Ingredients as systems
What changes when proteins, carbohydrates, fats, water, time, and temperature meet.
Section / 01
Food Science Field Notes
Why does food behave the way it does?
Notes on ingredients, processes, and the useful clues hiding in ordinary foods.
Current record · in progress
What problem is this ingredient solving?
Chicken nuggets look simple. Their ingredient lists tell a more interesting story about structure, moisture, adhesion, and heat.
01Chicken core
02Predust
03Batter
04Breading
Food Science Field Notes / 001
Understanding food technology is not the same as advocating for the food. The aim is to make the system legible.
From the channel
Video field notes.
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Food systems
How Chicken Nuggets Are Made (and What’s Actually in Them)
How a chicken core becomes a consistent, breaded product—and what each part of the ingredient list contributes.
Food systems
Why Do Store-Bought Flour Tortillas Have So Many Ingredients?
A food scientist reads three tortilla labels to explain softness, flexibility, shelf life, browning, and large-scale production.
Food systems
What’s Really in Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos?
An ingredient-by-ingredient look at the structure, cheese powder, savory flavor system, acids, and colors behind the snack.
Field observation
Mabel Meets a Box Turtle
A brief field encounter between a very curious dog and an Eastern box turtle.
Food systems
I Found 6-7 Chicken Nuggets at Aldi
A frozen-food-aisle observation about meme-shaped nuggets, product timing, and a remarkably coordinated retail price.
Field observation
A Summer Morning at the Dog Park
An overcast August morning with Mabel chasing both balls and Wanda settling into the cool grass.
Field observation
Testing a GoPro Hero 3+ in 2026
A small camera test becomes a day-in-the-life record of Wanda and Mabel.
Field observation
Bay Area Smoky Sunset, August 2020
A dark orange sun and hazardous air during the 2020 California fire season.
Working lenses
Three ways into the work.
From bench to line
The decisions, constraints, and useful surprises between a promising prototype and repeatable production.
Sensory as evidence
Using taste, texture, aroma, and observation to make better questions—and better products.
01Ask02Make03Measure04Taste05Adjust