On a family holiday to Florida we ate alligator and I was like “ew no, why would I eat that.” My dad responded with it tastes like fishy chicken. Same goes with our holiday to Australia when we were served with “chicken” and we later found out it was kangaroo. It good to know I’m not just insane and everything dies actually taste like chicken 😅
Do you really think kangaroo tastes like chicken? I couldn't imagine two meets tasting less similar. Kangaroo is like a very gamey, slightly sweet beef. If I were to mistake it for something else it would be beef not chicken
I've had alligator in Lousiana. Yes, it does taste like chicken, but it has the texture of something closer to fish so on the whole it's kind of a weird experience.
I had alligator once on accident because I thought it was shrimp, then tasted it and thought it was chicken with a weird texture. If I was more exotic with my tastes it'd be amazing, but the thought of eating alligator makes it a nope 😂 totally recommend if you like that sort of thing tho
To me at least, from when I've had it, yeah it's very chickeny but also slightly sweeter and fattier tasting. Could be due in part to the batter's flavor.
My top non-meat weird food would be durian. I have no idea how a fruit that sits in a near-impenetrable-by-normal-kitchen-tools thick shell shaped like a unhandleable spiky tumor and smells like dog turds when it opens itself up when it's ripe, actually tastes so good. It's a mystery. MatPat, can you please do durian sometime??
As a 3rd year biology bachelor student, loved the a little deeper dive into the science behind the food and I am really getting the impression that Matpat is slowly evolving into a scientist himself. He would absolutely be the kind of person to successfully study and work in Biology!
@@MicahGelfandneurological is the medical field study that focuses on medical applications, like they treat parkinsons. matpat has a bs i neuroscience, which is the study of the brain and and nervous system, that is research oriented
I've had a Food Question in mind for a while. I lost my sense of smell as a baby and lived my whole 30 years anosmic. I've tried various fruits and can't taste any of them, except granny smith apples, they have a slight taste I can only describe as 'lime green'. Why, as an anosmic, can I taste granny smith apples but no other apples or fruit. I've wondered that for a while now. Love your videos and all your channels! Much love ❤️
I can tell you Granny Smith apples don't have a very strong smell but are pretty dang acidic. Maybe you can taste a part of it because a lot of the taste relies on the acids in it moreso than the sweet aroma molecules. Do you taste other acidic or bitter foods better than sweet or umami ones as well? Sour and bitter in nature is a sign that things are toxic or dangerous so it would makes sense we developed a way to taste it without smell. Not tasting something sweet doesn't mean your body doesn't register the sugar/calories, the same goes for fats/oils and probably umami too. It's more important to know what not to eat than it is for the save things to have a taste at all. I don't know if this explains it, but it seems logical to me.
@@TheKoriKasai They're sour, which is caused by acids, so yes. I used to really like them too years ago. Just be careful and rinse with water after you eat one and then wait a while before brushing so your enamal is past the weakening it usually gets due to acids in foods. Fun fact: vitamin C is also an acid
Most flavors come from smells. Long, looooooong, story short, granny smiths are super duper acidic for an apple. You should probably be able to somewhat taste pineapples and kiwi. Most fruits and veggies don't smell like anything, and then don't have super duper strong flavor. For example, my family calls cucumbers "water on a stick" because they don't taste like much. Also, if the whole taste-to-color thing is something you experience often, you might want to reaserch synystesia
The fact that some animals that are technically "dinosaur" or just really dinosaur relatives also give off the "chicken taste" blew my mind. Like I know they do give off that flavor but I never thought about it in the dinosaur aspect
Good Eats was an awesome show! I really like when chefs explain gastronomy. Alton would not only tell you how to cook a delicious meal, but also _why_ you need to do things certain ways to achieve certain results. Not just reciting a recipe, but teaching the audience why things are done this way. It's really helpful because you can translate those tips and tidbits and it increases your culinary knowledge, instead of just 'remembering the ABCs'. I wanna know WHY the ABCs are important!
As someone who works in the culinary arts, I can assure you that MatPat is right and most chefs don't know why things are done the way they are either. Especially in savory cooking. In my experience, bakers are more likely to understand at least the basic science of food than cooks are. Which is a shame, since knowing and understanding that science actually makes things a lot easier. Even more so when you have limited ingredients to work with.
@@SkylerLightingStrike Well said! That must be why Iron Chef is always more interesting than any bake-off show. You gotta know your stuff if your key ingredient is beef tongue or something equally whacky.
The last part of your statement, knowing why the abcs are important, was always my biggest issue with school. They expect people to just rote memorize everything and my brain doesn't work like that, I have to understand the why.
When doing other research, I ran across a historical note. Back in the middle ages, they didn't say taste like chicken, they said taste like mutton. Specifically in England. May want to check into the lore on this one.
As somebody who ate mutton and then ate my way through game meats, I’d say mutton is the most most accessible variety of meat out there with the same game profile as say, venison or waterbuffalo. So maybe these guys were off poaching random crap from their lords forests again
As someone who has dedicated over a decade of their lives to rescuing roosters, I appreciate your description of chickens at 8:08 in this video, and I ALSO appreciate the fact that you guys don't tend to use audio clips of roosters crowing when talking about chickens, as this is a call mostly used to convey dominance and distress, so I feel that I can safely watch your videos around my boys (who are currently sitting behind me in their nighttime crate waiting for me to put them to bed).
@@vacafuega I will definitely do that :3 They're my service animals, as they're extremely emotionally aware and alert me to oncoming panic attacks and stick near me most of the day, especially if I'm feeling down. Saw your other comment on this video and thought you'd appreciate that tidbit about them. I only have two right now, BTW, and their names are Zebulon and Buddy, and they are the goodest of bois.
