Peanut butter indulgence - eating beyond the breaking point

In honor of the Breaking Bad finale (boo), MOH and I made a special dinner of mushroom risotto and decided to indulge in one of our favorite things to snack on: peanut butter. MOH made peanut butter cookies with little cacao nibs inside - so delicious. We were worried about the cookies being too rich or dry, but these cookies were moist, had the right amount of peanut butter, and best part: were tasty! Most peanut butter cookies can be made without any flour and consist primarily of three ingredients: peanut butter, sugar, and an egg. MOH's rendition of these cookies have a slight modification of sugar, cacao nibs (for a crunchy texture), and baking soda.

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup truvia 

1 egg

1/4 cup cacao nibs

1 tsp baking soda

Protocol:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper

2. In a mixing bowl, mix all ingredients until smooth. Chill dough in refrigerator for 30min

3. Using hands, roll dough into 1" balls and space ~1" apart on the parchment paper. Flatten with a fork

4. Bake for 8min in the oven. Cool on the baking sheet (not a cooling rack).

5. Eat them all! 

These cookies are addicting. The recipe makes 36, but now, there's only 9 sad cookies left on the rack. I'm full, yet I'll eat a cookie nonetheless. I'll sport my cookie belly, run for a few more minutes, just to console myself that eating that extra cookie is worth it.

Rat that's had one too many crackers! (Photo courtesy of J. Servaes)

This week in Science, researchers published some really cool stuff on what motivates feeding behavior, whether an animal is starved or satiated. In a nutshell, researchers manipulated a pathway in the brain that is responsible for mediating feeding and observed how activation or inactivation of the pathway affected whether a rat would go for food. What they found was activation of the pathway led the rat to eat more, even when the rat was full . Conversely, inactivating the pathway led rats to eat less, even if rats were starved. For more science, scroll down to *.

Pretty crazy stuff, considering activation of a particular pathway in the brain can induce eating beyond satiation in an animal. According to this article, this is the first identified pathway that can modulate feeding behavior.

One thing that comes to mind is how many of us will reach for those extra cookies or chips even though we're way full off dinner. I think an interesting direction to go would be if this pathway mediates all types of feeding behavior or if there's a differential pathway for fatty foods, salty foods, sweet foods.

*
In this article, researchers investigated the pathway that has been implicated towards dictating feeding behavior. This pathway of the brain is called the the bed nuclei of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the lateral hypothalamus (LH). The cells in the BNST that connect to the lateral hypothalamus are primarily gabaergic inhibitory cells.

In this study, researchers used optogenetics (a method to modulate brain activation or deactivation by stimulating light on the brain region) to activate or block the pathway from the BNST to the LH. Specifically, they targeted the cells that projected from the BNST to the LH and looked to see whether rats would preferentially go to the corner of a room that either had food or was empty. Upon stimulation of this pathway, rats would preferentially go to the food corner.

In a separate test, they wanted to see if behavioral output would be changed if the rats were either full or starved. Even when rats were full, stimulation of this pathway caused the rats to continue consuming the food. In contrast, rats that were starved would not consume food if they inactivated the BNST-LH connections.



Reference:
Jennings JH et al., 2013. The inhibitory circuit architecture of the lateral hypothalamus orchestrates feeding. Science. 341(6153): 1517-21.

Bitter grilled cheese sadness, woes of the supertaster

So my Saturday evening wrapped up with MOH spitting out something I made.

MOH has this super affinity for anything cheesy. As a kid, he took full advantage of his karate days and would blow off his caloric burn by frying up cheese in a pan. It sounds really gross, but I've actually tried it and it's a pretty good cheesy crisp. He's not one to say no to a good Mozzarella stick and every night likes to have either a cheese quesadilla or grilled cheese sandwich. Neither of these is truly legit though - I like to make quesadillas by melting the cheese in a microwave, and make the "grilled" cheese by placing the sandwich in an oven until the cheese melts.

So come Saturday, and MOH just finished dinner but was still hungry. He asked for a grilled cheese and I decided to get all "fancy" and use some of my caramelized onions to place inside of his sandwich. We have some Port Salut cheese and it's a great melting cheese. It's really soft and has this great salt taste to it. It's not as salty as Manchego, and reminds me of Mozzarella in texture, but has a much milder flavor than Mozzarella.

Port Salut is probably MOH's favorite cheese. I prefer my cheeses to be more salted and hard (like a good Cheddar or Parmesan), but for MOH, Port Salut is it.

