People are Strange. Their Tastes are Even Stranger

Food and Wine’s “The People’s Best New Chef” winner Jamie Bissonnette has an interesting food history. In his Boston restaurants Toro and Coppa, he specializes in hacking up carcasses for dishes like house-made pasta with tripe or beef heart pastrami.

But for 7 years he was a vegan and still cooks mostly vegetables at home.

What was his earliest, revered childhood memory of food—the dish that sparked his interest in cooking? Liverwurst on a pickle—hmm.

Part of what makes taste fascinating is the apparent lack of patterns in our preferences. Trying to make sense of it is like trying to crack the Indus script.