Molecular Gastronomy. Food/Science or both.

Molecular Gastronomy . Food ,science or both ?

 Molecular gastronomy is the consequence of the linkage of gastronomy to science in the title and content of Jean Anthelme Brillat Savarin’s Physiology of taste (1825),. The science of food, which Brillat Savarin called gastronomy, was initiated earlier by chemists in the Age of Enlightenment, (the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries), and belongs to the history of science. The kitchen was a laboratory like any other for famous doctor and pioneering chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier. In Germany, Justus von Liebig, working in the Age of Positivism, applied meat extracts to soups that still bear his name. The test tubes were pots and pans.

The application of science to domestic and restaurant cooking has developed into the new science of molecular gastronomy- the application of scientific principles to the understanding and improvement of gastronomic food preparation  Molecular gastronomy has been defined as a field that attempts to link chemistry to culinary science, to explain transformations that occur during cooking, and to improve culinary methods through a better understanding of the underlying chemical composition of food. The term was coined in the late 1980’s by the British physicist Nicholas Kurti and the French food scientist and former journalist Herve This, who felt that “empirical knowledge and tradition were as important in cooking as rational understanding”. Information revealed through the practice of molecular gastronomy research can be applied by cooks to improve their cooking, as it explains various reasons why things happen when cooking- for instance, why a souffle rises. Knowing this information can enable a cook to create optimum conditions for the rising of a soufflé, based on the science behind the transformation of the ingredients during cooking.

Nicholas Kurti was a professor of physics at the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University. An eminent scientist, best known for his work in low temperature physics, in his latter years he turned much of his attention to organising workshops and writing articles on food and cooking. Kurti had always had an enthusiasm for cooking. During the Second World War, he would store his weekly wartime ration of meat in the laboratory deep freeze until he had accumulated enough to be able to invite his friends around for dinner. Kurti was famous for the experiments he demonstrated in lectures, one of the most famous being to the Royal Institute of Great Britain in 1969. he demonstrated the advantages of using hypodermic syringes to put rum into mince pies., how a vacuum pump could be used to make meringues and the benefits of monitoring the inside temperature of a soufflé using a thermocouple.

‘Is it not quite amazing that today we know more about the temperature distribution in the atmosphere of the planet Venus than in the centre of our soufflé’?”

Molecular gastronomy’s form has largely been  determined   by a series of meetings between chefs, scientists and food writers held at the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice, Sicily over the course of the last 15- 20 years.      meetings on the science of cooking were set in motion by Elizabeth, who had also  studied at the London Cordon Bleu and ran a cookery school in Berkeley, California. Her first husband was a physicist, and she accompanied him to scientific conferences and counted many physicists as friends.

These meetings were founded by the late Nicholas Kurti following an initial suggestion from Elizabeth Thomas. 

Molecular gastronomy’s form has largely been determined by a series of meetings between chefs, scientists and food writers held at the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice, Sicily over the course of the last 15- 20 years. These meetings were founded by the late Nicholas Kurti following an initial suggestion from Elizabeth Thomas.. The  meetings on the science of cooking were set in motion by Elizabeth, who had also  studied at the London Cordon Bleu and ran a cookery school in Berkeley, California. Her first husband was a physicist, and she accompanied him to scientific conferences and counted many physicists as friends.

 Elizabeth attended a meeting in Erice.She was a devoute advocate of low temperature cooking, as was Kurti. It is actually not a new invention. The English scientist Benjamin Thompson described in the 18^th century how a joint of meat could be left in a drying oven over night and how he was surprised when, next morning, the meat was found to be fully cooked and very tender. Kurti repeated the experiment, leaving a 2kg lamb joint in an oven at 80 degrees Celsius. After 8.5 hours, both the inside and outside temperature of the lamb were around 75 and the meat was tender and juicy .

Together with the French chemist Herve This, Nicholas Kurti felt that the gap between food science and cooking at home and in restaurants was becoming too large. It was necessary to invent a new discipline. He proposed “molecular gastronomy”, but Kurti, being a physicist insisted that “and physical” should be added. “Molecular and physical gastronomy”. After Kurti died, the files on the new discipline have simply become known as molecular gastronomy.

 Definitions of Molecular Gastronomy

Mmolecular gastronomy is an emerging school of cooking that emphasises the science of cuisine- like understanding why meat is best slow-cooked at 58° C”. 

