Map of human chromosomes I am going to take a break today from food porn and food photography and not even talk about molecular gastronomy as you have read me do before (Essentialism and Authenticity in Food: Molecular Pablum, Molecular Gastronomy 101: Part 2 – The Nose and receptors, Molecular Gastronomy 101: Biology Basics – Part...

(Erlenmeyer flasks from the Argonne National Laboratory glass blowing shop. source) Today’s article, “The Essence of Nearly Anything, Drop by Limpid Drop“, by Harold McGee in The New York Times, has me thinking on what what we might call “real food“, authenticity, essentialism, and molecular gastronomy. You likely know that Harold McGee is a food science...

I have not really done this before but today I want to share a new blog find with you. Cuisiner en ligne : le blog cuisine Before you visit, be advised that you will need a computer that plays sound and a browser that plays well with others, namely, video-podcast web sites. I do not speak French but...

(Xanthan Gum. Chemical model graphic used with permission from Dr. Martin Chaplin of the London South Bank University, London, UK) Molecular Gastronomy plays with established food identities to challenge the semiotics of food. It explores the use of chemicals and processes previously the domain of high-throughput industrial food producers and food scientists to deliver...

Last year the kind people at the International Boston Seafood Show gave me a press pass so that I could cover this event for the Well Fed Network. I wrote an article for the Growers & Grocer’s blog (article link) and a few for this blog (Auto-design that has gone to the fishes, Ducktrap...

(Image Source: Gray’s Anatomy – Nose) I continue the Molecular Gastronomy series that I started in this post with a discussion of the nose, a sensory organ crucial for sensing what we eat. Whereas with the mouth we speak of “tastants” when we talk of the chemicals that excite our tastebuds, we use the word...

(Image Source: Gray’s Anatomy – Oral cavity)To understand the Molecular Gastronomy “movement” its best to start from First Principles. To begin, its useful to re-introduce ourselves with the physiological basis of taste. This means – let us examine the organs that higher vertebrates (specifically we humans) use to taste what we eat.Although we...

Swinging Bacon – Image Source: Alinea Restaurant food gallery Today I cruised over to Slashfood and saw a post regarding the Gastronomie blog’s day by day expose (a delicious and curious one) on her visit to Alinea in Chicago.I have never visited Alinea but from the accounts you read on Gastronomie and eGullet, it is clearly...