@@problemchild465 probably a therapy pet, i assume. People have birds, dogs, cats, rabbits or even pigs as therapy animals. It helps their mental health to have them around, be less stressed and lash out less likely, they can calm the person down basically.
I woke up one day at 3 am with the thought of which Gatorade flavor is the healthiest for me to consume regularly. Like they have different dye levels and stuff right? So which dye could make me die? And which die can make me fly? -thanks for considering if you did ☺️
most food dyes are harmless, but you can always jot down the ingredients list next time you pass by Gatorades at the supermarket and look up the dyes online.
As a person who strongly suspects they have adhd, the speed at which Matpat talks and summarises things makes me very happy. He's the only RUclipsr who can talk this much about science and still keep me engaged. Edit: It's a slight warzone down here
Hello I am internet certified nothing, chances are you do have adhd because it is so common. If you have the symptoms it is more likely you have adhd then don't by like 50%
There are few channels that can incorporate my love of cooking and science. And this one does it beautifully. The Food Theorist is hands down my favorite theorist channel.
Only really past the intro so far but I always personally assumed the phrase "tastes like chicken" was because chicken is seen as a very neutral flavor in the meat world. That's part of why it's used in such a wide array of dishes, since it can then take on a lot of different flavors from other ingredients.
7:59 I got confused by the caramel part at first but then I remembered that (not from personal experience) a lot of the bread in USA is very sugary, fun fact: outside of the US bread is a lot less sweet, it's more "plain" everywhere else
“Don’t tell me it tastes like chicken” “No, Sam, it’s a lizard. It tastes like lizard” And since I’m already here - thanks to every one on Team Theorists for all the amazing content you keep putting out!
Here's a theory I'd like to see: How much does smell effect taste? Obviously it plays some major roles, but what are the limits and what sorts of foods are unaffected by it? Especially curious about this since for many catching COVID meant losing (partially or fully) their sense of smell
You can only taste five flavors; sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and unami. Everything else you "taste" is really smell. What's really neat is there are some compounds that can block your ability to taste sour and sweet. The so-called "miracle berry" blocks the sour taste receptors on your tongue, making things like straight lemon juice taste like sweet lemonade. Likewise, the powder in the dietary supplement gymnema sylvestre, will block the sweet receptors and everything will taste bitter.
From the people I knew it took taste as well and for a loooong time. As I understand it anosmia plays a major role in what people that suffer from it eat as they aim to eat foods with certain textures and mouth feels. Famously Ben of "Ben and Jerry's" fame suffers from anosmia and is the one who plays the biggest role in how their ice cream feels when you eat it. There's a reason that ice cream is so popular and it's not just the flavours. If anyone knows someone in Ben and Jerry's marketing get them to bring cherry Garcia back to the UK.
Tastebuds only tell you the core/basic information of something you eat : they tell you heat and the 5 categories of taste (sweet, salty, bitter, acid and umami or whatever) plus some other basic tastes information like how fatty and how much iron. EVERY other information is connected to the eyes/nose (yes, the color of food changes its taste : red food is typically perceived spicier) but apart from that, all the subtle variations of taste come from smell.
I was gonna say that I've never had an instance where porkchop tastes like chicken, but i also had to remember that my dad cooks everything with different rubs. Most of a food's flavor is seasoning/sauce and how its cooked. Its how my dad can make chicken legs that taste like the smoked turkey legs that you'd get at the state fair. I guess this is just a long-winded way of saying "i've never had unseasoned pork chop", lol.
I have and they by no means taste like chicken. Pork is my favorite kind of meat (excluding bacon bite me) and i have never had any kind of pork taste like any kind of chicken unless they were both smothered in bbq sauce
I haven’t even gotten into the meat (heh) of the video yet, but I remember mythbusters doing an episode on this: cooking a bunch of different meats, and having the crew do a blindfold taste test to guess what was what, to see if everything really does taste like chicken.
8:19 I adore how these videos are never clickbait. The man's answer to "Why does everything taste like chicken?" is something I would expect to see on my chem final. And here I was expecting some complex esoteric analogy about our cultural relationship with meaty food. Holy moly
Learned quite a bit about the Maillard reaction from the Food Science class I took in college, one of many neat things I got to learn in that class, was definitely worth making that class one of my electives for my bachelor's degree. I enjoy cooking even more now than I did before thanks to that class, and food theory just helps even more 😁
0:43 I was in utter shock when he said that because I remember that when I was atound the age of 4 I one tasted my brother's foot for some reason and said: "Tastes like chiken" and the moment he said that I got a flashback from the exact moment
As I've taken more animal science courses, I've learned more about what affects the taste of meat (from an animal handling standpoint) and the various factors that are included in that (i.e., the feed given to the animals like grass-fed beef vs. grain-fed beef). However, I've been curious about why the flavor profile of chicken can be applied to a variety of different meats. This video did an excellent job of explaining why this is the case from both a chemistry and evolutionary standpoint (as I suspected it had something to do with chickens' dinosaur ancestry). It also put some of my organic chemistry knowledge to use (and validated my decision to take the intro class).
It’s been literal weeks since this episode came out and I’m still not over it -.- my husband has been saying literally everything tastes like chicken for years AND YOU PROVED HIM RIGHT 😭😭😭😭😭 I’m never living this down!!!