Molecular gastronomy has also been defined as a field that ‘attempts to link chemistry to culinary science, to explain transformations that occur during cooking and to improve culinary methods through a better understanding of the underlying chemical composition of food.’

Herve This defines molecular gastronomy by distinguishing between cooking and gastronomy. “The first is the preparation of food, whereas the latter is the knowledge of whatever concerns mans nourishment. In essence, this does not concern food fashions or how to prepare luxury food- such as tournedos Rossini, canard a l’orange or lobster orientale- but rather an understanding of food; and for the more restricted, “molecular gastronomy”, it is the chemistry and physics behind the preparation of any dish; for example, why a mayonnaise becomes firm or why a soufflé swells.”

Tthe application of science to domestic and restaurant cooking has developed into the new science of molecular gastronomy- the application of scientific principles to the understanding and improvement of gastronomic food preparation.”

In 2008 Oxford University Press describes molecular gastronomy as the art and practice of cooking using scientific methods to create new or unusual dishes: Molecular gastronomy combines science with the art of cooking.

In general, the field of molecular gastronomy may be considered as that part of food science that focuses on home and culinary eating changes and cooking phenomena.  

It should be mentioned also that chefs involved in experimental cuisine are not necessarily aware of the scientific principles that support the new dishes that they are creating and that the scientific approach of molecular gastronomy may help to provide information that chefs can use to better understand the processes during the creation of foods

 Adoption and Repudiation of the Term “Molecular Gastronomy”

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the term started to be used to describe a new style of cooking where chefs were exploring novel possibilities in the kitchen by embracing science , technological advances in equipment and various natural gums and hydrocolloids produced by the food processing industry. It has since been used to describe the cooking of many famous chefs such as Pierre Gagniere, Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Homaro Cantu and Grant Achatz. Adria is one chef amongst others who has set up his own laboratory El Taller in which to explore these possibilities. 

Molecular cooking is also emerging in restaurants like WD-50, The Fat Duck, El Bulli and Alinea, a style of cooking that uses ingredients developed for industrial food production. Molecular gastronomy meshes scientific research with cooking. The media have sent shock waves throughout the globe, describing that the style is futuristic and flashy 

. Descriptions and photos of the most eye catching dishes, most drastic techniques, and most outlandish new textures have spread through industry rags, and eventually into magazines and television, leaving us with a skewed understanding. 

In 2005, the Institute for Advanced Studies on Flavour, Gastronomy and Culinary Arts was formed in Reims, France, to promote gastronomy and molecular gastronomy. Universities in many countries, such as the Netherlands, Argentine and Denmark have set up professorships in this discipline. He further asserts that despite this knowledge and interest, mistakes are still being made. In 2002, the media described some chefs as “molecular gastronomists” which is obviously wrong because chefs create food and not knowledge. The confusion was caused in part by the scientific programme which included technological applications and education. Nicholas Kurti and Herve This agreed that molecular gastronomy was science so they excluded the educational and technological elements.

Scientists preferred appellation for this new culinary style is not favoured everywhere and French Laundry chef Thomas Keller said that molecular gastronomy is a label coined by the media. He prefers to call it contemporary cuisine. ‘I think it’s an unfortunate term’,  ‘It doesn’t really describe accurately what people are doing or what their approach is. A lot of people doing cooking of that type don’t like to be associated with that term’. ‘These chefs are right’  ‘They do not do molecular gastronomy because molecular gastronomy is science not cooking. Some can apply the results of molecular gastronomy; some just change the ingredients, methods or tools, and its only modernisation of culinary techniques’.

 Ferran Adria cites “…The biggest lie out there in terms of cooking”  ‘The world of food has changed a great deal in modern times. Change has come fast over the last decade. Along with many other developments, a new approach to cooking has emerged in restaurants around the globe, including our own. We feel that this approach has been widely misunderstood, both inside and outside our profession. Certain aspects of it are over emphasised and sensationalised, while others are being ignored. We believe that this is an important time in cooking, and wish to clarify the principles and thoughts that actually guide us’.  Adria  further added that ‘the disciplines of food chemistry and food technology are valuable sources of information and ideas for all cooks. Even the most straightforward traditional preparation can be strengthened by the understanding of its ingredients and methods, and chemists have been helping cooks for hundreds of years. The fashionable term “molecular gastronomy” was introduced relatively recently, in 1992, to name a particular academic workshop for scientists and chefs on the basic food chemistry of traditional dishes. That workshop did not influence our approach, and the term “molecular gastronomy” does not describe our cooking or indeed any style of cooking’.

