Molecular Gastronomy: A Food Fad or an Interface for Science-based Cooking?

A review is given over the field of molecular gastronomy and its relation to science and cooking. We begin with a brief history of the field of molecular gastronomy, the definition of the term itself, and the current controversy surrounding this term. We then highlight the distinction between molecular gastronomy and science-based cooking, and we discuss both the similarities and the distinctions between science and cooking. In particular, we highlight the fact that the kitchen serves as an ideal place to foster interactions between scientists and chefs that lead to benefits for the general public in the form of novel and high-quality foods. On the one hand, it can facilitate the implementation of new ideas and recipes in restaurants. On the other hand, it challenges scientists to apply their fundamental scientific understanding to the complexities of cooking, and it challenges them to expand the scientific understanding of many chemical and physical mechanisms beyond the common mass-produced food products. In addition, molecular gastronomy forms an ideal base to educate the general public about the basic principles of science and cooking and how they can be utilized to improve the awareness of the role of food and nutrition for the quality of life

Bioplastics made from upcycled food waste. Prospects for their use in the field of design

In recent years, the negative effects on the environment of the intensive use of synthetic, oil-derived plastics to make products, even those with a limited required duration, have given renewed impetus to the search for biodegradable and/or compostable materials obtained from renewable sources, particularly biopolymers derived from vegetable, animal or microbial matter that could prove a valid alternative in a number of applications: not only in the packaging industry, but also for making objects with a longer required duration. Indeed, as well as offering the possibility of being used as they are, immediately after having undergone traditional-type mechanical processing, it is also possible to mix, supplement and modify them both on a macro- and nanometric scale, allowing us to significantly increase their properties and performance and adapt them to a wide variety of needs. However, the real challenge is to create new materials from food waste and not from specially grown crops, whose production has, in any case, an environmental cost. This allows us to reduce the waste produced when processing foods, which is usually a practical problem and involves a considerable investment in economic terms. It also helps us address one of the worst problems of our time: that of the waste that sees a third of the food produced worldwide lost along the various steps of the food production chain. There is an enormous variety of vegetable, animal and microbial waste that can be used to create biopolymers: from the orange peels left over from fruit juice production to the grapes used to produce wine; from chocolate production waste to egg shells and prawns. We can extract the starches, cellulose, pectin, chitin, lactic acid, collagen, blood proteins and gelatin that form the basis of bioplastics from these materials, either extracting them directly or using mechanical or chemical processes. These are true ‘treasure troves’ of substances that can become useful materials thanks to processes of varying complexity. In recent years, the testing of substances made from food waste has increased significantly; the sheer abundance of raw materials that can be used to make them has encouraged institutional research, as well as an approach to project development that has been widely embraced by many young designers who craft these materials. Nevertheless, there is still no systematic record of the results achieved. This has slowed down their adoption, which in contrast offers enormous potential that is still almost entirely unexplored. This paper considers all aspects of these materials, starting with the most interesting experiments underway, and envisages possible future scenarios

Mediterranean Medley 地中海飲食地圖

Taking in parts of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, a culinary tour of the Mediterranean reveals dishes that – while utilising many of the same core ingredients – also embrace incredibly varied, creatively complex and palate-pleasing regional influences. 地中海沿岸國家分佈於歐洲、非洲及中東地 區，區內菜式雖然使用許多相同的主要食材，但同時又各具特色，富有地方色彩，展現非凡創意

The Muscadine Experience: Adding Value to Enhance Profits

The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture received a grant from the National Research Initiative (NRI), CSREES USDA. The purpose was to help small- and medium-sized farmers and entrepreneurs enhance the viability of their farms through the establishment of vineyards, on-farm wineries, and production of value-added products from grapes and grape by-products. This publication looks at efforts by the UA Grape and Wine Research Program to enhance the profitability of muscadine grapes. Included are discussions of research designed to develop the market potential of muscadines as fresh fruit and as value-added products such as juice, wine, sweet spreads, vinegar, and dried products. The skin and seeds of muscadines have traditionally been considered waste; however, recent research has shown that they contain nutraceutical components. Reports are included of research to quantify these nutraceuticals and to develop products containing them

Vegetable oil as fat replacer inhibits formation of heterocyclic amines and 2 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in reduced fat pork patties

