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Actively Nourish Life.

Respect the Pace of Biological Adaptation

熾火焼き菊池

Where Our Shared Menu Stands

Our shared menu is designed around physiological taste.

We intentionally reduce sensory noise so the body’s native feedback systems remain intact.

The goal is not intensity or novelty, but clarity — allowing real ingredients to be perceived without interference.

  • why flavors are restrained

  • why salt is measured

  • why charcoal, FIR, and simple preparation matter

  • why some people feel “deep satisfaction” rather than excitement

The Three Layers of Taste

Taste is not a single thing.
It operates across multiple layers, each shaped by different forces.

1. Physiological Taste (Biological Layer)

Physiological taste is the body’s native sensory system.

It reflects how Homo sapiens detect nutrients, minerals, energy density, and safety through taste, texture, and aroma.

This layer evolved over long timescales and is closely tied to digestion, satiety, and metabolic feedback.

Key characteristics:

  • Works best with low sensory noise

  • Sensitive to real nutrients

  • Self-regulating when signals are clear

  • Easily overridden by stimulation

3. Addictive Taste (Engineered Layer)

Addictive taste is designed, not evolved.

It is created by amplifying sugar, fat, salt, aroma, and texture to override biological stop signals.

This layer prioritizes repeat consumption over nourishment.

Key characteristics:

  • High stimulation, low resolution

  • Requires escalation over time

  • Weakens sensitivity to real food

  • Decoupled from nutritional value

2. Cultural Taste (Learned Layer)

Cultural taste is learned through habit, tradition, and environment.

It reflects regional cuisines, family cooking, rituals, and shared memories.

This layer can coexist with physiological taste, but it can also mask it.

Key characteristics:

  • Neutral by itself

  • Can support or conflict with physiology

  • Highly variable across societies

  • Often reinforced socially, not biologically

Summary 

  • Physiological taste regulates.

  • Cultural taste remembers.

  • Addictive taste overrides.


Our menu is built on the first.

熾火焼き菊池

Influences of Ingredient Choices

Through the Lens of Homo Sapiens Ecology

  • Produce and livestock grown in natural soil systems by ecologically consistent producers

  • Wild & Pasture-raised animals

  • Fresh, whole foods grown in natural soil systems by ecologically consistent producers, without reliance on synthetic acceleration or marketing-driven claims.

Nourishment 

Long-Term Biological Load (Over Decades)

  • Commercially Farm-raised meat & seafood
    (when raised on unnatural diets: grains, GMO feed, hormones)

• Processed foods

• Refined vegetable seed oils

• Ultra-processed and synthetic ingredients

• Crops and livestock

dependent on GMOs, pesticides, or herbicides

Risk

  • Uncooked stems, roots, and leaves — Unlike ruminants, Homo sapiens lack the digestive systems to neutralize many of the natural defense chemicals in plants, such as oxalates. These parts are safest when cooked, fermented, or traditionally prepared.

Dec 24 | 2025, in progress

"We run best on what shaped us—real food."

Grilled Meat_edited.jpg

The functional qualities of our food are outcomes of method — not added stimulation. They result from:

Charcoal Grill

We use ember grilling because it remains reliable within known biological limits, and we remain open to better methods if and when they prove their value.

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©2025 by 熾火焼き 菊池 Okibiyaki Kikuchi

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