
of everything else then there has to be
a reason why eto pian food is not given
its proper place let’s try and think why
Ethiopia located at the bottom list of
GDP worldwide is part of a continent
that is primarily linked with poverty
war AIDS
who wants to be part of that in many
senses the world is like a huge
classroom every country has a different
status in the global arena and the
country’s popularity will determine its
success in the international culinary
list and we’ll decide whether ordinary
diners like ourselves will readily part
from our $10 or $100 for one of its
dishes what will determine the status
most of the time its international
relationships or in other words money
not quite convinced yet so let’s take
India for example look at the way Indian
food has thrived in the past few years
for a long time Indian food was almost
restricted to casual everyday not to
expensive restaurants but what happened
after India’s economy picked up making
it more popular in the global classroom
fancy Indian restaurants pop up
everywhere and the demand for Indian
food increased this takes me to my first
insight our palate can develop and
change but it is dictated by forces much
stronger than our taste buds experiences
that’s why I asked you if you like sushi
because when I was growing up there were
no sushi restaurants in Israel so she
was the kind of food really that you
said yakin biting in
to roughish that was just skin it was as
crazy as biting that slimy abalone slug
that I showed you before but we learned
our palate our personal taste is much
more a social taste than we would like
to think it is I know there are few of
you in the audience who are thinking
well I’ve always loved sushi I never
found it repulsive and that’s okay so
how about cigarettes how did the first
cigarette you smoke taste like it was
disgusting you choked on it it wasn’t
healthy but you still it another one how
about alcohol spicy food coffee so why
not Ethiopian food a personal taste as I
said is much more a social taste than we
would like to think it is not just
determined by the sensations we have in
our mouth but rather it follows the
directions it is given according to what
is right to like but wait a second does
it mean our taste buds have no say what
about biology doesn’t it play a part I
mean there has to be some food that we
do like because it is objectively tasty
don’t you think so there is in fact a
biological component to our taste but it
is very primitive and very basic it’s
not cool it’s not well educated it’s
about survival this takes me to my next
insight what do we like to eat from an
evolutionary point of view let me tell
you a story a few years ago I was
invited to a grand culinary event the
world’s most acclaimed chef Alain
Ducasse invited some of his closest
friends to celebrate his rest
anniversary or as he put it in the
invitation 200 shifts 300 Michelin stars
for the first time in the history the
entire international culinary elite was
there in one room I’m talking about
names like Abu Shawn Redzepi hello me
Massimo Bottura
even the Prince of Monaco himself was
there wow really
in the morning of this big gala dinner
there was a press conference and the
cast was asked how he changed in the
past 25 years and he replied without
hesitation he said I cooked today with
no seasoning or fat I want to feel the
real taste of things beautiful then the
evening came and it was directed in the
most classical French manner a quiet
almost ghostly service pouring stock
shaving truffles refilling the champagne
a profound display of professionalism
and we were all sitting there surrounded
by people we hardly know eating in
sold
oh my dear God how I wish had one of
those little bags from the airplane with
sold to fizzle this beautiful potato
risotto the castle’s blend food was a
clear declaration and yes he did it on
purpose he’s he’s such a genius he
showed us how we almost lost the ability
to appreciate the real taste of things
so what do we like to eat from an
evolutionary perspective obviously we
like salt our body cannot function
without a certain amount of salt from so
from infancy we learn to identify salty
taste and to like them what else do we
like we definitely like sweets sugar is
an immediate source of energy
sugar is our fuel you know when women
used to go out foraging looking for all
kinds of plants and weeds to bring back
to their tribe if they happen to fall on
a raspberry bush or an apricot tree this
one they would gobble up quickly and not
say a word to their neighbors people
used to laugh at me because for years I
thought I was addicted to sugar but the
truth is were all addicted to sugar we
were born that way let’s embrace it it’s
not our fault the last thing we like is
a little bit different it’s crispy food
an American study found that when you
add the word crispy to the packaging you
increase sales by 30% there’s no other
adjective that has a similar effect on
us but why do we like crispy food when
Mother Nature doesn’t have too many
crispy foods to offer some insects a
tree bark apple uncooked turnip but
overall not a lot of variety so let me
share with you a chef’s secrets on how
we draw the line between crispy and on
crispy food its temperature
there are hundreds
there are hundreds of proteins the
developed Christmas when exposed to high
temperatures and when Homo sapiens learn
how to control fire a whole new variety
of foods became available but also
crispy including that mammoth carcass
over there that used to give us awful
diarrhea and had now turned into a
viable option so there we go
we love crispy salty and sweet
all of us that includes you
it includes you it definitely includes
me
all over the world even in Theo pians
even Japanese even Filipinos even Trump
even Hillary and the truth is there is
no problem with this biological
inclination except for the fact that the
food corporations also know it they
discovered that in order to sell us food
it just has to be salty sweet or crispy
it doesn’t need to contain anything else
as a matter of fact it can be a blank
paper as long as it was deep fried
covered with a little bit salt and sugar
and will devour it because biology has
determined that for us walking into a
supermarket these days is like walking
onto a pornographic set it sets of our
primal needs and desires and exploits
them we’re surrounded by product that
stimulate us in the most twisted and
unnatural manner we live in a world of
food porn underneath our shopping carts
underneath everything we regard is
personal there’s an intricate web of
powerful forces that don’t have the
slightest concern of our health our
nutrition our well-being so let me ask
you this again between the weight of
biology and the weight of social
influence reeling how personal is your
I know it is difficult to start
regarding your personal taste as a mere
subject of social manipulation and greed
sometimes it is fashion that dictate it
in other times it’s the evolution to eat
and to like the wrong things and as it
seems most of the time we just have
hardly any control over it so what
should we do about it
let me promise you one thing you don’t
have to start eating only buckwheat and
you don’t need to check a country’s GDP
before you reserve a table for dinner
you just have to take it into
consideration the next time you load
your shopping cart the next time you
order takeout and the next time you
judge a dish or cuisine and say that
it’s simply not tasting as if it was a
fact stop for a moment and think who is
picking right now an international
popularity list and Instagram account
that you follow a sugar craving beast or
is it really
finally you thank you [Applause]
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