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This book provides a playground for the readers to practice and develop scientific thinking, by exploring the world of food in a fun way. The authors take the role of someone trying to find interesting questions to ask about familiar, though often hidden, phenomena. Claims (or myths) on everyday cooking provide numerous cases for this. Using popular cooking myths as a springboard, this book discusses these riddles, interweaving a scientific rationale for the phenomena with a culinary or craftsman explanation. This book covers not only science (physics, chemistry, biology) but also cultural aspects (tradition, history, emotion), of what food/cooking is all about.
List of contents
The real thing? Chemistry and psychology of an apple pie. Boiling an egg inside out. Cooking mussels with acid or not. Sausage engineering. Mustard - fiercely yours. The potatoes that refused to become tender. Gravlax and salt - can salt climb upwards? The physics of cooking (I): Heat - on heat when cooking. The physics of cooking (II): Heat in the skillet. The physics of cooking (III): Tempering the meat. The physics of cooking (IV): Cooking pits. Wine in cooking (I): White. Wine in cooking (II): Red. The role of salt when cooking pasta. How do we taste food? What is "good tasting food"?. Salt and flavours. Claim: “You should be very careful in handling the cake hot out from the oven as it will collapse easily." The porridge feud - who was right in 1860s Norway. Doing the dishes.
About the author
Anu Hopia, PhD, is Professor and research director of food development with special focus on molecular gastronomy. Currently she works as a professor of food development at University of Turku. She earned her PhD Thesis at University of Helsinki during 1990-1994. After that she joined University of California Davis for post doctoral year and continued as a senior scientist at Univ Helsinki until 2000 when she joined Raisio Plc. In addition, she have worked as associate professor at Univ helsinki since 1996. In Raisio she worked first in R&D for 5 years as R&D director of the Raisio Benecol business unit and then moved to international sales for another 3 years.
Erik Fooladi, PhD, is Associate professor at Volda University College, University of Oslo, where he Specializes in Chemistry, food, molecular gastronomy, education, science education. He earned his PhD at the University of Oslo. He developed The Kitchen Stories project, and interdisciplinary network of culinary claims, that enables learning science through food - learning food through science.
Summary
Using popular cooking myths as a springboard, this book discusses these riddles, interweaving a scientific rationale for the phenomena with a culinary or craftsman explanation. This book covers not only science (physics, chemistry, biology) but also cultural aspects (tradition, history, emotion), of what food/cooking is all about.