 Misapplication of term ‘molecular gastronomy’

The term molecular gastronomy has been used in the culinary arts and in particular by the media and journalists to describe a cooking style adopted by some chefs that is characterised by its reliance on principles, techniques and practices superficially associated with the sciences and with food technology as applied within the industry.  

The phrase is often misused by the media to refer to chefs who apply techniques developed by scientists to their own style of cooking. Although a confusion of terminology, the link of molecular gastronomy with the practice of cooking follows the natural progression of bench research to practical applications that This and Kurti foresaw when they proposed the new discipline The innovations of Nouvelle Cuisine in the 1970’s found their place in evolution in culinary arts such as techniques like hot gels, unusual starches- without being dogged by the ungainly and inaccurate term molecular gastronomy. ‘It is the new cuisine but we stopped referring to Nouvelle Cuisine as that’.

 Confusion with the Term molecular gastronomy

There is a real concern within the culinary community as to whether the term ‘molecular gastronomy’ should be redefined or not. Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture and molecular gastronomy does not really cover these elements. ‘Molecular’ in molecular gastronomy has a definition similar to that as it does in molecular biology. The similarity is intentional because physics and chemistry are at the centre of this discipline  the term creates artificial barriers. “Molecular makes it sound very complicated and gastronomy makes it sound elitist”. A differentiation should be made between cooking and gastronomy. Cooking means preparing dishes and gastronomy, according to the promoter of the word (Brillat Savarin), means intelligent knowledge of whatever concerns mans nourishment. When it comes to the study of chemical and physical transformations involved in cooking, then the term molecular gastronomy applies. Why not “molecular cooking”?.

 Cooking is a craft, an art–not a science.When food is presented as if it is science or invokes images of it being created in a laboratory, diners tend to get nervous. ‘I think the problem with the term “molecular gastronomy” is that it implies teeny-tiny portions of the unfamiliar, and in America (and many other cultures around the world), we have been taught to believe that the definition of good dining or a good meal is that which makes you full. Reminded of the days when chefs identified with “nouvelle cuisine” began to get annoyed when the label was applied to their style; and arguments followed about the meaning of the term and how it did or did not apply to one or another. The philosophical conceits of nouvelle cuisine were so radical at changing the appearance of haute cuisine and the socioeconomic context for its adoption were long lasting, that a lot more than the name would have to change for it to go for good.

 Objectives of Molecular Gastronomy

Objectives for molecular gastronomy as reformed by Herve This which are to explore scientifically: (a) the artistic component of cooking, (b) the technical component of cooking, i.e. the science behind recipes (applying the concepts of precisions, referring to details in a recipe, and definitions referring to main points in a recipe, (c) the social component of cooking.

A subject which is concerned with the whole process of the preparation of food, from raw ingredients to the actual dish on the plate. Molecular Gastronomy encompasses such diverse issues as:

• How and why we evolved our particular taste and flavour sense organs and our general food likes and dislikes?
• How do production methods affect the eventual flavour and texture of food ingredients?
• How are these ingredients changed by different cooking methods?
• Can we devise new cooking methods that produce unusual and improved results of texture and flavour?
• How do our brains actually interpret the signals from all our senses to tell us the “flavour” of food?
• How is our enjoyment of food affected by other influences such as the environment in which we eat the food, our mood, etc?

Initially molecular gastronomy had five aims: (a) to collect and investigate old wives tales about cooking; (b) to model and examine recipes; (c) to introduce new tools; (d) to invent new dishes using knowledge from previous three aims; (e) and to use the appeal of food to market science. Today it is easy to see that this scientific module was misleading and had failures.   The initial objectives were a major mistake because introducing new tools and inventing new dishes are technological, not scientific and to use the appeal of food to promote science is political.Tthe scientific programme became clearer when reduced to two aims which are to model definitions and to collect and scrutinise culinary precisions; however, this was soon found insufficient because the main aim in cooking is to produce food, which is art and not techniques.

