The preservation of fermented food is explained by the concept of water activity, where high levels of acid, salt, or sugar limit the free water available for microbes to grow.

“when you're talking about especially like uh preserved meats and things you're getting into a concept called water activity. uh so like the more the more acid the more salt uh or the more sugar you have the lower the available water is.”

Learning the science behind how food works can help individuals become better cooks.

“But what I figured out is that if I could understand the science of what was going on in the food, I could be a better cook. And so that was the tact that I that I took with my show, which is that if we all just understand what it is the food freaking wants, we can make it better.”

White rice has very little nutritional value because the bran and germ are removed.

“the brand and the germ are the thing that have all the nutrients. So if you're eating white rice, it's basically stripped of any nutritional value whatsoever.”