What does it mean to study taste, edibility, and food systems through the scientific method? In our season introduction, co-hosts Professor Charlotte Biltekoff (American Studies & Food Science and Technology, UC Davis) and Professor Elizabeth McQueen (College of Fine Arts, FSU) set the stage for a season centered on food scientists — their methods, their imaginaries, and technological and microscopic infrastructures that construct another thread of the esculent. Together, they reflect on the convergence of cultural inquiry and scientific practice, the recent history of sensory analysis, and how these approaches craft a dominant imaginary, but imagined nonetheless, of taste.  Tasting: Hershey’s Plant-Based Chocolate Bar Viewing: The Everlasting Gobstopper, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Host: Professor Elizabeth McQueen & Professor Charlotte BiltekoffProducer: Stace BaranTheme by: Ronan Delisle Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Biltekoff and the Darrell Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.