Another objective for the molecular gastronomy community is ensuring that developments in food preparation at the gastronomic level filter down into the domestic arena, where it is compared to the effect of the Grand Prix racing on the motor industry. It is also believed that developments in top restaurants, such as new cooking methods, and healthier dishes will filter into the general food industry 

 Examples of Molecular Gastronomy in Culinary Arts. 

Recipes are the most important written form of culinary knowledge, and they traditionally consist of a definition: for example, a soufflé is a foamy product that swells during cooking, and crumples once someone pokes a knife or fork into it; or a mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil in an egg yolk, pepper, salt and vinegar. In general these definitions are usually mixed with methods and materials. Answering questions can correct a mistake, using knowledge to improve the cooking process or even invent new dishes. One example of how physics and chemistry can lead to new ways of cooking is provided by an egg. If an egg is heated, water evaporates, the proteins denature and polymerise to enclose water and the end result is a cooked egg. An alternative way to do this is to use alcohol because it denatures proteins so the same result is achieved by adding liquor to a raw egg. Similarly the scientific proven way to obtain an airy soufflé is to heat it from below, so evaporation of water pushes the contents upwards. That is simple physics but it can help us to make better food.

By sampling molecules and learning the chemical connections between them, Heston Blumenthal went off on the creative journey of flavour pairings. White chocolate and caviar, foie gras and jasmine, asparagus and licorice which all have molecular commonalities that keep them from clashing and when properly paired can lead to eclectic new tastes. Food scientists know that red cabbage and mustard contain mustard oil, but it was Blumenthal who introduced us to Pommery-mustard ice cream in red-cabbage gazpacho. According to Blumenthal, another amazing discovery was made in the centre for food science in the Netherlands and involved our sense of smell and how we all taste foods slightly differently.

 Herve This came up with a formal system of classification for what happens when foods are mixed, baked, fried, sautéed in lime juice etc; it shows, for example, how the 451 classical French sauces divide down into 23 distinct types. More importantly the system allows the creation and pairing of large numbers of novel and potentially tasty dishes by generating a formula describing the physical microstructure of a previously nonexistent dish, he then collaborated with Pierre Gagnaire to contribute real ingredients resulting in a bitter orange, scallop, and smoked tea dish that delighted Gagnaires . 

Examples of new food creations from the famous El Bulli in Spain which include shiny green olives served on a spoon, to be eaten in one bite, but it isn’t an olive at all. The gushing sphere bursts into a mouthful of intense olive juices. Golden eggs encased in delicate caramel dissolve and release a mouthful of tangerine bloom essence, which attack the senses. Other foods from El Bulli are plump mussels wrapped in a seawater jelly, served with tiny cubes of apple and finished with an intense consommé of potatoes and ham; a dessert beautifully crafted in hummingbird shape which is draped across a plate, its long beak is formed from caramel, and the head is filled with sweet liquid sesame. One cracks the head and the contents spill over fruit sorbets, ice creams and jellies that form its body and wings. These examples are good practical ones of a successful interplay between science and gastronomy, where art and science are systematically blended together.

New dishes have been named after famous Chemists by the molecular gastronomy workshop. They have been produced on the basis of results of molecular gastronomy. Examples include Gibbs, which is where an egg white is whipped with oil and a white emulsion obtained; Vauquelin, a foam resulting from egg white and added orange juice; and Baume a coagulated egg that has been left in alcohol for a month .

                 

 Molecular  Mixology

Chemistry is not a word that is associated with cocktails.More bartenders are applying the science of molecular gastronomy in the search for an improved drink, for example mixing alcohol with liquid nitrogen, chlorides and alginates. The result: a Mojito mist to be sprayed instead of being sipped, a Hurricane that erupts like a school science experiment and whiskey marshmallows. The  name is a twist on molecular gastronomy, a term for the application of scientific principles to cooking. Many chefs and bartenders complained that ‘molecular mixology’ is not a fully accurate designation for a trend that is less about molecular science and more about techniques that chefs are discovering in their kitchens.The chemical cocktail movement grew from a symposium sponsored by Dutch distiller Bols in 2005.

