Is eating burnt food bad for you? Martha Stewart explains why some people love eating burned food.

Don't burn the food is a kitchen mistake we all try to avoid.It's possible to save the dinner you over salted.If you accidentally dump in too much cayenne, you can add dairy or acid to tame it.There is no going back once roasted onions have turned a deep shade of black in the oven and have been crisped to heaps of allium ash.

There are people that love burned food.We are all familiar with them.They are the human vacuums for neglected chocolate chip cookies, the scramblers for the dry, crisp edge of the brownie pan, and the charred marshmallows and steak and vegetable enthusiasts.

Are these people freaks?To get some answers, I spoke to an official source who agreed to go on record, my stepdad, Frank, who eagerly consumed all the cookies I burned in my high school years.He said that the burning adds depth to the flavor.He said that he likes the added bitterness of char in cookies.The textural element is also present.When the bottom of the cookie is burned and the top is soft, I like it.

She microwaves popcorn past the time when the last few kernels pop, and then lets it melt into each other.

I asked Adina if she could understand it, but she said it was a textural thing.She wants the mac and cheese, which I can relate to.When food is turned from dark brown to black, she craves the almost carbon-like flavor of burned food.She microwaves popcorn past the time when the last few kernels pop, and then lets it melt into each other.The smell would fill the house and cause a lot of suffering.My dad threw the microwaved popcorn bag into the snow when he grabbed it.

In defense of our family members, burning food enhances flavor.The Maillard reaction is a cooking phenomenon.As food oxidizes, sugars and amino acids are rearranged into complex flavors.When it really gets black, this chemical reaction gives food a bitter flavor.

There is no concrete explanation of why people like burnt flavor.For some people, the Maillaird reaction is appealing even in extremes.

The Monell Center, a scientific institute dedicated to basic research on taste and smell, and Rutgers University broke it down for me.He said thatillards are what makes food taste good.It's not the cinnamon that makes a Cinnabon smell good in a shopping mall.People wouldn't flock to a vendor with giant vats of cinnamon that was in the air.The smell is of the Maillards.Burning is part of the Maillard reaction.

It's not the cinnamon that makes a cinnamon smell good in a shopping mall.It's the Maillards.

The longer a food is cooked, the more complex and pronounced the Maillard reaction can become.You get into a different kind of chemistry when Maillards stop at a certain point in the burning process.If you burn the sugar into blackened cinders, we don't like it.The chemistries of this are not easy.The chemical acrylamide, which has been linked to cancer, is produced by burning food.

It is possible that part of the taste for burned foods is cultural.The New York Times pointed out that the flavor profile is sought out in many cultures.In Vietnam, a burnt sugar sauce called nuoc mau is added to marinades and meats to achieve that perfect balance of sweet, salty, and bitter.Mole is an example of how Caribbean and Mexican cultures add depth to their food.Adina thought about cultural preferences for texture.This obsession with burnt food might be a kind of overzealous preference some people develop that stems from the way we are taught to like everything crisp.I get it.While I don't like my cookies burned, I do understand the appeal of a few stray pieces of melt-in-your mouth burned popcorn, and I love brown butter.

People who love char don't have to hide anymore.Food that has been burned is having a moment.There are a lot of blackened and Charred foods on the restaurant menu.Increased consumption of vegetables seems to be part of the reason for this.People are realizing that burning is a way to make vegetables taste better.If you're one of these people who has a strange affinity for burned food, try a few recipes, like pork chops with charred scallions or charred sweet potatoes, if you want to get in on the trend.It is possible to break the first and most fundamental rule of cooking.