Alligator meat tastes like a combination of chicken and fish. I’d love to see an episode about why seafood has that seafood taste. My guess is it’s related to the salt water they live in.
my dad is a chemist who focuses on cyclodextrins but will occasionally talk about other projects in his company, one of these was the Maillard reaction. And it is actually really complicated, there are a lot of things that get released form the reaction and it is true the scientists don't fully know how it works
I’ve eaten deep fried frog legs once when I was on vacation. My mom asked me what it tasted like (she didn’t wanna try it herself). I said “it tastes like chicken, but with a texture like fish!”
Yup. Way back when,my dad brought me frog legs,which I fried. You described it perfectly...I feel I get more bang with my buck by staying with chicken though..
Maillard browning is one of the first reactions I learnt in my nutrition and food science syllabus, I do not believe most chefs are unable to explain it.
Mat Pat. Please listen!! I have always loved your creative nature, your voice, and attitude, me and my girlfriend are huge fans of you! But we’re also huge fans of murder mystery podcasts and we came to the realization that you would be a great host of some murder mystery videos, or heck, even podcasts. All due respect to you and your unparalleled success. Keep up the good work! But I really think an “unsolved murder mystery” channel would suit the you as king of the theory world just right!! Like I said, keep up the good work, we love you!!
At first I thought the video would be a rehash of an episode of Mythbusters that involved blind taste-testing. That concluded that yes, BUT depending on the prep beforehand. Glad to see this was more of an expansion!!
You should do a video on why everything tastes so good when its made in the air fryer. Its like microwaving food, but better, re-heating stuff in there is awesome.
Hey Mat Pat, you should do a video about Senzu Beans from the Dragon Ball series, and how exactly their able to completely heal Goku and his buddies and leave them feeling rejuvenated! Is it some sort of mystical power, or is it something more nefarious, like maybe there's some illicit substance at play here? Anyways would love to hear your theory regarding this issue, your FOOD THEORY! Lol.
Me and my family were talking about this the other day, but some mustard bottles are painted yellow, and others are transparent. But the thing is, they both came from the same plant at the same time. It’s weird, and k thought that it could be a theory one day. About marketing and all that.
I wanna see a theory on George Washington Carver's meal that was made entirely out of peanuts - including a chicken - that none of the guests realized wasn't a normal meal until after he told them
Can we get a theory on the scientifically best way to organize the fridge and freezer? My mom and I argue about this all time b/c i don't belive the fruit and veggie drawers actually preserve them better or that liquid beverages need to be on the bottom shelf.
The point of a crisper drawer is to restrict airflow and allow for a little more humidity to build up, which is supposed to keep vegetables better. As far as bottom vs top is concerned, heat rises, so the bottom stays a bit colder as the refrigerator gets opened and warmer air is let in. I don't think it matters what exactly you're keeping down there, though. A full food theory breaking down the best way to stock a fridge would be interesting.
Matpat, I have a request for you. I want you to attempt to uncover the lucky charms lore. I have been searching for a while now, and I have lots of information, but not much goes together. I feel like I’m missing a piece of the puzzle. And I think that your help could be the missing piece to uncover the lucky charms lore. If anyone else sees this, you can try and help.
You Should make a theory about the burger king ads how much you actually "rule" at burger king. It would be about how much freedom you really have to make choices and requests in your order. How specific can you get before you can't "Have it your way".
It's interesting this would come up; I've been off from work lately and have been reading a lot about aldehydes, and such, as part of alcohol fermentation and the chemical compounds which give cheeses their aromas. Yay Science!
You know, i had this idea of how you could explain what the heck is a Neapolitan ice cream, and why are those three flavours the most famous ones, and are considered "basic" nowadays. On a controversial note, Mint ice cream totally tastes like cold toothpaste.
Drake: "If you were stranded on a desert island, would you eat your own foot?" Josh: "...can I cook it?" Drake: "Yes" Josh: "Yeah I'd eat my own foot." Question for theory: Would this be worth it? Would this be beneficial, and how much longer would it keep you alive if so?
Alligator tastes just like chicken that’s been marinaded in sulphur-tasting swamp water. It’s pretty okay, but after a few bites the swamp taste really starts to get to me.
I like this video a lot! I've seen all of them. Since you're making videos about flavor, could you make one about MSG? I think you guys would responsibly cover the xenophobic history of it and the amazing unique taste.
I winced a bit at the idea of "Frying up" some adorable anoles (lizards) on the grill. 10:06. I mean you theoretically could. Perhaps that's why they run away so fast, so you don't get a chance.
I still remember that episode of Mythbusters testing out this theory. The conclusion they came with is that pork is the only one to be indistinguishable from chicken in taste, the other meats they've tested are more or less different from that taste.
Something you failed to mention is that if you just cook it than you could easily tell if you are having chicken or not. But if you mince it or make it a nugget or hotdog than it would be much harder to tell
I recently got a chance try a pok bowl with a buddy and this got me on the same type of thinking where I don't get a lot of flavor from the raw tuna and I just didn't really have a lot of fishy taste in the entire meal it was a very mild tasting other than the soy sauce that they used.
I suspect that chicken, being the descendant of dinosaurs, just sort of became the default comparison for every kind of meat or protein food. So lizard, snake, and posssibly seagull all taste like chicken.
1:17 Columbus didn't mistook America for India, he thought he had arrived to "las indias" (the indias) which at the time was how Asia (except china) was called in the latin world. He actually thought that he had arrived somewhere about the islands of Japan. You seem proud of your investigation and facts, you should also fact check the ones not really related to the topic, even if they are for giveaway jokes.
MatPat agreeing with a lot of people saying "everything tastes like chicken" Me who's confused because the only thing that tastes like chicken, IS chicken. Frogs are different, turkey is very different, goose is vastly different, gator is similar to frog, but still not chicken. Pork tastes kinda tastes like dark-meat chicken with heavier red-meat flavours mixed in (non-bacon), sheep tastes unique, beef is unique, kangaroo is unique. You all have washed pallets or something?...
