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The Emerging Science of Gastrophysics

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The Emerging Science of Gastrophysics Applying science, scientific reasoning, and scientific methodologies to the MOURITSEN & RISBO study of food and cooking is an old trait that to a large extent is based on the chemical sciences. The focus has been on chemical compounds as well as chemical reactions and transformations involved in foodstuff, preparation techniques, and culinary precisions. Gastrophysics is proposed as a generic term to characterize an emerging scientific discipline primarily based on the ( physical sciences underpinned by all three pillars of modern physics: theory, RED. ) experiment, and modeling/simulation. Gastrophysics takes its inspiration from the world of cooking and gastronomy. Gastrophysics is physics, and its empirical GASTROPHYSICS SCIENCEOF EMERGING THE basis of gastrophysics is gastronomy itself. An interdisciplinary symposium on The Emerging Science of Gastrophysics brought together in August 2012 a number of representatives of the physical, chemical, nutritional, psychological, and cognitive sciences as well as chefs, gastronomical entrepreneurs, and in- dividuals working within gastronomical innovation. By bringing together key actors, the purpose of the Symposium was to help define, shape, and refine the preliminary and somewhat loose idea of what gastrophysics may be. The present volume contains ten papers from this symposium published in Flavour. Flavour 2013, 2 (http://www.flavourjournal.com/series/gastrophysics2012) . Smag for Livet er et center, der vil åbne danskernes øjne for smag. Det gør vi ved at udføre forskningsbaseret formidling og formidlingsbaseret forskning i smag. Målet med Smag for Livet er at få danske børn og voksne til at bruge deres smag bevidst, så de kan foretage begrundede madvalg. Det implicerer både smagsoplevelser, viden om smag, læring om smag og udvikling af smag i mad. Smag for Livet vil med en unik grad af tværfaglighed og med eksemplets kraft gøre smagen central, når vi spiser, og når vi lærer. Smag for Livet vil støtte og udfordre smag som drivkraft for det gode liv ved at gøre det muligt at sætte ord på smag, vælge smag og få lyst til eksperimentere med smag. Smag for Livet er støttet af Nordea-fonden. www.smagforlivet.dk THE EMERGING SCIENCE OF GASTROPHYSICS OLE G. MOURITSEN & JENS RISBO (red.) SMAG #04 2015 skriftserie om smag SMAG Covers 08.indd 19-21 16/10/15 14:15 THE EMERGING SCIENCE OF GASTROPHYSICS Af Ole G. Mouritsen & Jens Risbo (red.) SMAG #04 2015 skriftserie om smag The Emerging Science of Gastrophysics. SMAG #04 2015 Ole G. Mouritsen & Jens Risbo (red.) The articles in this issue of SMAG have previously been published by Flavour (http://www.flavourjournal.com/series/gastrophysics2012) in 2013 and are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. Grafik og layout: CHROMASCOPE ISBN (trykt): 978-87-998266-6-7 ISBN (elektronisk): 978-87-998266-7-4 Nøgleord: gastrophysics, science of food and cooking, gastronomy Dette og andre numre af SMAG kan downloades fra www.smagforlivet.dk. Gengivelser og uddrag, herunder citater, er tilladt med tydelig kildeangivelse. TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 Mouritsen OG, Risbo J. 25 Mouritsen OG, Duelund L, Gastrophysics—do we need it? Bagatolli LA, Khandelia H. The Flavour 2013, 2:3 name of deliciousness and the gastrophysics behind it. Flavour 7 Ahnert SE. Network analysis 2013, 2:9 and data mining in food science: the emergence of 29 Rowat AC. The molecules we computational gastronomy. eat: Food as a medium to Flavour 2013, 2:4 communicate science. Flavour 2013, 2:10 10 Barham P. Physics in the kitchen. Flavour 2013, 2:5 33 van der Linden E. Integration of gastronomy and physics for 14 Fooladi E, Hopia A. Culinary innovation. Flavour 2013, 2:11 precisions as a platform for interdisciplinary dialogue. 36 Vilgis T. Texture, taste and Flavour 2013, 2:6 aroma: multi-scale materials and the gastrophysics of food. 18 Goñi F. A biophysicist in the Flavour 2013, 2:12 kitchen. Flavour 2013, 2:7 21 Møller P. Gastrophysics in the brain and body. Flavour 2013, 2:8 Mouritsen & Risbo (red.): The Emerging Science of Gastrophysics 3 An International Interdisciplinary Symposium The Emerging Science of Gastrophysics The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Copenhagen, August 27-28, 2012 Invited speakers: Sebastian Ahnert UK + Peter Barham UK + Michael Bom Frøst Denmark Erik van der Linden The Netherlands + Félix Gõni Spain + Martin Lersch Norway + Ole G. Mouritsen Denmark Per Møller Denmark + Jens Risbo Denmark + Amy Rowat USA + Dana Small USA + Peter Schurtenberger Sweden Thomas Vilgis Germany + Lars Williams Denmark Organizers: Ole G. Mouritsen (University