tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-132636382012-01-27T16:47:49.632+01:00learning science through food - learning food through science <br>by Erik Fooladifooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.comBlogger801100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-87085723066574508472011-12-14T19:55:00.000+01:002011-12-14T19:56:19.825+01:00

The text below is an attempt at drawing up a new programme/collaboration/network for exploring claims about food and cooking. Hereby, we make an effort to start a new international and interdisciplinary network to explore such claims from various angles. If you are a researcher (from any field), teacher at any level, chef or something else and find this interesting, read on and feel free to

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com76100 Volda, Norway62.1466661 6.076932362.1392476 6.0571913 62.1540846 6.0966733tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-16028313512052194782011-11-11T13:10:00.000+01:002011-11-11T13:11:30.020+01:00

Twice a semester Pennsylvania State University holds its Ed Waterbury Lecture on science, technology, mathematics, engineering and mathematics education. This autumn, one of my main sources of inspiration concerning argumentation in science was the invited lecturer. Prof. Sibel Erduran from University of Bristol is a renown researcher, author and lecturer in fields such as science education,

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com06100 Volda, Norway62.1466661 6.076932362.1392476 6.0571913 62.1540846 6.0966733tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-51291678359631923222011-10-20T19:45:00.000+02:002011-10-21T08:52:55.562+02:00

Introduction in Norwegian: I anledning denne ukas episode om mirakelfrukt på Schrödingers katt på NRK publiserer jeg to blogginnlegg om temaet. Det første er en reprise av et tidligere innlegg, dog utvidet med noen flere smakstester. Det påfølgende er en samling fakta om mirakelfrukt med referanser til primærlitteraturen. Siden denne bloggen normalt er på engelsk fortsetter jeg herved på engelsk.

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com06100 Volda, Norway62.1466661 6.076932362.1392476 6.0571913 62.1540846 6.0966733tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-51951391453617716412011-09-02T10:55:00.002+02:002011-12-14T19:59:17.846+01:00

First day of September this year Norway saw a new centre for children's food culture located in an old renaissance farm in the middle of Oslo. This is to be a national resource for helping schools and pre-schools to focus on good food and food culture. In the Norwegian curriculum the subject home economics ("Food and health") is given throughout primary and lower secondary school. Many would

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-66670124953433877732011-07-01T15:00:00.003+02:002011-07-01T15:17:33.473+02:00

In this post I summarise the last seminar I attended at the Norwegian Barista Championships this spring. It was hosted by former world champion barista Tim Wendelboe and focussed on coffee roasting. The following is what I understood from this seminar.Profile roasting, or roasting profileAs a coffee drinker, I find it interesting to get to know the various roasters' profiles, or roasting

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-83651719961425352602011-06-24T19:32:00.008+02:002011-07-01T15:14:03.934+02:00

In this third post from this spring's Norwegian Barista Championships I summarise the most interesting seminar I attended. It was hosted by former world champion barista Tim Wendelboe and focussed on tasting defects in coffee.I attended two seminars by Tim Wendelboe during this year's event, and of the two the one mentioned here was definitely the most rewarding for me personally.WORKSHOP/SEMINAR

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-92012727882764857352011-05-03T22:59:00.001+02:002011-07-01T15:14:17.684+02:00

In this second post I summarise shortly the first three seminars I attended during the Norwegian Barista Championships this year.As mentioned in the previous post, the championships were not only competitions but also a number of seminars and exhibitions (the full programme is given in part 1). The seminars I attended, and thus am able to give some personal reflections upon are described below

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-3280524190340700782011-04-08T18:42:00.002+02:002011-04-11T18:43:44.950+02:00

Three days in Ulsteinvik at the Norwegian west coast: Loads of top quality coffee, ample possibilities to learn new things about coffee, interesting seminars, and meeting lots of very nice people. Below follows a report seen through the eyes of a coffee amateur: the things I found most fun, interesting or intriguing.*I came to this event without many expectation, mostly because I didn't know what

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-80091170803068084492011-02-27T13:00:00.006+01:002011-02-27T13:29:30.165+01:00

This year, the Norwegian barista championships is held in Ulsteinvik on the western coast. In addition to lectures, exhibitions etc., several competitions are held. Among the most interesting things is that the cup taster championship is now open for non-professionals. Also, I talked to the host for this year's competition: Kaffikari.Last week, I went over to Ulsteinvik to have a chat with Kari

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-53421203440815066192011-02-04T09:15:00.008+01:002011-05-05T18:36:07.149+02:00

Some years ago I experimented and wrote about what happens if you cook an egg not in boiling water but at, say, 64 °C. I met upon some surprising results ("The opposite boiled egg"), but could not give good reasons for why. But now, at last, the answer to why has appeared in the scientific literature!According to Harold McGee the "[...] egg white begins to thicken at 63 °C and becomes a tender

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-55019024307759541962011-01-11T20:40:00.001+01:002011-11-11T11:32:57.948+01:00

Recently, UNESCO inscribed two food-related traditions/cultures in their list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. One might say that finally food has officially received status as a true part of our common cultural heritage. Of course, food is culture and very few would not accept this as a fact. However, since numerous other cultural heritages are accepted as world heritage, it is important