So I did this informal grilled cheese using wheat multigrain with a thin layer of cheese, caramelized onions, and thinly sliced raw yellow onions. I threw the sandwich in the oven on top of a makeshift foil boat and waited until the cheese had melted. 

MOH took one bite, and immediately was all "Whew, that is BITTER!" Anyways, he continued to eat the sandwich after removing the bits of raw onion. 

Some people are just extremely sensitive to bitter tastes, or other tastes for that matter. You sometimes hear or read about people who have heightened senses (either they were born with it, or had some sort of overcompensation from losing another sense), but is there any scientific basis for this? 

I actually came across the idea of a "supertaster," the ultimate connoisseur. It's a real thing scientifically, too (Reed DR, 2008). Supertasters were first identified as having the ability to detect a bitter chemical, 6-n-propylthiouracil (otherwise known as PROP) at a particular concentration. Subjects either were unable to detect this bitter taste, while others found it extremely bitter and offputting - researchers designated the subjects who could detect the bitter compound as "supertasters." Besides heightened bitter taste perception, supertasters are also able to detect subthreshold levels of other taste compounds. 

Besides a heightened response for detecting such chemical compounds like the bitter taste, supertasters are also able to discriminate minutia changes in ingredient levels (Hayes JE and Keast R, 2011).  

While the actual genetics behind what makes supertasters detect subthreshold levels of food chemicals is still under question, there are some possible mechanisms that may account for this super ability:

- Mutations in channels responsible for sensing flavors - interesting idea, especially considering an older article that spotlighted "supersmeller" mice that had mutations in a potassium channel that caused them to have a heightened sense of smell (Fadool DA et al., 2004).

- A heightened gain or amplification of the neural signal that sends chemical information to the brain 

Whatever the actual reason, it's still a pretty cool idea. Another interesting idea is how learning/memory can play a role in becoming a supertaster. I'm sure being a supertaster goes far beyond genetics (I mean, science has shown that genetics are really only a starting point for how our bodies develop). Not everyone is designated the coveted title of "supertaster," but I'm sure that after repeated bouts in the kitchen, almost every home cook should have some sort of super threshold ability to detect when their special dumpling soup needs an extra dash of spice.

***Redemption came through Sunday - I made another grilled cheese, this time upping the ante by sauteing mushrooms and yellow onions together, and slabbing some good ol' cheese on top - success!

References: 

Fadool DA et al., 2004. Kv1.3 channel gene-targeted deletion produces "Super-smeller mice" with altered glomeruli, interacting scaffolding proteins, and biophysics. Neuron. 41(3): 389-404.

Hayes KE and Keast J,  2011. Two decades of supertasting: where do we stand? Physiology and Behavior. 104(5): 1072-74.

Reed DR, 2008. Birth of a new breed of supertasters. Chemical Senses. 33(6): 489-91. 

Soup of the week - hu tieu (seafood noodle soup)

***Note: this blog post REEKS of laziness. It was a slow weekend, weather was too good to be productive, and hustling in the kitchen for a long period of time didn't seem so hot. Regardless of the effort required, the intent shined through!

The weather is finally cooling down, and it's a great time to make delicious soups to enjoy over a lazy weekend.

I went to visit family a couple weeks back and had my mom's yummy bun rieu and have been craving more soups lately.

MOH and I finally made the trek to our local asian grocery store, 99 ranch, and stocked up on a bunch of asian ingredients. We got more rice, fish sauce, sesame oil, beansprouts, and dried seafood. I was craving some hu tieu (seafood noodle soup) for a really long time (since seeing my family), but hadn't the chance to get the ingredients.

Hu tieu is my favorite noodle dish and probably within the top three of my favorite Vietnamese comfort foods. It is deep in flavor, and pretty healthy as well. The broth is very soup-y tasting in comparison to other noodle dishes in Vietnamese cuisine. Pho (beef noodle soup) for example, has a more sweet, anise flavor that you flavor with hoisin and sriracha, that isn't always the best to eat when you're feeling under the weather. Also, bun mam (Vietnamese seafood gumbo), though extremely flavorful, is naturally very salty, not to mention stinky (it's got high amount of garlic and fish). Hu tieu has the distinct advantage of just being a great soup base (dashi tasting) that you eat with noodles. Its soup is very versatile too, and can be made from the broth that you get after boiling a cut of pork meat, or conversely, leftover hu tieu broth can be used as a soup base for wintermelon or green leaf soup. 