Kinda surprised this episode didn't end with MatPat hooking up half the editing team to one of those devices that are supposed to be able to combine the five flavor types into theoretically replicating any flavor to attempt to actually see if he could replicate the taste of chicken
Hey mat i got a idea for both style and food theory Food theory: what is the best cake? Style theory: what is the best dress for a birthday party? I made these in less then 12 seconds and they are for my birthday in march 10th
Okay so, take "Chicken-in-a-Biscuit", chicken bullion, and chicken grill seasoning, etc ... are those flavors and "spices" mostly just powderized smell?
This explains why I was eating swine filet mignon and it tasted exactly like chicken, so much that I thought the college restaurant was trying to trick me.
Ya know MatPat I watch RUclips to NOT have to think about my upcoming chemistry exam so I do not appreciate being ambushed with the exact same chemistry in a seemingly innocent Food Theory video! And during Tea Times™ no less! I can't escape the aldehydes!! 😭
Great video MattPat, as always! I was always super-sensitive to the flavour and texture of nest as a child, and haven't eaten it for 18 years now because I dislike the flavour so much. I have an idea for a theory: why do only some people have a "sweet tooth"? My Dad and I love sweet foods, whereas my Mum isn't bothered by them. Why doesn't everyone like sweet foods if we are evolved to seek out higher calorie options?
Daniel: "This tastes like chicken."
Sam: "So, what's wrong with that."
Daniel: "It's macaroni and cheese."
I was so hoping to find this here
@@dmitriwillguard same!
Yess good show
The best out of the few "tastes like chicken" jokes Stargate did!
My immediate thought at this video.
You should do a blind taste test with several people and see if they can differentiate the things that taste like chicken.
in one of the burger episodes, they said that thing like that cost a lot i think
i could see that being an issue, but mteam theorist could reach out to hunting channels and see if they have any surplus.
roadkill tastes like chicken
@@TheWeltandmelt wait you can do that, didn't know, thanks
I think I’ve gotten to a point where I can tell the difference between chicken and alligator
On a family holiday to Florida we ate alligator and I was like “ew no, why would I eat that.” My dad responded with it tastes like fishy chicken. Same goes with our holiday to Australia when we were served with “chicken” and we later found out it was kangaroo. It good to know I’m not just insane and everything dies actually taste like chicken 😅
I live in Florida and I have never eaten an alligator but u do u
@@shhhvr3183 its probably s tourist thing
I don’t live in Florida but I love alligator, it really does taste like “fishy chicken”
@@shhhvr3183. Alligator is good. I also live in florida.
Do you really think kangaroo tastes like chicken? I couldn't imagine two meets tasting less similar.
Kangaroo is like a very gamey, slightly sweet beef. If I were to mistake it for something else it would be beef not chicken
I've had alligator in Lousiana.
Yes, it does taste like chicken, but it has the texture of something closer to fish so on the whole it's kind of a weird experience.
Well alligator is part of archosaurus together with chicken and they lives in water similar like fish well that's not surprising
I've had alligator prepared in Iowa, Missouri, and Louisiana and it all tastes like fishy chicken.
I had alligator once on accident because I thought it was shrimp, then tasted it and thought it was chicken with a weird texture. If I was more exotic with my tastes it'd be amazing, but the thought of eating alligator makes it a nope 😂 totally recommend if you like that sort of thing tho
To me at least, from when I've had it, yeah it's very chickeny but also slightly sweeter and fattier tasting. Could be due in part to the batter's flavor.
My top non-meat weird food would be durian. I have no idea how a fruit that sits in a near-impenetrable-by-normal-kitchen-tools thick shell shaped like a unhandleable spiky tumor and smells like dog turds when it opens itself up when it's ripe, actually tastes so good. It's a mystery.
MatPat, can you please do durian sometime??
Everything doesn't taste like chicken chicken tastes like everything
Deep words
Bro seeking a fight right now.
@@KeertikaAndFallenTree 36 sec ago😱
Nah man, Chicken everythings like taste
Ye
As a 3rd year biology bachelor student, loved the a little deeper dive into the science behind the food and I am really getting the impression that Matpat is slowly evolving into a scientist himself. He would absolutely be the kind of person to successfully study and work in Biology!
he has a neurobiology degree
@@TnTeaCups It's gettin put to good use!
Matpat was a neurology student
@@MicahGelfandneurological is the medical field study that focuses on medical applications, like they treat parkinsons. matpat has a bs i neuroscience, which is the study of the brain and and nervous system, that is research oriented
I've had a Food Question in mind for a while. I lost my sense of smell as a baby and lived my whole 30 years anosmic. I've tried various fruits and can't taste any of them, except granny smith apples, they have a slight taste I can only describe as 'lime green'. Why, as an anosmic, can I taste granny smith apples but no other apples or fruit. I've wondered that for a while now. Love your videos and all your channels! Much love ❤️
I can tell you Granny Smith apples don't have a very strong smell but are pretty dang acidic. Maybe you can taste a part of it because a lot of the taste relies on the acids in it moreso than the sweet aroma molecules. Do you taste other acidic or bitter foods better than sweet or umami ones as well?
Sour and bitter in nature is a sign that things are toxic or dangerous so it would makes sense we developed a way to taste it without smell. Not tasting something sweet doesn't mean your body doesn't register the sugar/calories, the same goes for fats/oils and probably umami too. It's more important to know what not to eat than it is for the save things to have a taste at all.
I don't know if this explains it, but it seems logical to me.