 Proponents of Molecular Gastronomy

‘As science has gradually percolated into the world of cooking, cooking has been drawn into the world of academic and industrial science’. One very effective force behind this movement was Nicholas Kurti, a physicist and food lover at the University of Oxford as previously mentioned. At the age of 84, in 1992 Kurti nudged civilisation along by organising the International Workshop on Molecular and Physical Gastronomy at Erice, Sicily, where professional cooks and scientists worked together for the first time to advance gastronomy, and the making and appreciation of foods to the highest quality. .

Harold McGee is a freelance writer based in California. His writing about the science of food and cooking since 1979 has been a huge influence on molecular gastronomy enthusiasts such as Heston Blumenthal. ‘Harold McGee’s book was the single biggest catalyst of the path that I am following now’, Blumenthal says. McGee is a living library of food science and basic science books and magazines and modestly describes his work as gathering the information that’s relevant to restaurants and home cooks and translating that information into plain English for those cooks. In addition to the book “On Food and Cooking” he has also published The Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore .

 Among the chefs who make use of molecular gastronomy, many are famous: for example Christian and Philippe Conticini, Bernard Leprice, Michael Roth and Pierre Herme, all from Paris; Ferran Adria from Rosas in Spain; Pierre Gagnaire who has restaurants in London, Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo; Heston Blumenthal in the U.K. and Emile Jung in Strasbourg, Germany.

Several highly regarded chefs, the most famous being Heston Blumenthal in England and Ferran Adria in Spain, experiment with industrial and laboratory tools – gelling agents from seaweeds and bacteria, non sweet sugars, pressurised gases and liquid nitrogen to bring new forms of pleasure to the table..

In contrast to the Slow Food movement, molecular gastronomy employs modern scientific processes and Ferran Adria is largely responsible for the direction the movement has. Adria has a laboratory in Barcelona called El Taller that works on new creations and markets bright and new ideas to trendy hotel chains and food processors. He sells a range of stainless steel cutlery called ‘Faces’ and metal tableware, called ‘Snack’, inspired by Frank Gehry, the architect of the Guggenheim Art Museum in Bilbao. Adria argued that traditional cooking did not bring out the full flavours and textures of their natural ingredients, of which Spain has in abundance. Adria has set about deconstructing dishes such as tortilla and presenting the Spanish omelette as individually delicious parts of the sum, rather than a tasty sum of the parts.

Heston Blumenthal’s career has taken some remarkable turns. He is the winner of the 2004 Catey Chef Award and this book taught chef has been awarded three Michelin stars at The Fat Duck Restaurant. Ferran Adria described Blumenthal as “the future” while introducing him at the Madrid Fusion Gastro Summit, and two months later he was named winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2003. Currently Blumenthal is involved with Charles Spence of Oxford University doing work combining menthol and chilli. He is also working on developing pastilles with liquid centres at Nottingham University alongside Tony Blake who is a professor in the School of Biosciences and has been interested in food and cooking since he was a child.

Blumenthal has certainly built up an amazing alliance of like minded people including leading scientists. While he is willing to share his knowledge and spread the word on molecular gastronomy he laments the fact that there are still individuals, namely British journalists, dragging their feet..

Critiques of Molecular Gastronomy

Molecular gastronomy seems to be more of a fad, like most trends, rather than a revolution. From the beginning, some critics have scorned a way of cooking that relies too heavily on technology and often chooses form over substance.

Joseph Maria Fonalleras, a prominent writer and columnist said Ferran Adria has gone over the top, ‘ talking about dishes as if he were discussing mathematics rather than cooking. Those who watch how Ferran Adria uses a screwdriver to uncoil a thread of sugar to make it into a ring will split their sides with laughter’. People will be convinced that the nueva cocina has gone too far. Adria has also been criticised by Santi Santamaria, a culinary traditionalist, who has three Michelin stars for his restaurant Can Fabes. Kingstone,  Santamaria takes aim at Ardria and his disciples in his new book The Kitchen Laid Bare for their use of synthetic additives- gels, thickening agents and preservatives at the expense of locally produced ingredients. ‘I believe the interference of industry in haute cuisine has reached new levels, in part because of your work’ writes Sanatmaria in an open letter to Adria. Adria’s goal  is to increase sensuality through taste, sight and texture as well as originality. Like any skilled artist, his focus is on originality and the authentic, of whatever type of food is being created. Nutritionists agree, pointing out that the additives used to create El Bulli’s trademark foams and airs have all been approved by the European Union, and that there is no health issue as one would have to consume large amounts to have an adverse reaction. Adria argues ‘that when Santamaria talks about industrial products, bear in mind that sugar is an industrial product, as is the best wine in the world; its crazy to suggest that these additives are the biggest health issue of our time; there are thousands of problems in day to day nutrition, which are much more important than the fact that a handful of chefs are doing something a bit different’. By feeding the hunger for novel, bigger than life flavours, Adria is encouraging a type of techni-colour food spectrum much beyond nature’s scope. No cooking is natural, but as trend-setting chefs and food processing keep widening the gap between raw ingredients and the finished dish, the consumer’s ability and desire to create tempting food at home continues to atrophy.  ‘Slow foodies, have no fear. No one will be making foams in forty years, but plenty of people will be enjoying fresh local mushrooms, simply sautéed’.

