Ep. 127: The Wisdom of Eating Well with Mark Schatzker

Talking Beats with Daniel Lelchuk

"We should stop thinking of food as nutritional instructions-- thou shalt eat this-- and think of eating as an opportunity to enjoy food. Because that's what we were meant to do."

Food writer Mark Schatzker is here, armed with his new book The End of Craving: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well. Far from a book about diets and what we should and shouldn't eat, Mark blends science, history, and travel in a way to make us feel more connected to the true flavor of the foods that taste best and happen to be excellent sources of nutrition. Why does Italy have an obesity rate around 8% while in the US the rate is 42%? How do our brains process taste, pleasure, dopamine, craving, and urges? Why do diets fail? And what are the amazing links between music and food? Daniel and Mark dive into this and much more in this wide-ranging conversation.

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Mark Schatzker is an award-winning writer based in Toronto. He is a writer-in-residence at the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center at Yale University, and a frequent contributor to The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Condé Nast Traveler, and Bloomberg Pursuits. He is the author of The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth about Food and Flavor and Steak: One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef.