Is it true that you mustn't rinse, but rather brush, mushrooms? Should a steak be seared to keep the juices inside? Can you prevent fruit salad from turning brown by sprinkling it with lemon juice? Such apparently mundane questions have been source of inspiration for food geeks at least since “The Curious cook” by Harold McGee (1990) was published, but most likely much earlier. A closer analysis of such questions reveal an abundance of intriguing, surprisingly complex and unexplored questions which might be vehicles for education and even subject for research within natural and social sciences.
The world of food and cooking is full of statements on how to do things and occasionally why one should adhere to these advices. Many are rooted in tradition or are created today by us all and sometimes appear to us like modern urban stories. Some are rooted in long experience of kitchen professionals or home cooks, and some even in science. When tradition and science meet interesting things might happen. In some cases the phenomenon in question (see examples in the introduction) is well described within one field of science but is less so in another discipline, laying questions open for research. Secondly, such culinary claims, which we have termed “Kitchen stories”, provide valuable opportunities in education at various levels (see below). Thirdly, interesting questions might be revealed by laypeople, craftsmen (chefs, artisans) or even school children which in turn could end up as relevant research topics to be studied within various sciences. Finally, such kitchen stories are valuable parts of our cultural heritage and provide rich research material for scientific fields such as cultural history and sociology (see figure).
Thus far, we have seen several efforts toward the study of such culinary claims within food science (molecular gastronomy, MG) and since publication of Curious Cook several publications do mention such claims as part of the programme of molecular gastronomy (This, 2009; Vega and Ubbink, 2008).1 Examples of scientific studies on culinary claims are research on beef stock cooking from the University of Copenhagen (Snitkjær et al., 2010; Snitkjær et al., 2011) and INRA Paris (This et al., 2004). Another example is whether it is a good idea (for the flavour of the dish) to separate the peel and seeds from the flesh before using tomatoes (Oruna-Concha et al., 2007). Even though some such claims have been studied within MG/food science we are not aware of studies starting from such claims within other disciplines such as ethnology, food history, sociology etc.2 Following up one of the examples above, one might thus ask
- What claims about making beef stock do we find around the world?
- Are the various versions of one claim similar or qualitatively different?
- Do they exist in some countries/areas, being absent in others? How are they distributed geographically and in time?
- etc.
Since producing, cooking and eating/enjoying food is among the most influential phenomena throughout human history such claims should be relevant and important questions to research. Furthermore, a large proportion of such knowledge is rooted in tradition and we are thus in a hurry to collect/record it because much of it lies in the hands and minds of people only. We should not trust that our modern, globalised and urbanised society will hand down this knowledge to the coming generations in like manner as done in past times. Also, examples exist of the potential in using such claims in various levels of education. In France efforts have been carried out in schools, such as “Ateliers expérimentaux du gout” and “Programme "Dictons et plats patrimoniaux"”.3 Also we are underway, through educational research in Finland (Västinsalo and Aksela, 2011) and Norway (Fooladi, 2010), to unveil what potential this might have in science and home economics education.
A collection of possible research topics/questions is given in the appendix. Our opinion is that this should be a dynamic and expanding list, adding new questions and perspectives along the way.
Prospects and invitation
We believe that this project might involve, perhaps even integrate, a manifold of disciplines as well as various research methodologies/paradigms. As shown in the figure, the phenomenon “culinary claims” forms the centrepiece, allowing the various disciplines to maintain their distinctive features, but also to let them meet in a common point of interest. Our goal is to build an international collection of kitchen stories and culinary claims to be developed and benefitted by researchers of different fields (a French collection exists4). We would also like to build a network for researchers, teachers, schools, practitioners and others with a common interest in this topic. Currently no funds are available, but several national applications are in. If you are interested in joining this network, let us know. At this point, we have not set any limits to who might join in, regardless of profession. Further, if you are aware of similar type of efforts, we’d be happy to learn about them.
Notes
1 Some collections are available on the web, e.g. http://kitchen-myths.com and they appear to be tool to raise interest of public to natural sciences. However, many such efforts often have a rather one-sided perspective in which science carries “the truth” which is used to “debunk the fallacies of tradition”. We believe in a meeting ground for both science and tradition where both can contribute to the other on more equal terms.
2 We do not, however, claim that such research does not exist, and would be delighted to see such research.
3 We are not aware of whether these efforts have been followed by educational research.
4www.inra.fr/la_science_et_vous/apprendre_experimenter/gastronomie_moleculaire/une_banque_de_precisions_culinaires
References
Fooladi, E. (2010). “Kitchen stories” - Assertions about food and cooking as a framework for teaching argumentation. Paper presented at the XIV IOSTE Symposium, Bled, Slovenia. www.ioste14.org/publications
McGee, H. (1990). The Curious Cook - Taking the lid off kitchen facts and fallacies. San Francisco: North Point Press.
