Molecular Gastronomy free essay sample

In order to develop a thorough understanding of the science of molecular gastronomy, it needs to be examined not only in the context of the restaurant (as most media commentary do), but also in the other locations in which it is practiced: the scientific laboratory, where it originated, and the home, where it has been taken up recently by amateur ‘foodies’. Expert systems are coming to dominate more areas of the everyday life, such as food and cooking. It shifts from the hands of professional scientific ‘experts’ in the laboratories into another type of ‘expert’, the professional chef in the kitchen, and from there to amateur foodies at home. In each location it is tied to a different goal. In the laboratory, molecular gastronomy is harnessed to the professional scientist’s goal of ‘culinary enlightenment’; in the restaurant, it is tied to the professional chef’s goal of ‘culinary creativity’; and in the home, it is tied to the amateur foodie’s goal of ‘gastronomic education’. . From the laboratory The Scientifics, Kurti and This, integrated science form the industrial food production (food science) into the small-scale culinary realms of the restaurant and home.Therefore they developed molecular gastronomy – originally called ‘molecular and physical gastronomy’ and bringing bringing scientific enlightenment to the kitchen, â€Å"culinary enlightenment†. The main reason for the Kurti and This, is that they feel that people have been cooking the same way already from the Middle Ages, using the same methods. The entire word has been experiencing innovation and therefore also the gastronomy should experience this. It is a foundation for future culinary progress. The main aim of molecular gastronomy is to use scientific experiments to test culinary recipes and to prove them either true or false.This will be the construction of (culinary) facts which is the main work of the scientific laboratory. Molecular gastronomy aims to remove all ‘false’ traditions from cookbooks, leaving only scientifically proven universal culinary truths. Herve This feels like people are hold back by traditions which do not bring any innovation. The founders define dishes as ‘complex disperse systems’ (CDS), and have developed a scientific language called ‘CDS formalism’, which aims to provide a global description of the physical microstructure of a dish by translating its recipe into a scientific formula.This involves deconstructing a dish into its ingredients to examine their properties and determine how culinary transformations occur. This translation of recipes into formulas is called ‘modeling dishes’. In addition, molecular gastronomy has drawn on science to develop new methods of cooking, such as ‘coction’ or ‘cooking without thermal treatment’. Moreover, it looks to the laboratory for new ingredients for home and restaurant cooking, such as the ‘aromatic preparations’ (synthetic molecular solutions) often used by the food industry, which This suggests could enhance natural flavours and enlarge the overall palette of flavours.Herve This concludes that only the universalizing projects of molecular gastronomy, establishing culinary truths and recipe-formulas, are actually ‘pure’ science, because the product of science is knowledge. In contrast, finding new ingredients, methods, tools and dishes is applied science or technology. Cooking, he argues, ‘is a craft, an art and not a science †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Overall, it can be said that science can be used to determine whether traditional recipes were false or true. However, the actual matching and cooking of ingredients is not possible without the gift of taste and creativity. Into the kitchen The culinary knowledge and practice of chefs in the kitchen is transformed into an abstract system of scientific expertise. Nevertheless, the combination of ingredients in order to create unique flavors will not change. However, Food is judged not merely as a technical product but also as an aesthetic, sensory one. The molecular gastronomy chef transforms the everyday knowledge and practice of cooking into an expert abstract system in the pursuit of culinary progress. This expert knowledge also has its own specialist language.A ‘technique’ is a process of cooking or transforming an ingredient, such as boiling or grilling. Adria, chef of El Bulli, his molecular gastronomy looks to scientific equipment and ingredients to develop new techniques such as freeze-drying, siphoning, and spherification. These techniques have led to new ‘concepts’ which are different ways of presenting ingredients in a particular form. Yet science is not the only sphere of expertise that Adria draws on to construct his theory of culinary creativity: he also draws on the expert system of cultural theory, in particular, structuralism.Adria argues that ‘cooking is a language’, and that a dish is a dialogue between the chef and the diner. Unlike the scientists, Adria is concerned with the meanings of dishes. At home Amateurs examine the same activities as their professional counterparts, but as a hobby during their leisure time, not a task during their work time. Nevertheless, they engage in ‘serious leisure’. The goal of amateurs is the acquisition and expression of special skills and knowledge in the activity. Consequently, in gastronomy this involves knowledge and skills related to food.However, with the upcoming trend of molecular gastronomy, the more practical challenges of producing similar dishes at home occur. Many of the necessary scientific ingredients and equipment are not commonly found in the domestic kitchen. It is difficulties as an amateur to find a retailer willing to supply small quantities of culinary chemicals and a hazard of transporting these liquids. Overall, amateurs engage in the same practices of research, experimentation and knowledge production as the professional scientists and chefs in his domestic laboratory.They also practice the ‘science’ of molecular gastronomy. â€Å"Molecular Gastronomy is a form of art† In conclusion, molecular gastronomy has been fascinating different people in different areas in different ways. It has triggered people to look for innovation and recognition. Overall, it brings a new dimension to the techniques of creating unique art works. Scientifics can now validate ages old tradition, chefs can create unique e aesthetic art work and finally amateurs can trigger themselves to learn more about the gastronomy. All by all, every creation is an artwork. However, art is always subjective