Fredy Girardet, a retired Swiss chef who critiques avant garde cooking techniques cites ‘we need to finish with these mish-mashed, sweet tasting avant garde dishes, where nothing is identifiable, neither texture, nor freshness, nor the original taste of the product’.  He also thinks that this type of culinary experimentation does not bode well for the future of haute cuisine if young chefs take this path as their model.  

Marco Pierre White has also hit out at the concept of molecular gastronomy, claiming the style is all about attracting column inches. Speaking at Caterers  Chef Conference he says of the scientific approach to cooking ‘I just don’t get it, what does it mean? Does it make food taste any better?’ (Harmer 2008).

The meat and potato enthusiasts who dominate the dining scene remain sceptical and dining competition is fierce. Those chefs involved in molecular gastronomy are indeed setting themselves apart from the community. The question is whether their mixing of haute cuisine and science will stand the test of time . Innovation should be embraced but putting your menu so far out on the edge of reasonable tastes makes it very prone to falling of the precipice completely.

Fundamentally, however, both sides claim to be in pursuit of a certain purity and even authenticity

 Molecular Gastronomy- Art, Science or Both?

Nico Landenis unequivocally declares his deep conviction that cooking is a science and presentation is an art. The well known food critic, Luca Vercelloni, says: ‘cooking is very different from art…Recipes are not masterpieces to be exhibited in galleries…Chefs must be above all skilful executors’, rather than inspired creators’ (Arouh, 2005). 

The synergy between cooking and science is dependent on sensible integration of the two disciplines. Home cooks are about to learn what McDonalds and Kraft foods have known for more than fifty years: placing food over heat is science and not art. The resistance to food science has grown stronger with the local, organic and slow food movements of late. Ironically, such gastronomic science has reached its apogee at the same time as its near opposite, the preservationist Slow Food movement, which seeks to preserve old traditions and methods of cooking. Each culinary movement is reacting to the mass food culture: One rejects industrial food in favour of authenticity; the other uses industrial food processing techniques to create the rare realm of haute cuisine.

 Is molecular gastronomy the same as “culinology”? Clearly there is knowledge behind the enterprise of culinology but as well as knowledge there is money and communication. Documents issued by Universities that teach Culinology indicate that it involves some elements which allow chefs to cook differently and therefore culinology is cooking and not molecular gastronomy. The latter must be considered a scientific discipline because it is about understanding and knowledge (looking for mechanisms and establishing modes of operation).  Thanks to science, which teaches us that an egg yolk deserves to be the object of curiosity and admiration, we have no need to be bored in a kitchen. Molecular gastronomy he adds does not aim solely at attaining pure knowledge, as it seeks also to give practical knowledge a sound foundation by explaining why successful recipes work and why some mistakes happen. For example, if one enquires why lumps occur when flour is placed in a hot liquid, you will be led to useful conclusions that will allow certain culinary practices to be refined.

 One does not have to be a scientist to be a great chef, the latest food trends in restaurants such as El Bulli is all about food as theatre rather than food as just food. Adria, states that he has never ascribed any scientific origin to his creations, they have come about from a purely culinary quest: observation and curiosity have been part and parcel of his activity. For example, in 1998 when it was discovered that agar-agar could withstand high temperatures, hot jellies were created based on nothing but observation.

