My TEDx Talk in Taipei: How I fell in love with food

”The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences.“ ~Christopher McCandless

Last November, I was invited to give a talk at the TEDxTaipei Salon in Taiwan. This would be my second TEDx Talk—the first being the one I did at TEDxUCSD in May 2015.The theme was “Inspiration from Five Senses,” and the description blurb I received from the event coordinators read: “In this TEDxTaipei Salon, we will take the audience on a journey to rediscover these human senses and bring back the basics of life.”I was asked to speak to the sense of taste. The TEDxTaipei event was held in conjunction with an Asia-wide advertising and marketing conference. I found writing this talk incredibly challenging: how can I make the topic of taste personal yet universally relatable and engaging?I trashed multiple drafts and ended up writing my talk on the plane ride to Taipei. Then after memorizing the bullet points, I rewrote it yet again in my hotel room an hour before rehearsal.My talk was entitled "How I fell in love with food," but for whatever reason, the title was changed when it got uploaded to Youtube.I think the talk’s content turned out well, but after listening to my talk online (as posted above), I found my delivery mediocre. I sounded so serious, so monotoned—a stark contrast to my TEDxUCSD Talk.Well, live and learn. Life is about a constant strive for improvement.Who wants to invite me to their TEDx conference? Third time’s gotta be a charm.