I was pretty scared of trying to make this dish, but my mom consoled me and gave me the rough cut of how to make it. Most comfort foods don't rely on clear cut ingredients - my mom's cooking is no different. Never lacking in flavor, my mom cooks by pure intuition, often tasting in between trials, having spices on hand within immediate reach. The only downer to this is trying to figure out what goes into her delicious foods - I try following her around the kitchen and just see ingredients being thrown into large pots, stuff simmering in slurries of spice mixtures - with all the mental notes I'm taking, who knows if I caught the secret dash of five spice that goes into that sumptious beef curry?!?! Nonetheless, you keep watching, slowly taking in the environment happenings, stare into open pots and skillets trying to figure out what's inside and hopefully something sticks - HOPEFULLY. If not, you do a bunch of trials at home, trying to figure out what went into  that lemongrass mixture, and figure that the heat from the mixture wasn't from ginger, but turmeric and garlic... oh well, you live and learn right? 

Hu tieu is pretty simple to make in comparison with its more complex/time consuming sisters (pho and bun bo hue). While I haven't made my own batch of bun bo hue (vietnamese spicy beef noodle soup), pho traditionally is supposed to have a broth that's been slow simmered in beef chuck bones (my mom does overnight, though I've cheated and done a quick boil in 2 hours - gets the job done, but not nearly as flavorful or deep tasting as my mother's). Hu tieu can be done within 1 hour, which works great for anyone who doesn't want to sit around waiting for a broth to develop.

Ingredients:

- Garnishes: 

• Three green onion sprigs, chopped
• Small red onion, sliced longways, thin
• Bunch of cilantro, chopped
• Lime, sliced

- Soup base:

• Chicken, pork or vegetable broth (can be made from scratch or used from a can)
• Half a packet of dried shrimp
• 5 little dried cuttlefish (or can use 2 dried squids)

- Toppings/noodles:

• Shrimp with skin on, deveined (3 per person)
• Shrimp balls (or seafood balls)
• Sliced pork strips (optional - it's traditionally served with pork meat, but I prefer to not eat pork)
• Sliced squid (also optional, but for today's recipe, I only have shrimp materials)
• Bean sprouts
• Chives
• Green leaf lettuce
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced longways thinly
• Pho noodles (can also use the translucent hu tieu designated noodles - call me crazy, but I prefer the stringiness and texture of pho noodles)

Protocol:
First you want to make the broth. I was really lazy today, so I used two cans of chicken broth and filled my soup pot (a 50 quart size) halfway with water after adding in the chicken broth. You can make your broth from scratch or potentially use vegetable broth - just make sure it's seasoned enough. Then add in your dried shrimp and cuttlefish. (Note: if you go to the asian store, they sell dried squid, but it's 10 bucks for 4 dried squids - I was feeling adventurous and decided to go for the smaller cousin, the dried cuttlefish, which is half the price, and comes with way more. Cuttlefish looks exactly like squid, only smaller). Let the pot simmer for maybe 30 minutes at least and season the broth to make sure it's got this umami taste. The seafood flavor should come out after adding in the shrimp and cuttlefish.

While I waited for my broth, I made my caramelized onions - just simply  toss the onions into a hot skillet with some oil until the onions are browned/blackened. They should taste really sweet - this will go great as the topping. 

When your broth has been simmering a bit, add in the shrimp balls and shrimp - the shrimp will cook quickly - as soon as it floats, take out the shrimp and set aside. You also need to make the garnish that goes on top - simply combine green onions, red onion, and cilantro. This fresh mixture will add layers of flavor to your soup and can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until use.

When you're ready to eat, boil water in a small sauce pot to use for blanching your noodles. Once the water is boiling, take a bundle of the dried noodles and throw into the pot - the noodles will cook quickly, so remove the noodles with chopsticks or any utensil and throw in your bowl. Then add in your shrimp, meat toppings, and pour in your broth on top. Finish the soup with a generous layer of garnish and a sprinkle of your caramelized onions - simple. You can add in lime juice, and top with vegetables if you prefer, or eat it by itself - the broth should be flavored sufficiently to stand alone if necessary.

I always like to throw a huge topping of vegetables in my soup and throw in sliced thai chilis for heat.

Until next time, happy eating!

Salty and sour? Who'd a thunk - the versatility of lemongrass

Happy Friday!