Formation of heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons 9 (PAHs) was examined to evaluate the impact of using vegetable oil as fat 10 replacement on carcinogen formation in meat product. Pork patties were formulated 11 with 40% fat replacement by olive oil, sunflower oil or grape seed oil, respectively 12 and cooked at 180oC or 220oC. Control patties contained the highest amount of 13 HCAs compared with all other patties at both temperatures. Olive oil and sunflower 14 oil replacement completely inhibited formation of MeIQ (2-amino-3, 4-15 methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline), while grape seed oil completely inhibited MeIQx (2- 16 amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline), 4,8-DiMeIQx (2-amino-3,4,8- 17 trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline) and PhIP (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5- 18 b]pyridine) in patties. Grape seed oil achieved the highest inhibition capacity 19 compared with sunflower oil and olive oil. HCAs increased significantly with cooking 20 temperature (p<0.05), but no difference was observed in total PAHs for patties 21 cooked at different temperature (p>0.05). In conclusion, fat replacement with 22 sunflower oil, olive oil or grape seed oil in pork patties could reduce the formation of 23 HCAs without compromising eating quality

Cooking Memories: A Sheridan College Community Cookbook

With the support of an internal SRCA Growth Grant and a team of student editors and designers, Dr. Jessica Carey, professor in the faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences (FHASS), has produced Cooking Memories: A Sheridan Community Cookbook - a collection of over forty recipes and food stories contributed by staff, faculty, and students at Sheridan College. The collection showcases the diversity of the Sheridan community in its wide range of cuisines and food experiences and presents a snapshot of the lived experience of people working and studying at Sheridan during the pandemic. The Cookbook is a unique record of contemporary collective memory, valuable to scholars and researchers in multiple fields including food studies, memory studies, and other historical and cultural disciplines. For the Sheridan community, the cookbook is both a community-building project - especially welcome during the pandemic - and a practical cooking resource.https://source.sheridancollege.ca/fhass_books/1022/thumbnail.jp

The Muscadine Experience: Adding Value to Enhance Profits

The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture received a grant from the USDA’s Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS) program. The purpose was to help small- and medium-sized farmers and entrepreneurs become more profitable and therefore add stability to the family farm. One approach to doing this is to investigate opportunities to enhance profits by adding value to traditional raw products

Certain features of using modified collagen-containing raw materials with prolonged shelf life in food technology

In the current circumstances, trends in nutrition of a person striving to lead a healthy life-style require intake of meat products with the reduced energy value, minimal amounts of fat, increased protein mass fraction, presence of substances improving homeostasis of the body. The synergism of the modern nutrition science and meat industry enables creating food products that satisfy consumers’ demand. Today, in the Russian Federation, a theoretical and practical base of the technology development has been collected to the full extent in the field of rational processing of secondary raw materials in the food industry, optimal use of animal secondary raw materials, study of the protein ingredients of animal and plant origin and their deep scientifically substantiated processing, improvement of technological processes and equipment, and correspondently, product range extension. The paper broadens the information about the modified collagen-containing raw materials (cattle rumen), examines physico-chemical characteristics of the collagen-containing raw material and its changes in the process of freeze-drying with a special attention paid to the study of changes in the histological structure. The presence of the relatively uniform fibrillar structure was determined, which facilitated discovering the functional potential of proteinoids that form the fibrillar matrix in the composition of products from different groups. Analysis of IR-spectra revealed several significant absorption bands linked with the state of peptide bonds. The character of bands is linked with the complex of valence and deformation vibrations of the N- and С- types. It is believed that IR-spectra reflect conformations in the protein secondary structure, which suggests preserving properties of the tropocollagen particle or collagen molecule. Freeze-dried modified collagen-containing cattle rumen was tested by the example of jellies. The obtained databank broadens information about physico-chemical properties of modified collagen-containing raw materials (cattle rumen).In the current circumstances, trends in nutrition of a person striving to lead a healthy life-style require intake of meat products with the reduced energy value, minimal amounts of fat, increased protein mass fraction, presence of substances improving homeostasis of the body. The synergism of the modern nutrition science and meat industry enables creating food products that satisfy consumers’ demand. Today, in the Russian Federation, a theoretical and practical base of the technology development has been collected to the full extent in the field of rational processing of secondary raw materials in the food industry, optimal use of animal secondary raw materials, study of the protein ingredients of animal and plant origin and their deep scientifically substantiated processing, improvement of technological processes and equipment, and correspondently, product range extension. The paper broadens the information about the modified collagen-containing raw materials (cattle rumen), examines physico-chemical characteristics of the collagen-containing raw material and its changes in the process of freeze-drying with a special attention paid to the study of changes in the histological structure. The presence of the relatively uniform fibrillar structure was determined, which facilitated discovering the functional potential of proteinoids that form the fibrillar matrix in the composition of products from different groups. Analysis of IR-spectra revealed several significant absorption bands linked with the state of peptide bonds. The character of bands is linked with the complex of valence and deformation vibrations of the N- and С- types. It is believed that IR-spectra reflect conformations in the protein secondary structure, which suggests preserving properties of the tropocollagen particle or collagen molecule. Freeze-dried modified collagen-containing cattle rumen was tested by the example of jellies. The obtained databank broadens information about physico-chemical properties of modified collagen-containing raw materials (cattle rumen)