Molecular Gastronomy, The Science of Cooking

Roland Piquepaille writes "The Art of Cooking is evolving fast in this 21st century. New food products are being designed with the help of molecular technology, genetic discoveries or space research before arriving in our kitchens. For example, here is a Pravda article which says that NASA is preparing sandwiches which will still be edible after seven years. Companies like Kraft are also using nanotechnology to create food products tailored to users' needs. This is a booming market and, according to Associated Press, dozens of universities in the U.S. are offering degrees in culinology, attracting creative students in their food and science programs."

Comments

Re:More solutions

[FiReaNGeL]

You can't "solve" the world's food problem. You give humanity more food, you get more humans. And these supplementary humans need more food.

Designing food is not cooking

[MKalus]

Seriously.

I wouldn't call what Kraft & Co are spitting out 'cooking'.

It is a designer meal replacement that resembles cooked food.

Maybe I am old fashined, but anything that gets made in huge vats by machines and then packaged in plastic may be something that keeps me alive, but it DEFINETLY is not cooked.

Re:Designing food is not cooking

[Red Flayer]

Just look at Velveeta, for example (a Kraft trademark).

Velveeta was originally "invented" by a researcher at Rutgers College of Pharmacy. The research was attempting to find a good formula for a skin product that could be used for drug delivery.

Turns out, what is good for drug delivery is also good for coloring and flavorant delivery. A couple phone calls by an astute professor with a cheese fetish, and Kraft gives us Velveeta.

Science gone amuck again

[John Seminal]

I don't want science genetically engineering my food, I don't want them making meals that can be served 7 years later. I don't want the cancer or other diseases that come with it.

The world has done very well without scientists mucking up our food sources. How many thousands of years have people lived off what the earth grows?

I now see in my grocery store "organic milk", it is priced twice as expensive as the gallon of regular milk. The same thing is in produce, they have organic vegitables. What is this? 20 years ago everything was organic, now only the rich can get normal food. The rest of us must eat crap that has been genetically modified.

Re:Science gone amuck again

[circletimessquare]

I don't want science genetically engineering my food, I don't want them making meals that can be served 7 years later. I don't want the cancer or other diseases that come with it.

you don't get cancer from genetically engineered food. to think so betrays a profound lack of education about the slightest bit of what you are talking about

The world has done very well without scientists mucking up our food sources. How many thousands of years have people lived off what the earth grows?

actually agriculture is nothing but selecting food crops based on various genetic qualities. we've been genetically engineering foods for tens of thousands of years. there is absolutely nothing natural about an ear of corn or a grain of rice or a shaft of wheat or a potato. they are freakishly huge by natural standards. were these plants released in the wild, they would quicky perish. your "organic" foodstuffs are wholly human creations, and are utterly, in every sense of the word, genetically modified freaks of nature.

just like dogs. do you love your dog? you're dog is a genetically modified wolf, warped by mankind into something wholly unnatural.

I now see in my grocery store "organic milk", it is priced twice as expensive as the gallon of regular milk. The same thing is in produce, they have organic vegitables. What is this? 20 years ago everything was organic, now only the rich can get normal food. The rest of us must eat crap that has been genetically modified.

i assume you live in the west. you are already fabulously rich by world standards. and you are correct: genetically modified foods, that grow in the desert or have vitamin a genes inserted into them, can save thousands of poor people from blindness and starvation.

but silly me, the hysterical worries of an uneduated propagandized western child is more important than any of that.

people talk about frankenfoods all the time as a threat to us.

and i think that is a fitting allegory.

because if you recall from the story of frankenstein, the hysterical uneducated ignorant peasants were out to burn a creature that only wanted to help them.

Re:loads of oils, creams, butter and mayo

[John Seminal]

I was talking to a chef about a month ago who was complaining about having to put loads of oils, creams, butter and mayo in foods to achieve the taste that the consumer wants, at the expense of their health. "We're paid to kill people," was his complaint, and sadly I think he's right.

The French eat more oil and fat than Americans, but the French have less than half the heart disease. Why is that? Could it be the fat is not as bad as the stress Americans have? The French get two hours for lunch. Many stores close their doors during the lunch time so they can go to cafe's, sit down with friends, and enjoy life. They also get government to gaurentee 5 weeks of vacation a year no matter what the job. That means the janitor gets 5 paid weeks of vacation, just like his boss.

