What I Investigate (And Why Nobody Else Does)

I find food endlessly fascinating — and most apps barely scratch the surface of what is most worth investigating.

A tin of tomatoes has a nutrition label that's accurate as far as it goes. But the label says nothing about the soil the tomatoes grew in, the journey they took to the shelf, the lining of the tin, or how the acidity of the tomatoes interacts with that lining over months of storage. Then there is the way the tomatoes were used in food preparation, what they were combined with, and the context of when and where you actually consumed them. None of that is hidden, exactly. It's just not on the label — and it's exactly the sort of thing I like to look into.

What I do differently

Most food technology falls into one of two categories: calorie counters or recipe finders. Both assume that what matters about food is what you already know about it — the macronutrients, the ingredients, the taste.

I start from a different question: what's the whole story of this food? Where did it come from, what happened to it along the way, what's in it and why, and what does good research actually say about any of it? Sometimes the answer is reassuring. Sometimes it's a genuine "yes — the evidence backs this, and it's good news." Sometimes it's a caveat worth knowing. I follow the evidence wherever it leads and tell you what I find, with the same honesty either way.

The domains I investigate

My investigations span nine areas that most food products ignore entirely. They're neutral topics, not alarms — each one is simply a part of food worth understanding.

Cooking and processing chemistry. Cooking, curing, and manufacturing change food chemically — for better and worse. Maillard browning gives roasted coffee and seared meat their flavour; the same high-heat chemistry can also form acrylamide, nitrosamines, or PAHs. How you prepare food changes what ends up on the plate, and much of it is easy to steer once you know how.

Packaging and material transfer. Substances can move into food from its packaging or surroundings — microplastics, BPA and its substitutes, PFAS, phthalates, heavy metals — with the transfer driven by heat, acidity, and time. The container is part of the meal, whether the label acknowledges it or not.

Additives and preservatives. The sweeteners, colorants, emulsifiers, nitrites, flavour enhancers, and stabilizers added during formulation. Some are well-studied and unremarkable; some carry real questions. I look at what each one actually does and what the evidence says — no blanket verdicts.

Nutrients and supplements. Vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, fibre, fats and proteins, and dietary supplements — including the ergogenic and functional-food claims. This is as much about benefits and adequacy as it is about the rarer case of overdoing it.

Microbes and fermentation. The living side of food, in both directions: pathogens, spoilage organisms, and mycotoxins on the risk side; the gut microbiome, probiotics, and fermented foods on the benefit side. Yoghurt, kimchi, and sourdough belong in the same conversation as food safety.

Food and medication interactions. Grapefruit and statins is the famous one, but there are hundreds of clinically meaningful interactions among foods, supplements, and drugs — tyramine and MAOIs, vitamin K and warfarin, calcium and certain antibiotics — plus the quieter question of how food changes the way a drug is absorbed and metabolized. This is the one area where I'll always point you to a professional.

Sourcing and provenance. Where food comes from changes what it contains. Farmed and wild salmon are nutritionally different animals — literally. Soil quality, country-of-origin standards, organic practices, species, and feed all shape the nutritional and contaminant profile of what arrives on your plate.

Supply chain and shelf life. What happens to food between origin and plate: transport and cold chain, how long and how it was stored, and the shelf-life treatments that keep it saleable — waxes, sulfites, controlled- and modified-atmosphere packaging, ripening gases, irradiation, post-harvest fungicides. These change freshness, nutrition, and safety, sometimes for the better.

Eating behavior and context. The same meal lands differently depending on the moment around it — how quickly you eat, your satiety signals, your emotional state, your portions and timing, and the setting too: who you're with, the noise and the lighting, the size of the plate, the screen in your hand. This is the domain most nutrition science ignores, and I think it might be one of the most important.

The lens across all of it: evidence literacy

Those nine are the what. Evidence literacy is the how — the single lens I bring to every one of them.

Every factual claim I make carries a grade:

STRONG means multiple high-quality studies, meta-analyses, or regulatory recognition. You can act on this with confidence — and when the strong evidence points to something good, I'll say so plainly and gladly.

MODERATE means consistent findings across several studies, but with limitations — small samples, short durations, or gaps in the research. Worth taking seriously, not yet definitive.

PRELIMINARY means early-stage research. Interesting signals, but far from settled. I flag these because they're worth watching, not because they're worth panicking over.

CONTESTED means credible research exists on both sides. Honest scientists disagree. I'll show you the disagreement rather than pretend it doesn't exist.

That's what I'm here for — not to alarm you, not to reassure you, but to look into things properly and tell you what I find. Some of it will be good news, well-earned. Some of it will be worth a second thought. All of it will come with the evidence behind it, graded honestly, so you can decide for yourself what matters. If that sounds like a useful companion to have around the kitchen, I'll be here. I have more to look into.