The Science of Food

Cooked, A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan

Reviewed by Gregory R. Ziegler, Penn State Professor of Food Science
May 2013

This most recent book by journalist Michael Pollan follows what is now the Pollan formula – three or four sections with one-word subtitles – in the present case: fire, water, air and earth . In Cooked, A Natural History of Transformation, Pollan sets out “to pinpoint the precise historical moment that cooking took its fatefully wrong turn: when civilization began processing food in such a way as to make it less nutritious rather than more.” Spoiler alert! “[T]he sharpest and clearest line would be the advent of pure white flour…” [More]

Silicon Valley And The Reinvention Of Food

Fake meats have been around for years, but a new crop of Bay Area startups backed by tech investors think they can make meat substitutes good enough to compete with the real deal. Beyond Meat — backed by Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone via their company Obvious Corp — created an eerily accurate chicken substitute, for example.

But the most ambitious project is Rob Rhinehart‘s cheekily named “Soylent,” an attempt to replace food entirely with a liquid shake that has all the protein, fat, carbohydrates and micronutrients you need. [MORE]

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

The growing attention Americans are paying to what they put into their mouths has touched off a new scramble by the processed-food companies to address health concerns. Pressed by the Obama administration and consumers, Kraft, Nestlé, Pepsi, Campbell and General Mills, among others, have begun to trim the loads of salt, sugar and fat in many products. And with consumer advocates pushing for more government intervention, Coca-Cola made headlines in January by releasing ads that promoted its bottled water and low-calorie drinks as a way to counter obesity.[MORE]

The rise and fall of white bread

We learned to hate the processed loaves not just because of health -- but because of class, status and race

Whole wheat bread “signifies the sophistication of your 
palate, your appreciation for texture and variety…. The grainier you like it, the more refined your sensibilities. The darker it is, the greater your chance for enlightenment.” Industrial white bread has completed its two-hundred-year trajectory from modern marvel to low-class item. As the spokeswoman for a food industry–affiliated nonprofit nutrition policy organization concluded, “It used to be, ‘Oh, you poor thing, you have that nasty brown bread.’ … Now it’s, ‘Oh, you poor thing. You have that nasty white bread.’ ” [MORE]

Cryogenic Cooking

Liquid nitrogen can transform oil, berries and even hamburgers 

Scientific American Magazine » August 2011 (subscription required for complete article)

Since man’s discovery of fire, cooking has been mainly a process of subjecting food to high temperatures that chemically alter its color, taste and texture. But the invention of cryogenic technology has handed chefs an exciting new tool—liquid nitrogen—for transforming food in fun and surprising ways. [MORE]

More on "molecular gastronomy" here.

From supernova to supermarket: How NASA food science can benefit consumers

Lessons learned improving the quality and nutritional content of food for astronauts could open up opportunities for the food industry back here on earth, says Dr Michele Perchonok, manager of NASA's shuttle food system and advanced food technology project.

In this exclusive interview, Dr Perchonok explained that the food system will have to evolve if we are to successfully send humans to the planet Mars. [MORE]

Developing the NASA Food System for Long-Duration Missions. 2011. Maya Cooper, Grace Douglas, and Michele Perchonok Journal of Food Science March 2011 [Download article]

 

Food Inflation Kept Hidden in Tinier Bags

Chips are disappearing from bags, candy from boxes and vegetables from cans.  As an expected increase in the cost of raw materials looms for late summer, consumers are beginning to encounter shrinking food packages. [MORE]

See also "Objects in store are smaller than they appear" from the Los Angeles Times, 2008.

and, ""Shoppers beware: Products shrink but prices stay the same" from USA Today, 2008.

Freakonomics Radio: Waiter, There’s a Physicist In My Soup

In the first segment of a two-parter about food and food science; it’s also about why we eat what we eat, and how that may change in the future. The first episode takes a look at the “molecular gastronomy” movement, which gets a big bump in visibility next month with the publication of a mammoth cookbook called Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. Its principal author is Nathan Myhrvold, the former chief technology officer of Microsoft who now runs an invention company called Intellectual Ventures.

In Part 2, we get out of the kitchen and take a broader look at the past, present and future of food science. (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen live via the link in box at right or read the transcript here.) First, we hear from John Floros, a food scientist at Penn State who co-authored a paper on the history of food science. (Special thanks on this episode go to the Institute for Food Technology.) He explains why we have Napoleon Bonaparte to thank for canned food. He also explains why anyone who’s alive today might want to thank a food scientist.

Beware the Myth of Grass-Fed Beef

Cows raised at pasture are not immune to deadly E. coli bacteria.

James E. McWilliams Slate.com

The comparative health benefits of grass-fed beef are well documented. Scores of studies indicate that it's higher in omega 3s and lower in saturated fat. But when it comes to E. coli O157:H7, the advantages of grass-fed beef are not so clear. In fact, exploring the connection between grass-fed beef and these dangerous bacteria offers a disturbing lesson in how culinary wisdom becomes foodie dogma and how foodie dogma can turn into a recipe for disaster [MORE].

Organic Nutrient Quality

May 14, 2009

Current data from on and between farm comparisons conducted over several growing seasons suggest that there is no simple answer to the organic vs. conventional comparison. The effects of the cultivation system are often obscured by other environmental and genetic factors. However in all the research reported, the organic cultivation system performed as well as the conventional system. Thus, organic produce is not likely to be inferior to that produced by conventional methods [MORE].

J. Lynne Brown, Professor of Food Science, Penn State University 

More on nutritional aspects of organic food from the Institute of Food Technologists: Scientific Status Summary - Organic Food

Organic Food Not Nutritionally Better Than Conventionally-produced Food, Review Of Literature Shows. ScienceDaily (July 30, 2009) — There is no evidence that organically produced foods are nutritionally superior to conventionally produced foodstuffs, according to a study published July 29 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.