Log into your account

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Our Food
  • How It Works
  • Food Waste
Get started for free
  • Tips & Guides
  • Recipes
  • Featured Food
  • Food Waste Movement
  • About Imperfect
Not a member yet?
Get started for free
Log into your account
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Our Food
  • How It Works
  • Food Waste
  • Blog
  • Tips & Guides
  • Recipes
  • Featured Food
  • About Imperfect
  • Food Waste Movement
  • Sign Up
  • FAQs
  • Impact
  • Refer a Friend
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Food Waste Movement

The Science of Food With Nik Sharma

Our emotions affect the way we experience taste and aroma.”

Nik Sharma

Have you ever wondered how the science of cooking works?

After falling in love with cooking as a grad student, Nik Sharma discovered a lifelong passion for using science to better understand food and using food to better understand science. Today he uses his dual expertise in science and cooking to teach home cooks how to up their game through his writing on Serious Eats and his blog, A Brown Table. He’s also the author of a truly stunning and informative cookbook called Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food. In this charming and informative conversation we cover:

  1. How Nik went from a life in academia to writing a food blog and publishing cook books
  2. How you can apply scientific principles to become a better cook
  3. What spices, ingredients, and cookbooks Nik recommends having in your kitchen
  4. How to properly clean and sanitize your kitchen
  5. How Nik wants his work to be reflective of, but not defined by his experience as a gay Indian immigrant

Whether you’re looking for ways to become a better home cook or want to dive headlong into the weeds of food science, this episode has something to teach you.

Episode Show Notes:

  1. Learn more about Nik and the science of food by visiting his website, blog, Instagram, or buying his books.
  2. Nik is an expert on spices. His favorite spices to have around the kitchen are: Garam masala, Za’atar, Baharat, Shichimi Togarashi, Urfa biber, Aleppo Pepper, Marash Pepper, and Smoked Salt.
  3. Nik recommends steeping dried chili flakes in vinegar to infuse their flavor into the vinegar. This could form the flavorful base of a hot sauce!
  4. Here’s a Harissa recipe Reilly highly recommends.
  5. Check out Niks blog post all about the chemistry of vegetable stock.
  6. Niks advice on sanitizing your kitchen during COVID-19 is a must read.
  7. Here are Nik’s top cookbook recommendations. How to Eat by Nigella Lawson, Jenis Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer, Gluten-Free Flavor Flours by Alice Medrich, and The Food Lab by J Kenji Lopez-Alt.
  8. Nik has been loving watching the Miss Marple TV series and the Father Brown detective series to unwind from work.
  9. Nik admires the Irish food writer Diana Henry.

If you enjoyed this episode, and want to learn more about how you can improve your home cooking, then be sure to check out our interviews with Joshua Weissman and Sarah Nelson!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

guest

0 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Tagged Unwasted podcast

You might find these a-peel-ing

Producer spotlights
From Seed to Table: The Story ...
The first time we talked with Michael Bosworth about bringing his barely broken ...
Read more
Combatting climate change
How We Calculate Our Environme...
See what goes into calculating our environmental impact stats and learn what you...
Read more
DEI
4 Ways to Celebrate AAPI Herit...
It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and we’re excited to cel...
Read more
Company history
We’re Going the Ripe Dir...
We started Imperfect Foods to save ugly produce from going to waste. It felt wro...
Read more
Producer spotlights
Creatively preventing waste wi...
Learn how buying ugly produce helps make family farming more sustainable.
Read more
Back to Food Waste Movement

Want olive the latest?

Sign up for emails to stay up to date.

ImperfectFoods Logo
B Certificate Logo
  • Sign Up
  • FAQs
  • Impact
  • Refer a Friend
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Download on the App Store Badge Download on the Google App Badge
Imperfect Foods © 2025. All Rights Reserved
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell My Personal Information