@@ammalyrical5646they're acidic? No wonder I love them
@@TheKoriKasai They're sour, which is caused by acids, so yes. I used to really like them too years ago. Just be careful and rinse with water after you eat one and then wait a while before brushing so your enamal is past the weakening it usually gets due to acids in foods.
Fun fact: vitamin C is also an acid
Most flavors come from smells. Long, looooooong, story short, granny smiths are super duper acidic for an apple. You should probably be able to somewhat taste pineapples and kiwi. Most fruits and veggies don't smell like anything, and then don't have super duper strong flavor. For example, my family calls cucumbers "water on a stick" because they don't taste like much. Also, if the whole taste-to-color thing is something you experience often, you might want to reaserch synystesia
That’s a good one
The fact that some animals that are technically "dinosaur" or just really dinosaur relatives also give off the "chicken taste" blew my mind. Like I know they do give off that flavor but I never thought about it in the dinosaur aspect
The only living dinosaurs are birds.
Me who went to the comments first🙄
Lmao
Hmm this velociraptor tastes like chicken
so dinosaurs taste like chicken?
Good Eats was an awesome show! I really like when chefs explain gastronomy. Alton would not only tell you how to cook a delicious meal, but also _why_ you need to do things certain ways to achieve certain results. Not just reciting a recipe, but teaching the audience why things are done this way. It's really helpful because you can translate those tips and tidbits and it increases your culinary knowledge, instead of just 'remembering the ABCs'.
I wanna know WHY the ABCs are important!
Good Eats is and probably always will be favorite fd network show ever
As someone who works in the culinary arts, I can assure you that MatPat is right and most chefs don't know why things are done the way they are either. Especially in savory cooking. In my experience, bakers are more likely to understand at least the basic science of food than cooks are. Which is a shame, since knowing and understanding that science actually makes things a lot easier. Even more so when you have limited ingredients to work with.
@@SkylerLightingStrike Well said! That must be why Iron Chef is always more interesting than any bake-off show. You gotta know your stuff if your key ingredient is beef tongue or something equally whacky.
The last part of your statement, knowing why the abcs are important, was always my biggest issue with school. They expect people to just rote memorize everything and my brain doesn't work like that, I have to understand the why.
Fr, food network fell off after they cancelled the show
When doing other research, I ran across a historical note. Back in the middle ages, they didn't say taste like chicken, they said taste like mutton. Specifically in England. May want to check into the lore on this one.
That's cool, I've always wondered what mutton tasted like haha
Mutton tastes similar to lamb.
As somebody who ate mutton and then ate my way through game meats, I’d say mutton is the most most accessible variety of meat out there with the same game profile as say, venison or waterbuffalo. So maybe these guys were off poaching random crap from their lords forests again
@@mollusckscramp4124 Mutton is sheep. It tastes similar to lam.
But mutton doesn't taste like chicken...
As someone who has dedicated over a decade of their lives to rescuing roosters, I appreciate your description of chickens at 8:08 in this video, and I ALSO appreciate the fact that you guys don't tend to use audio clips of roosters crowing when talking about chickens, as this is a call mostly used to convey dominance and distress, so I feel that I can safely watch your videos around my boys (who are currently sitting behind me in their nighttime crate waiting for me to put them to bed).
How lovely - say hi to your boys from me :)
@@vacafuega I will definitely do that :3 They're my service animals, as they're extremely emotionally aware and alert me to oncoming panic attacks and stick near me most of the day, especially if I'm feeling down. Saw your other comment on this video and thought you'd appreciate that tidbit about them. I only have two right now, BTW, and their names are Zebulon and Buddy, and they are the goodest of bois.
@@OlyChickenGuy Service animal?
@@problemchild465 probably a therapy pet, i assume. People have birds, dogs, cats, rabbits or even pigs as therapy animals. It helps their mental health to have them around, be less stressed and lash out less likely, they can calm the person down basically.
@@OlyChickenGuy zebulon is a really cool name
I woke up one day at 3 am with the thought of which Gatorade flavor is the healthiest for me to consume regularly. Like they have different dye levels and stuff right? So which dye could make me die? And which die can make me fly? -thanks for considering if you did ☺️
I drank once 4 blue Gatorades. After this my s**t was a bit in blue colour 😂
most food dyes are harmless, but you can always jot down the ingredients list next time you pass by Gatorades at the supermarket and look up the dyes online.
As a person who strongly suspects they have adhd, the speed at which Matpat talks and summarises things makes me very happy. He's the only RUclipsr who can talk this much about science and still keep me engaged.
Edit: It's a slight warzone down here
don’t even think it’s just that. the script really switches from each topic seamlessly. really makes for a nice watch.
Bro just put your playback speed on 1.75.
You can even do this when you want to speed watch research material.
Same
Hello I am internet certified nothing, chances are you do have adhd because it is so common. If you have the symptoms it is more likely you have adhd then don't by like 50%
Check with a doctor, self diagnosis is bad.
There are few channels that can incorporate my love of cooking and science. And this one does it beautifully. The Food Theorist is hands down my favorite theorist channel.
Only really past the intro so far but I always personally assumed the phrase "tastes like chicken" was because chicken is seen as a very neutral flavor in the meat world. That's part of why it's used in such a wide array of dishes, since it can then take on a lot of different flavors from other ingredients.
7:59 I got confused by the caramel part at first but then I remembered that (not from personal experience) a lot of the bread in USA is very sugary, fun fact: outside of the US bread is a lot less sweet, it's more "plain" everywhere else
Not EVERYWHERE else. In Japan, they have “milk bread,” which is basically just cake.
@@nomoresaul Yeah, but that's an outlier. Japan isn't a bread-as-staple-food country.