I'm trying to incorporate postings on spotlight ingredients that are a must-have in my kitchen that not only taste great, but also are pretty darn healthy. Most of these items are asian-inspired ingredients that I've grown up eating; however, you'll find other postings on ingredients that are commonly used for vegetarian oriented meals (like my quinoa posting). 

This week, Food52 featured a column on lemongrass that really got me thinking about how great lemongrass goes with everything. Lemongrass regularly revolves around my weekly dinner menu (either infusing a hot and sour soup broth, sauteed with tofu or fish and served with rice, or sauteed with tofu and caramelized onions served over rice noodles and greens). Salty, sour, or savory, lemongrass can go with just about anything.

Me personally, I love a good stirfry/sautee tofu with thinly sliced lemongrass and garlic. It's got this great heat to it and has such a flavorful aroma, it's hard to beat. Alternatively, lemongrass goes great with fish and meats. Tonight's dinner menu featured a simple salad, rice and lemongrass marinated striped bass. So delicious.

My family loves to go fishing. My parents are avid fishermen and often spend their free time off work sitting out on the water, casting the line and waiting for a bite - sometimes, when night fishing is an option, my parents will stay out and just sleep under the stars. When I was younger, I would go out with my sisters out on the boat around 6AM and we'd freeze our butts off on the boat waiting for the sun to come out. Then, eventually when the sun would rise, my sisters and I would complain about the blistering sun in the afternoon and just we'd just snack on chips and ramen while my parents patiently waited for fish to come. Of the different types of catches, striped white bass was probably one of those fish that was just a pain to catch - they'd make you wait forever and tug on the line ever so slowly. If you decided to drift off, your line would be shot. While hard to catch, bass ranks in my book as one of the best white fish varieties to eat. Bass isn't as rich tasting as salmon, but has great flakiness when you boil or poach it, and get hearty texture if you bake or fry it.

One of the best ways to prepare bass  in my opinion, is to serve it salted. Simply soak the fish in salted water for an hour (just to get the salt to penetrate). It's a really simple preparation, but you can lightly fry the fish and serve it over rice or as an accompaniment with soup (wintermelon soup tastes great with salted fish on the side). 

You can elevate salted fish even more by doing a spice rub mixture of lemongrass. Simply take lemongrass and slice or process it into tiny pieces (you can either do this laboriously with a knife, or use a food processor, your choice - I like to use a knife only because I hate cleaning the processor!). Then finely chop garlic and mix in garlic to lemongrass in a 1:1 ratio. To create a little more zest and heat, add in a few tablespoons of turmeric (if you have a cup of rub total, I'd add in 3 tbsps of turmeric. Random, the turmeric spice is also known to act as an antimicrobial, so this rub is helping to flavor your fish AND sanitize it further! If you're into spice, I'd mince thai chilis (2-3 or however hot you want it) into the mixture, or even throw in chili flakes. Mix this rub together to create a semi-homogeneous mixture of spice and slather the rub on top of the fish. 

Mix the rub thoroughly on the fish, making sure to cut into the nooks and crannies of the fish. You can choose to dehydrate the fish (like a jerky) or let the marinate stay for a bit before baking the fish or lightly frying it. 

If you choose to bake the fish, assuming you're dealing with a fillet size, simply bake in the oven at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes. Then, let the fish cool and serve over rice or a bed of greens.

Have other lemongrass recipes that are favorites in your house? Let me know!

Happy eating everyone!

Acorn squash autumn welcome

I've been craving squash lately and staying true to form, have been eating LOTS of it. MOH's lucky though, because my craving right now only costs 88 cents a pound since squashes are in season during autumn/fall (my last craving was roasted okra which was at a slightly steeper cost of 3 dollars a pound!).

Since transitioning towards a more gluten-free diet, I've found solace on many great food blogs spotlighting gluten-free recipes. Recently, MOH surprised me with some gluten-free brownies featured in Gluten-free goddess that were both delicious and healthy! These brownies are jam packed with flavor and feature shredded zucchini, a member of the squash family, as a secret ingredient.

Squash is so versatile and can be done savory, sweet, salty and, as I recently found out, sour. There are some recipes out there on my bucket-list such as pickled squash!

For me, I really like to have my squash two ways: savory and sweet.

A great savory dish I like to do is a simple squash soup garnished with green onions. Simply use chicken stock and cut up squash of your choice (kabocha is my favorite for this) into cubes and boil until squash is tender. Then, garnish on top with green onions. Super simple, goes great with rice or even alone. If you use kabocha squash to make the soup, the soup is very sweet and savory. It tastes great on a cold chilly day.

