My very first encounter with food chemistry and molecular gastronomy was through the first edition of Harold McGee’s book “On food and cooking”. The good news is he has started a blog with News for curious cooks (with the subtitle:…
Now that I’m at it, I found yet another article by Hervé This entitled Molecular Gastronomy and the Foundation “Food Science and Food Culture”, published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 2006, 5, 48. About the name…
In a recent issue of EMBO Reports, Hervé This (who coined the term “molecular gastronomy”) writes about “Food for tomorrow? How the scientific discipline of molecular gastronomy could change the way we eat” (free download: html or pdf). He asks:…
There is certainly some overlap between molecular gastronomy, kitchen chemistry, gastro physics, culinary physics and everyday chemistry… That’s why I thought the January 2004 issue of Physics Education would be of interest. It features a section on food physics, covering…
Slightly off topic, but quite amusing: Last night the IgNoble prizes were awarded. Their slogan reads “First it makes you LAUGH, then it makes you THINK”. The 2006 IgNoble prize in chemistry was awarded to a research group studying “Ultrasonic…
I received an email last week from a supertaster (read more: BBC, Wikipedia) with an interesting question: Certain foods contain bitter substances that only a fraction of the population can taste. Examples include a group of compounds called cucurbitacins, found…
My fellow blogger on molecular gastronomy, Göde Schüler (check out his German MG blog Gourmetrics) found a great video on YouTube. The video shows how a red beet paste mixed with alginate solidifies when dripped into a solution of calcium…
Look out for the new book by Heston Blumenthal to appear in October 2006: Perfection. The book is based on an eight part BBC series where Heston Blumenthal, chef at The Fat Duck and front player within the field of…
Back in 2004 Webjørn Espeland from NRK P2 (Norwegian radio) interviewed me about chemistry in the kitchen. These are now re-aired in the program “Verdt å vite” which can be downloaded as mp3 files (only in Norwegian): August 22, 2006 – Why do you smell after eating garlic? August 24, 2006…