“Don’t tell me it tastes like chicken” “No, Sam, it’s a lizard. It tastes like lizard”
And since I’m already here - thanks to every one on Team Theorists for all the amazing content you keep putting out!
0:08
"tastes like chicken to me"
Everything is cak- *CHICKEN*
He ate Freddy
He. Ate. Freddy 😭😭😭
Here's a theory I'd like to see: How much does smell effect taste? Obviously it plays some major roles, but what are the limits and what sorts of foods are unaffected by it?
Especially curious about this since for many catching COVID meant losing (partially or fully) their sense of smell
You can only taste five flavors; sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and unami. Everything else you "taste" is really smell.
What's really neat is there are some compounds that can block your ability to taste sour and sweet. The so-called "miracle berry" blocks the sour taste receptors on your tongue, making things like straight lemon juice taste like sweet lemonade. Likewise, the powder in the dietary supplement gymnema sylvestre, will block the sweet receptors and everything will taste bitter.
I’m fairly certain there was a theory on this
From the people I knew it took taste as well and for a loooong time. As I understand it anosmia plays a major role in what people that suffer from it eat as they aim to eat foods with certain textures and mouth feels. Famously Ben of "Ben and Jerry's" fame suffers from anosmia and is the one who plays the biggest role in how their ice cream feels when you eat it. There's a reason that ice cream is so popular and it's not just the flavours.
If anyone knows someone in Ben and Jerry's marketing get them to bring cherry Garcia back to the UK.
You can just look this up it’s ~80%
Tastebuds only tell you the core/basic information of something you eat : they tell you heat and the 5 categories of taste (sweet, salty, bitter, acid and umami or whatever) plus some other basic tastes information like how fatty and how much iron. EVERY other information is connected to the eyes/nose (yes, the color of food changes its taste : red food is typically perceived spicier) but apart from that, all the subtle variations of taste come from smell.
I was gonna say that I've never had an instance where porkchop tastes like chicken, but i also had to remember that my dad cooks everything with different rubs.
Most of a food's flavor is seasoning/sauce and how its cooked. Its how my dad can make chicken legs that taste like the smoked turkey legs that you'd get at the state fair.
I guess this is just a long-winded way of saying "i've never had unseasoned pork chop", lol.
True
I have and they by no means taste like chicken. Pork is my favorite kind of meat (excluding bacon bite me) and i have never had any kind of pork taste like any kind of chicken unless they were both smothered in bbq sauce
Yeah pork tastes nothing like chicken either way
I haven’t even gotten into the meat (heh) of the video yet, but I remember mythbusters doing an episode on this: cooking a bunch of different meats, and having the crew do a blindfold taste test to guess what was what, to see if everything really does taste like chicken.
Thanks Matthew, I cannot eat anything without trying to taste chicken now.
huh
Same
@someuser.wheres the bot
@@illegalcumtrader56its a bot lol 😂
No joke, I was eating a meatball sandwich thinking “be chicken, taste like chicken”
8:19 I adore how these videos are never clickbait. The man's answer to "Why does everything taste like chicken?" is something I would expect to see on my chem final. And here I was expecting some complex esoteric analogy about our cultural relationship with meaty food. Holy moly
I'm so far loving the new channel you came so far from talking about video games to a fashionista
Is this the bot meeting place? Supreme Lord said it would be on Twitter this month [emoji]
Wrong channel bud
a
MP. this could easily be the BEST FOOD THEORY video I've ever seen your team do. No negative notes. Comprehensive. Well done, omedito!
omedeto* （おめでとう）
For those wondering, omedito is Spanish for little omed.
Learned quite a bit about the Maillard reaction from the Food Science class I took in college, one of many neat things I got to learn in that class, was definitely worth making that class one of my electives for my bachelor's degree. I enjoy cooking even more now than I did before thanks to that class, and food theory just helps even more 😁
0:43 I was in utter shock when he said that because I remember that when I was atound the age of 4 I one tasted my brother's foot for some reason and said: "Tastes like chiken" and the moment he said that I got a flashback from the exact moment
Wtf 💀
You guys have been pumping out a lot of content lately. It's amazing, thank you!
Yeah
As I've taken more animal science courses, I've learned more about what affects the taste of meat (from an animal handling standpoint) and the various factors that are included in that (i.e., the feed given to the animals like grass-fed beef vs. grain-fed beef). However, I've been curious about why the flavor profile of chicken can be applied to a variety of different meats. This video did an excellent job of explaining why this is the case from both a chemistry and evolutionary standpoint (as I suspected it had something to do with chickens' dinosaur ancestry). It also put some of my organic chemistry knowledge to use (and validated my decision to take the intro class).
2:39 MATPAT OUT OF CONTEXT SOMEONE CLIP THAT
Done and done, matpat is going to have a bad time🙂
@@ItzzAlooOfficial now to upload it and get Tons of views remember me if you get famous 😉
@@Stow_ic ok
Ah yes, I'm doing it exactly as MatPat instructed... weird way to choke da chicken but he _is_ MatPAT after all...
@@HANKSANDY69420 😂🤣
5:00 You missed the perfect opportunity to throw in a “cooking a chicken by slapping it” joke there
It’s been literal weeks since this episode came out and I’m still not over it -.- my husband has been saying literally everything tastes like chicken for years AND YOU PROVED HIM RIGHT 😭😭😭😭😭 I’m never living this down!!!
I’ve got to say. Whoever on the team edited this video, this is the funniest stuff I’ve seen in the last week
This episode is actually full of not-that-simple chemistry.