of Southern Denmark), Peter Kreiner (Nordic Food Lab), and Jens Risbo (University of Copenhagen) Sponsors: Carlsberg Foundation & LMC-Centre for Advanced Food Studies & Nordic Food Lab. Contact: [email protected] | www.memphys.sdu.dk 4 SMAG #04 2015. Skriftserie om smag Mouritsen and Risbo Flavour 2013, 2:3 http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/3 EDITORIAL Open Access Gastrophysics—do we need it? Ole G Mouritsen1* and Jens Risbo2 Abstract Applying science, scientific reasoning, and scientific methodologies to the study of food and cooking is an old trait that to a large extent is based on the chemical sciences. The focus has been on chemical compounds as well as chemical reactions and transformations involved in foodstuff, preparation techniques, and culinary precision. Gastrophysics is proposed as a generic term to characterize an emerging scientific discipline primarily based on the physical sciences underpinned by all three pillars of modern physics: theory, experiment, and modeling/simulation. Gastrophysics takes its inspiration from the world of cooking and gastronomy. It is our contention that gastrophysics is a science in its own right, not a discipline designed only to service chefs in interpreting and creating new dishes. Gastrophysics is physics, and its empirical basis of gastrophysics is gastronomy itself. Physics or stamp collecting? their personal opinion on what gastrophysics may be The British physicist Ernest Rutherford is quoted to have and whether we need this new term at all. said ‘All science is either physics or stamp collection.’ A bold statement from a physicist, but probably meaning- Molecular gastronomy, molecular cuisine, culinary ful in the sense that the history of physics is to have chemistry, culinary precision, note-by-note cuisine gone repeatedly into other disciplines and made them in- ... and all that to modern, quantitative, and universal sciences—basically Very strong opinions have been put forward regarding turning them into physics. Chemical physics, biophysics, differences and similarities between all these terms. This geophysics, astrophysics, and econophysics are prominent is not the place to flog that old horse. Clearly, molecular examples. Hence, we suggest taking Rutherford’s words as gastronomy relies heavily on well-established sciences, an invitation rather than an insult. such as food chemistry, general food science, and food A recent international symposium entitled ‘The Emer- processing technology. In their authoritative review on ging Science of Gastrophysics’ rallied a number of molecular gastronomy, Barham and colleagues [1] pre- representatives of the physical, chemical, nutritional, sent their definition of molecular gastronomy and how it psychological, and cognitive sciences as well as chefs, differs from gastronomy, advocating that molecular gas- gastronomical entrepreneurs, and individuals working tronomy ‘should be considered as the scientific study of within gastronomical innovation. By bringing together key why some food tastes terrible, some is mediocre, some actors, the purpose of the Symposium was to help define, good, and occasionally some absolutely delicious.’ In this shape, and refine the preliminary and somewhat loose idea definition there is no specific reference as to why the of gastrophysics. The Symposium concluded that gastro- term molecular is invoked, although it is tacitly assumed physics, by its designated move from stamp collection to that molecular gastronomy is based on a scientific and physics, could well have a significant impact on both systematic study using molecularly based sciences, where- gastronomy and tomorrow’s food sciences and how they as nutrition and health are subdominant. develop in the 21st century. The use of physical principles to study foods from a In this special issue of Flavour, thirteen scientists materials science perspective is well established in food present nine ‘statements’ on gastrophysics and expose physics and food biophysics [2-4] with a focus on phy- sical and physico-chemical properties, such as texture, * Correspondence: [email protected] foam stability, emulsification properties, phase transfor- 1 Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Pharmacy, MEMPHYS, Center for mations, the physical principles underlying cooking Biomembrane Physics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, Odense M DK-5230, Denmark processes, and so on. These approaches are often less Full list of author information is available at the end of the article concerned with sensory perception and gastronomical © 2013 Mouritsen and Risbo; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Mouritsen & Risbo (red.): The Emerging Science of Gastrophysics 5
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