Oruna-Concha, M. J., Methven, L., Blumenthal, H., Young, C., and Mottram, D. S. (2007). Differences in Glutamic Acid and 5'-ribonucleotide Contents Between Flesh and Pulp of Tomatoes and the Relationship with Umami Taste. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 55(14), 5776-5780.
Snitkjær, P., Frøst, M. B., Skibsted, L. H., and Risbo, J. (2010). Flavour development during beef stock reduction. Food Chemistry, 122(3), 645-655.
Snitkjær, P., Risbo, J., Skibsted, L. H., Ebeler, S., Heymann, H., Harmon, K., and Frøst, M. B. (2011). Beef stock reduction with red wine - Effects of preparation method and wine characteristics. Food Chemistry, 126(1), 183-196. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.10.096
This, H. (2009). Molecular Gastronomy, a Scientific Look at Cooking. Accounts of Chemical Research, 42(5), 575-583.
This, H., Meric, R., and Cazor, A. (2004). Lavoisier and Meat Stock. Comptes Rendus Chimie, 9, 1510-1515.
Vega, C., and Ubbink, J. (2008). Molecular Gastronomy: A Food Fad or Science Supporting Innovative Cuisine? Trends in Food Science and Technology, 19(7), 372-382.
Västinsalo, J., and Aksela, M. (2011). Using kitchen stories as starting point for chemical education in high school. Paper presented at the ESERA 2011, Lyon, France.
Appendix – possible research questions/topics within the Kitchen stories framework
2 We do not, however, claim that such research does not exist, and would be delighted to see such research.
3 We are not aware of whether these efforts have been followed by educational research.
4www.inra.fr/la_science_et_vous/apprendre_experimenter/gastronomie_moleculaire/une_banque_de_precisions_culinaires
References
Fooladi, E. (2010). “Kitchen stories” - Assertions about food and cooking as a framework for teaching argumentation. Paper presented at the XIV IOSTE Symposium, Bled, Slovenia. www.ioste14.org/publications
McGee, H. (1990). The Curious Cook - Taking the lid off kitchen facts and fallacies. San Francisco: North Point Press.
Oruna-Concha, M. J., Methven, L., Blumenthal, H., Young, C., and Mottram, D. S. (2007). Differences in Glutamic Acid and 5'-ribonucleotide Contents Between Flesh and Pulp of Tomatoes and the Relationship with Umami Taste. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 55(14), 5776-5780.
Snitkjær, P., Frøst, M. B., Skibsted, L. H., and Risbo, J. (2010). Flavour development during beef stock reduction. Food Chemistry, 122(3), 645-655.
Snitkjær, P., Risbo, J., Skibsted, L. H., Ebeler, S., Heymann, H., Harmon, K., and Frøst, M. B. (2011). Beef stock reduction with red wine - Effects of preparation method and wine characteristics. Food Chemistry, 126(1), 183-196. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.10.096
This, H. (2009). Molecular Gastronomy, a Scientific Look at Cooking. Accounts of Chemical Research, 42(5), 575-583.
This, H., Meric, R., and Cazor, A. (2004). Lavoisier and Meat Stock. Comptes Rendus Chimie, 9, 1510-1515.
Vega, C., and Ubbink, J. (2008). Molecular Gastronomy: A Food Fad or Science Supporting Innovative Cuisine? Trends in Food Science and Technology, 19(7), 372-382.
Västinsalo, J., and Aksela, M. (2011). Using kitchen stories as starting point for chemical education in high school. Paper presented at the ESERA 2011, Lyon, France.
Appendix – possible research questions/topics within the Kitchen stories framework
A list of possible research questions is collected below. We are happy to expand the list with research questions/topics suggested by collaborators or others.
Keywords: Education
Keywords: Education
- How can kitchen stories be used as the starting point for laboratory activities?
- Which chemical contents can be approached through kitchen stories?
- How can kitchen stories be used as approach to teach argumentation and inquiry?
- How students’ thinking skills can be affected when using kitchen stories as a starting point for chemical education?
- How students’ interest towards chemistry can be affected when using kitchen stories as a starting point for chemical education?
Keywords: Chemistry, physics, food history, culinary school education/training
- Research projects on different scientific phenomena behind selected myth such as “The actual reason for flambéing is to add the flavour of the liqueur to the foods, without adding the alcohol.”
Keywords: Ethnology, ethnography, history
- Distribution of culinary claims by geography
- Distribution of culinary claims in time
Keywords: Science theory, education, argumentation, epistemology, history
- What argumentative patterns/traits can be found in kitchen stories and how do these patterns play out according to region/country, type of source, time in history etc.
- What sort(s) of knowledge do cooking claims represent? And how does this relate to epistemic practices of culture, tradition and science?
Keywords: Communication, technology, dissemination, education
- How can kitchen stories be collected, structured, organised (and published?) using digital/web based tools for common benefit?