Adria, says ‘I think what we have here is a marketing operation and the public should not be tricked into believing that molecular cuisine is a cooking style’.’ To cook well, we must learn (its history, techniques, products, tradition and innovation, culinary processes, etc.). Then, think, discuss, try out, reflect, choose…And then constantly question anything we assume is true’.’ And if in the meantime we need to resort to science or history books or any other creative discipline, at least we shall acquire new information to reinforce our culinary philosophy’. Bl ‘Tradition is the base which all cooks who aspire to excellence must know and master, our open approach builds upon the best that tradition has to offer’. As to the methods they employ, ‘It is all just cooking’. ‘We do not pursue novelty for its own sake, We may use modern thickeners, sugar substitutes, enzymes, liquid nitrogen and other non traditional methods but these do not define our cooking’. Blumenthal highlights that they are a few of the many tools that they are fortunate to have available as they strive to make delicious and stimulating dishes.

 Blumenthal  offers that eating engages all the senses as well as the mind and that preparing and serving food could possibly be the most complex of the performing arts

 ‘science looks for mechanisms of phenomena, whereas technology is using scientific results to enhance a technique or a craft. As all recipes are composed of three parts (the technically useless details, the definitions, and the culinary exact measurements), molecular gastronomy should study all these parts, but only from a scientific point of view’.

 Gap between Science and Culinary Arts

The manufacturing food industry has recently welcomed chefs into the business causing more than a few fireworks in the product development laboratories as creativity clashes against the disciplined application of scientific principles. Chefs bring a unique viewpoint to the food industry as they do not see the food through analytical or scientific eyes. They are creative and artistic individuals. While scientists can give benefits to cooks, the relationship is also reciprocal- scientists can gain from the skills, knowledge and innovation of chefs. They are continuously contributing with new ideas, some of which are very interesting and motivating from an industrial point of view. Chefs working with scientists give the chefs opportunities that are rarely possible without this collaboration, for example, access to processing equipment and analytical device; further suggesting that it is important for chefs to develop a scientific way of thinking, i.e. a generic approach to problems rather than an approach very specific to a particular meaning. Many chefs fail to realise the complexity of product development for products to be sold in retail stores, as opposed to food service dishes. Corporate chefs will need to know how to scale up products they develop for manufacturing and what guidelines will make the food a success and be cost effective.

The intersection of molecular gastronomy and the culinary arts is a natural meeting place of the two cultures: scientific rationalism and the creative arts. Few of the general public understand the scientific composition of food. However, scientists are well placed to communicate such knowledge to society. By capitalising upon the potential for the general public to listen to chefs, a bridge may be developed to educate people about a healthier and improved manner of eating based on. With experts from different disciplines such as history, culture, and industrial design etc, are essential for progress in cooking, in particular collaboration with the food industry and scientists which have already brought about fundamental advances. ‘Sharing this knowledge among cooking professionals has contributed to this evolution’.

Ferran Adria’s collaboration with scientist and gourmet Pere Castells, resulted in the setting up of The Alicia Foundation and so managed to exchange ideas and build up work structure. One specific result of this partnership was the publication of a Scientific and Gastronomic Lexicon, a tool designed to bridge the gap between cooking and science.

                 

 Future of Molecular Gastronomy

‘What is the future of food once we start to explore it scientifically’? ‘The difficultly with the future is that it is hard to predict,. We should avoid making the same mistakes that French chemist Marcellin Berthelot made about a century ago; he predicted that the success of organic chemistry would allow us to abandon traditional food and by the year 2000, eat nutritive tablets instead. He was obviously wrong as humans are living organisms, with an extremely sophisticated sensory apparatus that has evolved over millions of years to detect odour, taste, consistency, temperature and more’

It seems that collaborations with chefs are vital. The advantages for the chefs are clear: new dishes, new ways of preparing existing dishes, new techniques. ‘For the chef, new horizons open through the understanding of some physics, chemistry and the psychology of food’

The American culinary scene, Sarkar and Cantu unequivocally predict that within ten years, half the restaurants in the United States will offer that type of cuisine, and chefs that are not adopting it will be left behind. What they agree on, however, is that molecular gastronomy will not enter the domestic arena, under any label, anytime soon. Professor This says that certain facts that come out of his experiments, such as being able to make a chocolate mousse without using egg whites or that the temperature of the eggs and the oil does not matter when making mayonnaise, could save cooks time and/or money and might transfer into home kitchens, but not on a large scale. Lack of special equipment, such as emersion circulators, dehydrators and carbonators impede home cooks.