This week, I was more in the mood for something sweet. One of my favorite things to eat on Thanksgiving is sweet candied yams. Lots of recipes call for yams traditionally topped with a generous helping of marshmallows on top of the yams. Personally, yams and squash are so good by themselves, that minimal toppings really let the squash shine! Don't get me wrong - candied marshmallow yams/squash tastes amazing, but I decided to try a more guilt-free squash option just to give my baby tummy a break.

What I tried this time was a variation of candied yams, using acorn squash, coconut oil, almonds, and coconut flakes. The result turned out better than planned, and offers a good source of protein post-workout!  And did I mention, for how filling it can be, it's gluten free?!?! This dish is jam packed with nutrition and is good for your brain, too.

While we're familiar with the jam-packed nutrition inside squash (high in vitamins and dietary fiber, low in fat), and how rich in protein almonds are,  the coconut oil here is the true star. The oil looks harmless at first glance, but studies have pointed to this oil as being part of the "good fats, oils." Coconut oil, as well as its sibling olive oil,  are part of a family called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs, basically fancy name for a fatty molecule) that can improve cognition AND help aid in weight loss (see references below). It's awesome though because I always thought of olive oil as being the main posterchild for yummy, healthy fat - now, I've discovered coconut oil, which is fragrant and slightly sweet in taste, provides similar nutritional benefit as olive oil, AND can be used in desserts! Imagine a liquified coconut... yeah, it smells and tastes just that good. (Coconut oil was also recently featured in an article in Shape magazine)

The preparation itself is pretty simple. All in all, the prep is less than 15 minutes.

Protocol:

Coconut candied acorn squash:
- 1 acorn squash
- 1/3 cup of almonds, chopped
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes
- 3 tbsp brown sugar (add more sugar if you want it more sweet, but coconut flakes and oil should suffice your sweet tooth!)
- 3 tbsp coconut oil

1.Preheat oven to 400 degree F
2. Boil squash in a pot until tender (10 minutes, but you can check the tenderness with a fork)
3. Chop almonds
4. Drain squash and cut up into slices or chopped into cubes - place in a plastic mixing bowl
5. Add coconut flakes, brown sugar, and coconut oil and coat evenly - don't worry about the overpowering smell of coconut oil - it will taste great after you've finished baking
6. Place in glass baking pan (the type you roast potatoes with) and bake for 20-25 minutes, basically until you notice the coconut slightly browning
7. Let cool, and serve!


References:

Page KA et al., 2009. Medium-chain fatty acids improve cognitive function in intensively treated type 1 diabetic patients and support in vitro synaptic transmission during acute hypoglycemia. Diabetes. 58(5): 1237-44.

Pan et al., 2010. Dietary supplementation with medium-chain TAG has long-lasting cognition-enhancing effects in aged dogs. British Journal of Nutrition. 103(12): 1746-54.

St-Onge MP et al., 2003. Medium-chain triglycerides increase energy expenditure and decrease adiposity in overweight men. Obesity Research. 11(3):395-402.

Bun rieu, a feast for the eyes (food marathon weekend)

Hey everyone,

I meant to write while on vacation, but I was swamped with family time and before I knew it, the week was over and no blog post had been written! This vacation back North was really relaxing. I missed MOH immensely, but had lots of time to reflect, relax, and just soak in time with my family.

Photo courtesy of Sangster

I spent a majority of my time hanging out with family, running along the delta reservoir with my sisters in the early AM, and eating really good food. Food at every corner, always waiting for me. Ugh, food. Such good food. I knew this weekend would be filled with tons of food, so I made an effort to run every day just to prep my tummy for the gorge fest. My weekend began with a piping hot bowl of bun rieu (Vietnamese crab noodle soup) with fresh herbs garnished on top. Probably my favorite Vietnamese dish is hu tieu (seafood noodle soup), but bun rieu comes a close second because of the sweet depth of flavor the tomato-y broth has.

Growing up, I loved eating bun rieu's more popular sister pho way more because of its pungent assertive broth and hearty meat toppings- I mean, who couldn't resist the choice of tripe, ribeye, meatball, or shredded chicken atop rice noodles? I didn't start to love bun rieu until I got older and began to appreciate the immense complexity with a subtle flavor profile that kind of creeps up on you, like the slow heat behind good chili. The broth is composed of a chicken base with shrimp/crab paste, broiled tomatoes and onions and is super rich (good recipe below). For me, what really sets bun rieu apart as such a great dish is the vegetable herb toppings that sit on top of the noodles - you can have coiled morning glory, unripened banana blossom, shredded cabbage, refreshing bean sprouts, and an assortment of herbs (mint, basil, tia to or Vietnamese Perilla, to name a few).