I literally asked myself about this topic today. "Is everything bland or is it the chicken that is as bland as everything else?"
maybe everything taste the same is just beef and pork that taste different
Alligator meat tastes like a combination of chicken and fish. I’d love to see an episode about why seafood has that seafood taste. My guess is it’s related to the salt water they live in.
not all seafood lives in salt water, and freshwater fish tastes like fish.
@@tuseroni6085 good points.
I agree and tbh I think it’s a texture thing too.
Yeah when I tried crocodile a long time ago I said it tasted like salt water chicken.
Fish only tastes like fish if its old. Just like old chicken has a distinctive flavor and smell. (Yes, I've eaten nearly spoiled chicken don't at me)
I like how at 8:18 he combines blue, and red, it becomes green. Maybe we need a color theory.
Reminds me of how someone crushed up some bugs that were red and accidentally made blue that we use for blue jean
my dad is a chemist who focuses on cyclodextrins but will occasionally talk about other projects in his company, one of these was the Maillard reaction. And it is actually really complicated, there are a lot of things that get released form the reaction and it is true the scientists don't fully know how it works
I’ve eaten deep fried frog legs once when I was on vacation. My mom asked me what it tasted like (she didn’t wanna try it herself). I said “it tastes like chicken, but with a texture like fish!”
Yup. Way back when,my dad brought me frog legs,which I fried. You described it perfectly...I feel I get more bang with my buck by staying with chicken though..
@@dacisky a roast snake smells bad but taste like chicken and uhhh the more bad smell the better the taste is taste like a normal roast chicken
Maillard browning is one of the first reactions I learnt in my nutrition and food science syllabus, I do not believe most chefs are unable to explain it.
Mat Pat. Please listen!! I have always loved your creative nature, your voice, and attitude, me and my girlfriend are huge fans of you! But we’re also huge fans of murder mystery podcasts and we came to the realization that you would be a great host of some murder mystery videos, or heck, even podcasts. All due respect to you and your unparalleled success. Keep up the good work! But I really think an “unsolved murder mystery” channel would suit the you as king of the theory world just right!! Like I said, keep up the good work, we love you!!
At first I thought the video would be a rehash of an episode of Mythbusters that involved blind taste-testing.
That concluded that yes, BUT depending on the prep beforehand.
Glad to see this was more of an expansion!!
You can always count on the theory team to go the extra mile.
5:23 matpat: No need to faint. Me, who is a science loving kid: YOU UNDERESTIMATE MY POWER!
I wouldn't say your age but do whatever you want
@@warriorskitcat3859 fair enough.
2:31 people saying skeletons are creepy, LOOK AT UR MUSCLES!! 😳😳
You should do a video on why everything tastes so good when its made in the air fryer.
Its like microwaving food, but better, re-heating stuff in there is awesome.
It probably has to do something with air fryers evenly cooking food unlike microwaves.
Just as I was watching the old videos, you uploaded this! Amazing
This explains some things- I had some homemade rattlesnake nuggets and we all thought it basically tasted like slightly more rubbery textured chicken
Hey Mat Pat, you should do a video about Senzu Beans from the Dragon Ball series, and how exactly their able to completely heal Goku and his buddies and leave them feeling rejuvenated! Is it some sort of mystical power, or is it something more nefarious, like maybe there's some illicit substance at play here? Anyways would love to hear your theory regarding this issue, your FOOD THEORY! Lol.
Me and my family were talking about this the other day, but some mustard bottles are painted yellow, and others are transparent. But the thing is, they both came from the same plant at the same time. It’s weird, and k thought that it could be a theory one day. About marketing and all that.
I wanna see a theory on George Washington Carver's meal that was made entirely out of peanuts - including a chicken - that none of the guests realized wasn't a normal meal until after he told them
That meal just reminded me of Baljeet's Peanut Chicken
0:17 ate your biggest theory maker
ate some remnant
@@enderguardian7443 yea true
Can we take a minute to appreciate all of the editors who make these videos possible
what i got from this video is that this chicken taste is a common one, it just can easily get overtaken by other flavors
Can we get a theory on the scientifically best way to organize the fridge and freezer? My mom and I argue about this all time b/c i don't belive the fruit and veggie drawers actually preserve them better or that liquid beverages need to be on the bottom shelf.
The point of a crisper drawer is to restrict airflow and allow for a little more humidity to build up, which is supposed to keep vegetables better.
As far as bottom vs top is concerned, heat rises, so the bottom stays a bit colder as the refrigerator gets opened and warmer air is let in. I don't think it matters what exactly you're keeping down there, though.
A full food theory breaking down the best way to stock a fridge would be interesting.
I have been waiting for somebody to tackle this for legitimate years. Thank you Matt.
This channel never fails to make me feel hungry! Not like I don't already always feel hungry 🤣
Fr
Your teams ability to research and script really interesting concepts across 4 channels is insane
I'm loving how much the production value has improved over your youtube career
3:57 ah yes, the aromantic group
aroace flag but it's molecules lol
How does he make these theories, they're so random but so good
7:52 I love how they said we did a science. One whole science.
Matpat, I have a request for you. I want you to attempt to uncover the lucky charms lore. I have been searching for a while now, and I have lots of information, but not much goes together. I feel like I’m missing a piece of the puzzle. And I think that your help could be the missing piece to uncover the lucky charms lore. If anyone else sees this, you can try and help.
You Should make a theory about the burger king ads how much you actually "rule" at burger king. It would be about how much freedom you really have to make choices and requests in your order.
How specific can you get before you can't "Have it your way".
