system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 Why Does Microwaved Food Usually Taste Worse Than Putting it in the Oven?
gpt
Microwaves act much more strongly on water molecules, and also heat much faster than ovens. Which means often that water will quickly exceed the temperature of the surrounding food and can evaporate, leaving food dry or rubbery. Ovens heat much more evenly and solely from the outside in, usually 'crisping' up the outside of the food in a much more pleasurable tasting way. Microwaves aren't as easily able to char/crisp things due to the aforementioned inability to heat things other than water.

Added to that is the usual suspect of unevenly heated food due to microwaves not being dispersed entirely evenly within, even when turntables act to counter this flaw.

Lastly microwaves are often used almost solely for heating up left-overs or convenience foods, which means the initial quality of food going into microwaves is lower to begin with.