why does browning on food, such as grill marks or roasting, taste so good?
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Browning food is known as the [Maillard reaction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction) – a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that occurs when they are heated.
The resulting compounds from this reaction are varied – far more varied than their inputs. Our bodies find these compounds quite tasty – likley because it was an evolutionary advantage to find them so. Cooking food “unlocks” nutritional value not (easily) available in the raw from, so early humans that found cooked food tastier than raw food had better diets, leading to increased survival.
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