And if you will eat fat, how about eating healthy fat? Eat butter instead of margirine. Eat natural olive oil instead of processed oils. The problem is not fat, the problem is companies like McDonalds, to save a few pennies, are using crappy oils that are manufactured and not natural. Plus, we only have 30 minutes to make it from the office, to the fast food joint, and back to the office again. Hope there is enough time to push the sandwich down the throat with one hand while honking the horn to get the asshole in front of us out of the way with the other hand.

And then, just as lunch is over, I am back at my desk with my heart pumping and head dripping of sweat, just in time to make some sales calls. God, I hope I don't get any more bitch secretaries to screen calls for their bosses.

What will kill people is all the new manufactured foods, that are filled with chemicals our bodies can't expell. They will fill cells with toxic substances that will cause cancer.

*don't* kick it up a notch!

[beacher]

disclaimer- My wife's a chef at a 5-diamond restaurent and she spices her food appropriately and everything rocks. I think that us americans over spice and generally go crazy with trying to add too much flavor. Lighten up a bit on the spice ( here comes the "lips acquire stains" jokes) and try detecting subtle flavors or better combinations.
I don't know why people insist on nuking foods with cayenne or pouring texas pete on everything.
-B

Re:loads of oils, creams, butter and mayo

[Hurricane78]

> Atkins works as it thows your body into ketosis, vegan works as you have almost zero fat intake, simply being active, eating healthy and lowering your calorie intake works the best in the long run.

Atkins and vegan diets kill you for the very same reason that unhealty food does: it's unhealty!

I had many many different diets, and i can tell you that the whole concept of a "diet" is a huge load of crap!

Do you know what it takes to bekome healty and thin?

1. Eat only when you're really hungry! not when you just want to eat now. (to force you to a normal eating behaviour. try taping a "H?" above your fridge to remember yourself.)
2. Eat in smaller amounts and more often (to get your stomach to a normal size again and to not fall into a ravenous appetite).
3. Move your ass and do some sport.
4. And most important: never ever stop doing point 1-3 for the rest of your life!

That's really all you have to do. Nothing more... But as with all addictions, it depents on your willpower to do it. (Tip: A psychologist can help you more than you may think with that problem.)

Re:loads of oils, creams, butter and mayo

[hoxford]

Have you ever heard of carcinogens? How about Acrylamide? What is Acrylamide? It is just a chemical that food manufacturors put in French Fries and Chips.

*Put* in French Fries and Chips? Do you have the slightest clue about what you're speaking of? Acrylamide is a chemical contaminant in food caused by a chemical reaction that occurs when foods are fried, deep-fried or oven-baked.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fsrio/topics/tpacrylamide. htm

It's due to the cooking process, not something that's added.

Speaking of mental slowdowns, do you know where it comes from? Aluminum in the diet. Where does the Aluminum come from? From all the machines that process food.

Cite, please? Show me an actual study where this correlation is indicated? Hell, show me a study where any significant aluminum is introduced into food through processing.

Processed foods do cause cancer. Why is it that 30 years ago most Ice Creams were made from milk and sugar, and a flavoring like vanilla beans or chocolate, but today they are made with an ingredient list of 20 chemicals?

Huh? So ice cream makers are part of a huge conspiracy with the health care/military industrial complex trying to spread cancer to everyone to generate huge profits?

Why is it that 70 years ago airplanes were made with wood and fabric but today they're made with plastics and composites? Because materials science has advanced and it makes a stronger, longer lasting product.

The sad part is that I mostly agree with what you're trying (badly) to say. Too many foods have all the nutrition processed out of them for purposes of extending shelflife and allowing the use of cheaper materials. But making crap up and spewing pseudo-science and voodoo doesn't help.

Re:loads of oils, creams, butter and mayo

[mmontour]

What is Acrylamide? It is just a chemical that food manufacturors put in French Fries and Chips.

It's not something that anyone "puts in" fries. It's a substance that forms during the high-temperature cooking process. From your link:

  Acrylamide forms as a result of unknown chemical reactions during high-temperature baking or frying. Raw or even boiled potatoes test negative for the chemical.

-----

Think about it, not just foods but all chemicals.[...]

Here are some chemicals:
  - Adenosine triphosphate
  - Ammonium perfluorooctanoate
  - Cyanocobalamin
  - Oxalocacetic acid
  - Oxalic acid
  - Potassium sorbate
  - Pyruvic acid
  - Xanthophyll
  - Xylene

Many of these are found in all-natural foods like fresh fruit and vegetables. Some of these chemicals are essential for life, while others are harmful. It is not useful to group them together under an "all chemicals" label and then conclude that they must therefore be bad for you.