I waited almost 3 years for this video to come out and it was worth the wait
I have a suggestion, can you research every time cool aid man has destroyed a wall, and assess how much the property damage he would be pressed with
6:54 Guess even Hello Fresh isn't doing MatPat any good. Still coming back to Mickey Ds
It's interesting this would come up; I've been off from work lately and have been reading a lot about aldehydes, and such, as part of alcohol fermentation and the chemical compounds which give cheeses their aromas. Yay Science!
You know, i had this idea of how you could explain what the heck is a Neapolitan ice cream, and why are those three flavours the most famous ones, and are considered "basic" nowadays.
On a controversial note, Mint ice cream totally tastes like cold toothpaste.
It’s always the height of the day when MatPat uploads
Most original comment:
@@alex.g7317 100%
Yep
Drake: "If you were stranded on a desert island, would you eat your own foot?"
Josh: "...can I cook it?"
Drake: "Yes"
Josh: "Yeah I'd eat my own foot."
Question for theory: Would this be worth it? Would this be beneficial, and how much longer would it keep you alive if so?
No, it would not. It would take more calories to heal the wound than you’d get from the limb
Alligator tastes just like chicken that’s been marinaded in sulphur-tasting swamp water. It’s pretty okay, but after a few bites the swamp taste really starts to get to me.
I like this video a lot! I've seen all of them.
Since you're making videos about flavor, could you make one about MSG? I think you guys would responsibly cover the xenophobic history of it and the amazing unique taste.
Hi
How much are your health
Xiran Jay Zhao has a great video on it and I believe she cites some other good videos!
I winced a bit at the idea of "Frying up" some adorable anoles (lizards) on the grill. 10:06. I mean you theoretically could. Perhaps that's why they run away so fast, so you don't get a chance.
I still remember that episode of Mythbusters testing out this theory. The conclusion they came with is that pork is the only one to be indistinguishable from chicken in taste, the other meats they've tested are more or less different from that taste.
Something you failed to mention is that if you just cook it than you could easily tell if you are having chicken or not. But if you mince it or make it a nugget or hotdog than it would be much harder to tell
Learned it from myth busters actually
I recently got a chance try a pok bowl with a buddy and this got me on the same type of thinking where I don't get a lot of flavor from the raw tuna and I just didn't really have a lot of fishy taste in the entire meal it was a very mild tasting other than the soy sauce that they used.
I suspect that chicken, being the descendant of dinosaurs, just sort of became the default comparison for every kind of meat or protein food. So lizard, snake, and posssibly seagull all taste like chicken.
The editing on this video is top notch 👌 good work editors!
1:17 Columbus didn't mistook America for India, he thought he had arrived to "las indias" (the indias) which at the time was how Asia (except china) was called in the latin world. He actually thought that he had arrived somewhere about the islands of Japan.
You seem proud of your investigation and facts, you should also fact check the ones not really related to the topic, even if they are for giveaway jokes.
MatPat agreeing with a lot of people saying "everything tastes like chicken"
Me who's confused because the only thing that tastes like chicken, IS chicken. Frogs are different, turkey is very different, goose is vastly different, gator is similar to frog, but still not chicken. Pork tastes kinda tastes like dark-meat chicken with heavier red-meat flavours mixed in (non-bacon), sheep tastes unique, beef is unique, kangaroo is unique.
You all have washed pallets or something?...
Kinda surprised this episode didn't end with MatPat hooking up half the editing team to one of those devices that are supposed to be able to combine the five flavor types into theoretically replicating any flavor to attempt to actually see if he could replicate the taste of chicken
Mat can make theories about crayons. Mat can't be defeated.
4:39 ok but which one is the taste that honestly can't be described in any way other than just "blue"?
BLUE
Love your videos! Keep going guys ❤❤❤u have my full support ❤❤❤❤
Hey mat i got a idea for both style and food theory
Food theory: what is the best cake?
Style theory: what is the best dress for a birthday party?
I made these in less then 12 seconds and they are for my birthday in march 10th
@Octagxnii happy birthday
0:57 when you’ve had too many things tasting like chicken:
Lol
Matt should become a part time actor because he is so good at acting.
A running gag me and my friends do is every time we eat, we’ll say “Taste like chicken”, doesn’t matter if it’s pork or beef, literally anything.
Okay so, take "Chicken-in-a-Biscuit", chicken bullion, and chicken grill seasoning, etc ... are those flavors and "spices" mostly just powderized smell?
1:48, now i want a regular show theory
YO MATPAT HOW MANY MORE PARTS OF THE FNAF THEORY SERIES DO YOU HAVE LEFT
8:37
Who said it ever ends?
This explains why I was eating swine filet mignon and it tasted exactly like chicken, so much that I thought the college restaurant was trying to trick me.
MatPat is liking these "meaty surprises" too much.
Ya know MatPat I watch RUclips to NOT have to think about my upcoming chemistry exam so I do not appreciate being ambushed with the exact same chemistry in a seemingly innocent Food Theory video! And during Tea Times™ no less! I can't escape the aldehydes!! 😭
Great video MattPat, as always! I was always super-sensitive to the flavour and texture of nest as a child, and haven't eaten it for 18 years now because I dislike the flavour so much.
I have an idea for a theory: why do only some people have a "sweet tooth"? My Dad and I love sweet foods, whereas my Mum isn't bothered by them. Why doesn't everyone like sweet foods if we are evolved to seek out higher calorie options?
6:19 That's one mighty thicc chicken.
Look up,Lil pootis
4:25 I didn't know you spoke goblin
Fr
Next Episode on Food theory: CAN WE EAT THE ANIMALTRONICS
2:45 Chicken wing, chicken wing, hot dog and balogna, chicken and macaroni, rollin with my hom-ies
I forgot about that
Mats is the person who would watch 10 hours of cocomelon for the lore