Nowaday’s we are just beginning to realise the important roles all our senses play in affecting the ways in which our brains interpret flavour. But we have a great deal to learn before we fully understand the complexities of how we taste food and perceive and appreciate flavour and texture. This journey of discovery which is the new science of molecular gastronomy will be a stimulating and exciting one. In Chicago, Homaro Cantu’s technological explorations at his laboratory, “Moto” have  attracted the attention of NASA with whom Cantu now has a contract for space ready food.

New technologies leave their mark on another sphere, which will play a main role in the future. Flavours and odours are synthesised in laboratories for example, Swiss perfume giant Givaudan, is contributing to the elaboration of more than 20 thousand artificial odours (300 strawberry only), and biologists from the multinational company organised a trip to the Madagascar forests in search of molecules from which new aromas could be obtained.

Technologies such as microwave ovens were developed due to research in food technology at American space agency (NASA).  The immediate task is to make products stay fresher for longer- “products, which can be kept for months without losing their nutritional properties and vitamin quality”, claims Michele Perchonok from NASA. Techniques that are used include pulsing electric fields, and high frequency sterilisation. A sandwich prepared in this way has turned out to be edible in seven years. The results can be useful for a mission to Mars although it seems nobody has tasted the sandwich yet .

Other molecular gastronomists make the future seem exciting, especially if we can control food production through better chemistry. The “meaning” of food seems now to be reduced to its molecules, without adequate attention to the possible emergent properties that may be produced. Charles Spence cites  that the future of gastronomy has great potential; to date; many of the advances in food design have come from a trial and error approach.

 The future seems to promise many new advances in the design and preparation of foods that are based on a better understanding of how the brain works. Any better understanding of how the brain puts together what it sees, hears, tastes, smells and feels, can help us design novel food experiences that more effectively stimulate the senses. McGee, (2004) adds that new emphasis now is on flavours and on some particular molecules which create flavour.

Prediction of Molecular Gastronomy for the Domestic Arena

Fewer people actually do cooking- because of prepared dishes at supermarkets, meal preparation kitchens and restaurants will become even cheaper- the remaining brave cooks are going a little science mad. This paradigm shift will not be such a big deal in practice as for example an oven is very much an advanced science gadget and people use meat thermometers. Practices will step up a little by replacing liquid measuring cups with more accurate dry weight scales; vacuum sealer and a Crock pot that stays at precise temperatures will enable cooks to sous vide meat (which is cooking in a bag for a short time at high temperatures); cooks can learn how to use agar-agar and xanthan gum (just better versions of gelatine and cornflour, really); and a review of some high school chemistry will also be useful.

Conclusion

Molecular gastronomy is still relatively new, constantly changing and subject to misinterpretations in the media and lacking a clear definition. However, in summary molecular can be summarised as a discipline involving the study of physical and chemical processes that happen in cooking. It investigates the mechanisms behind the transformation of ingredients and investigates the artistic, social and technical aspects of culinary phenomena in general.

Why choose me. ?
 I am a food enthusiast and innovator with numerous accolades and awards.As you can guess I am also a molecular gastronomy enthusiast.  The blog I composed gives people the option to decide for them selves what exactly molecular gastronomy is or isn't. For me personally I have taken molecular gastronomy to be both a food discipline and a science.

So to back up my opinion I have taken a truly Traditional Irish dish and have reconstructed in a molecular fashion using the new ingredients and techniques available at my disposal.

The dish. " Boiled bacon and Cabbage with parsley sauce.

The reconstruction involves the use of iso whippers, waterbath for precision cooking, hand blender for airs, emulsions created using agar agar , cabbage juice and olive oil. Also potato Gnocchi cooked in an alginate bath. The dish is to demonstrate by embracing new Phenomenons like "Molecular Gastronomy" that we can explore and do almost anything we want with old dishes(by transforming them into new creations)with the aid of the equipment, techniques and ingredients at our disposal.

The opportunity to meet professionals of different gastronomic fields, to savour the  delights and traditional cuisine served in different ways. To promote Ireland in a Molecular Gastronomique way . To try and promote the fact that we are not miles apart from the elite when it comes to Gastronomy and Molecular Gastronomy.
And most of all to show that "molecular gastronomy" and  new phenomenons  alike should be embraced rather than shunned.

"The future of our generations relies solely on what we feed our children"