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

Delivery of Functionality in Complex Food Systems: Physically Inspired Approaches from Nanoscale to Microscale, Wageningen 18-21 October 2009

The Wageningen Delivery of Functionality symposium covered all aspects involved with food structural design to arrive at high-quality foods which meet demanding customer expectations and regulatory requirements. The symposium integrated aspects from the structural organization of foods at molecular and supramolecular scales to dedicated techniques required to describe and visualize such structures, the gastro-intestinal events and how to model these in a laboratory setting, and finally the impact those food structures and ingredients have on the consumer’s physiology and on the human perception. As an interdisciplinary platform, bringing together more than 160 researchers from academia and industry, the symposium meanwhile fulfills an important role in the food science communit

Structural and dynamic aspects of plasticization and antiplasticization in carbohydrate glasses.

Carbohydrate glasses are widely used in the protection of active ingredients in pharmaceutics and in foods. In the pharmaceutical domain, bioactive proteins and peptides are commonly stabilized by amorphous matrices based on the discaccharide trehalose [1], whereas in the food domain, oxidation-sensitive active ingredients, such as polyunsaturated fatty acids and essential oils are often encapsulated in matrices based on starch hydrolysates and sucrose [2]. In recent years, it has become clear that, whereas the glass transition of the glassy matrix is relevant for the protective properties of the amorphous matrix, the glassy-state structure and dynamics excert a controlling role as well, specifically in relation to the antiplasticization of the main constituent of the glassy matrix by low-molecular weight diluents [2]. In this lecture, I am reviewing experimental evidence for the antiplasticization and plasticization in carbohydrate glasses. I will first be discussing recent insights in impact of low-moelcular weight diluents on the dynamics of the glassy matrix as probed by dielectric spectroscopy, neutron scattering and solid-state NMR [1, 3]. I will then turn to our recent insights in the dependence of the molecular packing of carbohydrate glasses on composition, pressure and temperature as determined by positron annihilation life time spectroscopy and volumetric measurements [2, 4]. Finally, I will attempt to link the regimes as identified via the structural and dynamic properties in order to formulate a general hypothesis for the mechanism of plasticization and antiplasticization of carbohydrate glasses by low molecular weight diluents. [1] M.T. Cicerone, M.J. Pikal, K.K. Qian, Stabilization of proteins in solid form, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 93 (2015) 14-24. [2] J. Ubbink, Structural and thermodynamic aspects of plasticization and antiplasticization in glassy encapsulation and biostabilization matrices, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews (in press), doi:10.1016/j.addr.2015.12.019 (2016). [3] M.T. Cicerone, J.F. Douglas, β-Relaxation governs protein stability in sugar-glass matrices, Soft Matter, 8 (2012) 2983-2991. [4] S. Townrow, M. Roussenova, M.I. Giardiello, A. Alam, J. Ubbink, Specific Volume-Hole Volume Correlations in Amorphous Carbohydrates: Effect of Temperature, Molecular Weight, and Water Content, J Phys Chem B, 114 (2010) 1568-1578

A FIELD TRIP AS PART OF THE SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH MODULE

This study focused on the value of a field excursion for final-year Social Work students as part of the research module with the aim of integrating the theory and practice of research. Students were expected to do unstructured interviewing with older persons in a deep rural community, with the main focus of the study being on the impressions and experiences of the students. Seven main themes were delineated in this study according to narratives given by participants, namely Social Work and research, feelings of the researcher, knowledge of the self, resilience, infrastructure, challenges facing the community and future perspectives

Review of current evidence for folate in the prevention of neural tube defects

The incidence of neural tube defects (NTD) among black South Africans living in urban areas is low compared with reports of NTD incidence in rural areas  A NTD incidence of 0.95 per 1000 live births was reported in Cape Town,l while an incidence of 0.99 per 1 000 live births was reported in a study performed at Kalafong Academic Hospital, Pretoria.' In contrast, the prevalence of NTD in the black population in rural Transkei was 6.13 per 1 000 live births,' and in rural Northern Province it was 3.55 per 1 000 live births.' In view of the association between folic acid status and NiD, we  performed a study in rural and urban communities to determine whether folate or vitamin B12 status and/or abnormal homocyst(e)ine metabolism could explain why the incidence of NTD in rural areas is so high. (Homocyst(e)me (tHcy) refers to the sum of concentrations of free homocysteine, protein-bound homocysteine, the disulphide homocystine, and the mixed disulphide homocysteine-cysteine.

Delivery of Functionality in Complex Food Systems: Physically Inspired Approaches from Nanoscale to Microscale, Wageningen 18–21 October 2009

The Wageningen Delivery of Functionality symposium covered all aspects involved with food structural design to arrive at high-quality foods which meet demanding customer expectations and regulatory requirements. The symposium integrated aspects from the structural organization of foods at molecular and supramolecular scales to dedicated techniques required to describe and visualize such structures, the gastro-intestinal events and how to model these in a laboratory setting, and finally the impact those food structures and ingredients have on the consumer’s physiology and on the human perception. As an interdisciplinary platform, bringing together more than 160 researchers from academia and industry, the symposium meanwhile fulfills an important role in the food science communit