Tag Archives: molecular gastronomy

Biophysics and molecular gastronomy (comme les français)

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It’s a bit of a stretch as the presenter himself admits but there is a connection to be made between molecular gastronomy and biophysics according to a Feb. 9, 2015 news release on EurkeAlert,

Anyone who’s ever been to France knows it’s a country that celebrates its food and takes enormous pride in not only the taste, but also the appearance and the overall “joie de vivre” involved. So it should come as no surprise that scientific disciplines like biophysics are being embraced for their ability to reveal the underlying physical and chemical processes that occur during food preparation and consumption.

During the Biophysical Society’s 59th Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Md., Feb. 7-11, 2015, Christophe Lavelle, an expert in biophysics, epigenetics and food science who works for the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France, will describe his research dedicated to gaining a deeper understanding of genome compaction within the cells in our bodies and the way it influences gene expression.

“While the link with cooking may not be immediately obvious, when you realize that not only are food transformations and gene expression both a matter of macromolecule structure and dynamics, but also that the types of food you choose to eat influence the expression of your genes, then you have two good reasons to be interested in molecular gastronomy and genome mechanics,” said Lavelle. [emphasis mine]

The study of molecular biology got its start in the 1930s when physicists and chemists became interested in exploring life at its most fundamental level. Forty years later, Hungarian physicist Nicolas Kurti exclaimed: “It is a sad reflection on our civilization that while we can and do measure the temperature in the atmosphere of Venus we do not know what goes on inside our soufflés.” [emphasis mine]

This paved the way for what Kurti and his French colleague Hervé This called “molecular gastronomy,” dedicated to the study of the physical and chemical processes involved in cooking and eating.

Kurti’s exclamation seems almost French or perhaps this devotion to food is an aspect of Hungarian culture heretofore unknown to me. In any event, the theme is developed somewhat further by Lavelle,

“Biophysics can be defined as an interdisciplinary science using concepts and methods of physics to study biological matter,” explains Lavelle. “So biophysics can naturally help us to understand what’s occurring when we cook.”

An egg white is 90 percent water, for example, but if you put it in the microwave for 10 seconds, although it remains 90 percent water its form changes enough so that you could bite into it. “There is obviously a lot of physics happening here,” Lavelle noted.

Another quick example that most of us know is that when you slice into an apple it quickly starts to turn brown. But to avoid this, you can sprinkle it with lemon juice. “This time, some chemistry is probably involved,” he said. “And since eggs, apples and lemon all come from nature, biology is obviously involved also!”

“These are just a few examples to introduce soft — and sometimes living — matter,” Lavelle pointed out. “Taking an interdisciplinary approach that combines biopolymer physics, thermodynamics, physiology and macromolecule biochemistry — among other subjects — can help us to better understand culinary phenomena and ultimately influence the way we cook and what we choose to eat.”

Food transformation and consumption phenomena also tend to generate puzzling questions, which Lavelle believes are actually “promising and appetizing” opportunities to raise interest in science and improve health among students and the general public.

The next step is to “merge human sciences with ‘hard’ sciences to reach a truly interdisciplinary knowledge of food — following the Brillat-Savarin definition of gastronomy as ‘the knowledge of all that relates to man as he eats,'” said Lavelle.

Sadly, it’s too late to attend Lavelle’s Feb. 9, 2015 presentation, “Delicious Biophysics: Cooking as a Prolific Support to Teach Biophysical Concepts”, at the 59th annual meeting of the Biophysical Society, Feb. 7 – 11, 2015.

Pushing molecular gastronomy boundaries to create new cooking techniques

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Researchers are hoping to develop new cooking techniques eventually by looking closely at how chefs practice molecular gastronomy, From an Oct. 1, 2014 news item on phys.org,

One of the most iconic forms of avant-garde cuisine, also known as molecular gastronomy, involves the presentation of flavorful, edible liquids—like cocktails or olive oil—packaged into spheres. Now a team of scientists, in collaboration with world-renowned chef Ferran Adriá, is getting to the bottom of what makes these delectable morsels possible. Their findings appear in ACS’ The Journal of Physical Chemistry B.

For anyone who wants to see these edible liquids, there’s this demonstration by Ferran Adriá

An Oct. 1, 2014 American Chemical Society news release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, provides a few more details about the research,

Christophe Chipot, Wensheng Cai and colleagues explain that the technique of “spherification” was invented 70 years ago but was popularized in avant-garde cuisine more recently by Adriá. The process of making the spheres involves packaging juice or other liquid ingredients in envelopes of calcium alginate, a gelatinous substance made mostly out of molecules extracted from brown seaweed. Although spherification has become a prominent technique in molecular gastronomy, no one had investigated the formation and stability of the alginates at the atomic level. Chipot’s team wanted to change that.

The researchers used classical molecular dynamics techniques to probe how alginate spheres form. Among other discoveries, they found that alginate chains spontaneously wrap like a net around liquid droplets and that calcium ions were key. They concluded that studies such as these, which bridge the gap between material science and avant-garde cuisine, could help chefs and food scientists rationally design the next generation of innovative cooking techniques.

The funds for this work came from a number of institutions (from the news release),

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin, China and the Cai Yuanpei program of the  [France?] Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et du Développement International.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

From Material Science to Avant-Garde Cuisine. The Art of Shaping Liquids into Spheres by Haohao Fu, Yingzhe Liu, Ferran Adrià, Xueguang Shao, Wensheng Cai, and Christophe Chipot. J. Phys. Chem. B, Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/jp508841p Publication Date (Web): September 15, 2014

Copyright © 2014 American Chemical Society

The researchers have also made this image illustrating the transformation of a bowl of peas into a chemical mass and finally into a reconstructed, liquid pea available.

PeaMolecularGastronomy