Small section of my mother's garden

Unlike pho, bun rieu doesn't use hoisin or sriracha sauce; instead, you use fermented shrimp paste as a salting agent and fish sauce. Both good things in my book!

Needless to say, the bowl of bun rieu my mom made for me was both a feast for the eyes and mouth alike! Doesn't the photo look so good? Besides the obvious taste and smell of food, food needs to look good. Now, food isn't just deemed "yummy" based on how it tastes. You can have a perfectly delicious cake that is just oozing with flavor, but if it looks like say, the undead, chances are that some people may be deterred from eating your lovely creation.

The importance of how good food looks has a neural basis as well. A recent study in Journal of Neuroscience recently showed that certain brain regions are activated when we look at appetizing versus unappetizing food items. In this study, researchers at Cambridge University were interested in studying how different personalities affect a subject's desire to eat after viewing appetizing food. Specifically, the researchers looked at "external food sensitivities" or EFSs. EFS refers to the range by which some of us are motivated to eat or seek food upon seeing food - studies have shown that people with high EFS, or higher susceptibility to be vulnerable to eating after seeing food, are more likely to be obese and overeat. As EFS can be different for everyone (some of us are more apt to go for that chocolate bar when we see chocolate cake compared to the few select who can contain themselves), the researchers looked at the activation of brain regions in response to seeing food.

This study was conducted using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a useful technique to image different brain regions in a non-invasive manner. Simplified, fMRI detects blood flow through the brain, and uses that as a correlation of which brain regions are being more activated (more blood flow) or less activated (less blood flow) compared to a basal, resting state. Subjects were categorized according to their EFS score and were shown various images of either appetizing (cake, cookie) or bland (rice, potato) food, and imaged during this testing session.

Example of fMRI: blue is less activated and yellow is more activated brain regions. (Photo courtesy of RA Muller)

The first task was to look at what neural regions are being activated upon seeing appetizing food. Different regions were activated such as the amygdala, ventral striatum and ventral anterior cingulate cortex - these regions have also been implicated in food processing.

***For more on the scientific findings, scroll down to the very bottom.

Though I'm not a neuroimaging specialist, these results are interesting nonetheless. I've always wondered if there was any science behind the saying "eat with your eyes," and it turns out the main areas activated upon seeing appealing food happens to coincide with areas of your brain that are important for managing memory and emotion. Whether these regions are being activated because you get excited when seeing certain foods (emotional), or whether the regions are being activated because you remember a certain memory associated with the food (memory), remains unknown.

These findings though separate people according to EFS - those with higher EFS are more apt to overindulge while those with lower EFS have more self-control. No shame, but I'm thinking I'm in the high EFS range. My weekend home was an overindulgence fiesta. I ate and ate. And when my mom brought more food to the table, I ate again. Just looking at her creations made my mouth water and made me fill up my bowl again, sigh. My last meal ended with lau chua (sour soup hot pot), a delicious hot pot variant with all the right fixings: squid, red snapper, tofu. Delicious with every bite, the food was definitely tasty as visually appealing.

Until next time, happy eating everyone!

To try your own bun rieu recipe, try this recipe from the  Ravenous Couple.



*** Additional findings from paper:

They then asked if subjects with a higher EFS had changes in connectivity between brain regions important for food processing (i.e. it's whether people who are more likely to eat after seeing food had stronger neural connections underlying motivation to eat). Individuals with a higher EFS had less connectivity between the brain regions important for food process and feeding behavior - these results are similar to the results done in feeding studies done on rodents. While the findings are still new, these results suggest that decreased connectivity between brain regions could lead to abnormal, or more chaotic neural cross-talk, which could make subjects more susceptible to overindulge. I thought there would be MORE connectivity, as in a heightened sense of neural cross-talk for people who tend to eat more or have a higher EFS. Needless to say, more research is underway to further investigate the neural correlates to motivation to eat.

References:
Passamonti L. et al. 2013. Personality predicts the brain's response to viewing appetizing foods: The neural basis of a risk factor for overeating, Journal of Neuroscience. 29(1):43-51.