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-85820142108833541222010-12-25T20:38:00.000+01:002010-12-25T20:39:08.543+01:00

A popsci article on chocolate truffles/ganache and dispersions recently published in the Norwegian school science periodical (print and web).As a starting point for the text, I use a recipe for chocolate ganache from the Oslo chocolatier Deux chocolatiers. From there, I describe chocolate and ganache as dispersions and how we can understand the structure/texture of chocolate, why chocolate seizes

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-35515813010036631392010-12-07T20:58:00.037+01:002010-12-14T17:35:24.917+01:00

Often, when I talk about food I'm met with an attitude that I'm talking chemistry and for that reason whatever I say is incomprehensible. The blinds go down and I see the eyes of the person I talk with go all shifty. Probably, he or she considers me being a food geek...Whereas "food lover" has mostly positive connotations, "food geek" has this mixed flavour to it. Could it be that the "food geek"

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-65222345871784322842010-11-15T01:20:00.002+01:002010-11-15T01:21:03.842+01:00

Some time ago I caught a glimpse of a headline about some researchers "dancing their natural science projects", more specifically a biochemist dancing the structure of certain biochemical compounds. I thought the idea was rather far-fetched and didn't give it further thought. After seeing it just recently I find myself being so very wrong... Second part of the post contains a few recent thoughts

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-38804484083241129532010-11-10T00:20:00.038+01:002010-12-07T21:07:50.221+01:00

How small are single plant cells, proteins, sugar molecules? What about those things that spoil our food: bacteria, enzymes? All of them are really small, but when things get this small it is often difficult to grasp that there are huge differences in smallness as well. Below is a tip on how you might get to grips with this.When dealing with food we talk or read about proteins, carbohydrates,

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-54581789300466519632010-08-07T14:20:00.003+02:002011-06-10T16:50:18.270+02:00

For some time now, there has been somewhat of a hype about the miraculous berry that makes everything sour taste sweet. Some time ago, I ordered a packet of dried and powdered miracle fruit tablets and gave it a try. The following post gives some background and the results of a truly fascinating experience.The miracle fruit is a a berry containing the glycoprotein miraculin with the unlikely

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-91078407852391843292010-07-29T13:41:00.028+02:002011-04-20T13:20:26.098+02:00

A short summer reflection: I've never thought about looking through a cup of espresso, or lungo, or americano, until this holiday. To my surprise the lungo is not always homogeneous (it shouldn't have been, however).At the house we are exchanging for this summer, in the middle of Paris :), there is a Nespresso machine. At home, we have an rather ordinary/mainstream espresso machine, whereas

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-52773615948387317252010-06-28T10:50:00.004+02:002010-07-07T12:55:48.638+02:00

It is fascinating when someone else analyses the things you're interested or involved in from a different perspective. Recently, a paper emerged in European Journal of Cultural Studies called "Liquid nitrogen pistachios: Molecular gastronomy, elBulli and foodies".The paper gives a short historical description of molecular gastronomy and goes on to describe MG as a phenomenon from three different

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1351937122074582732010-06-23T12:56:00.012+02:002011-12-14T19:56:44.148+01:00

Last week, I attended the IOSTE XIV symposium. The topic of my presentation was a follow-up of three previous blogposts on culinary precisions: a framework on teaching "nature of science" (argumentation and inquiry) using culinary precisions. The biannual conference was hosted by IOSTE, the International Organization for Science and Technology Education. It involved more than 200

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-77312458340170930322010-06-06T23:12:00.002+02:002010-11-09T10:09:01.628+01:00

This is the third post on chocolate mousse; pure and cleancontaining only chocolate and flavourings. The process is very straightforward, although this dark variety might be the most tricky one among the three published. However, 'tricky' is not really that tricky...This post is the last on chocolate mousses for now: white-, milk- and dark chocolate. Previous posts arePart 1 - White chocolate

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-11130662968383372302010-05-09T12:00:00.008+02:002010-05-09T12:17:47.086+02:00

Numerous blogs, web sites and newspaper articles have picked up variations of the "molecular gastronomic recipe" for making chocolate mousse with only chocolate and water first presented by Hervé This. However, most these recipes tell you to try-and fail. I have for some time felt that there is a need for making this recipe foolproof. And on top of it all, it's quite straightforward to make as

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-8375141146160283412010-04-12T14:36:00.003+02:002011-12-14T20:00:28.572+01:00

Paulina Mata and her colleagues in Portugal have produced a very interesting booklet on "Experiments for the family to do together" (...in the kitchen). In a previous post on inquiry-based teaching methods and promoting students' argumentation skills I referred to a European Commission report. In this report, it is referred to two best practice examples, one of them being the project Pollen (

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-84884733320519392522010-03-25T20:36:00.006+01:002010-04-02T18:26:24.177+02:00

Numerous blogs, web sites and newspaper articles have picked up variations of the "molecular gastronomic recipe" for making chocolate mousse with only chocolate and water first presented by Hervé This. However, most these recipes tell you to try-and fail. I have for some time felt that there is a need for making this recipe foolproof.This post is the first out of three on chocolate mousses: white

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-13941156361102525352010-03-02T18:41:00.012+01:002010-03-09T13:36:05.305+01:00

At last(!) there is a comprehensive and broad focussed review on molecular gastronomy (MG) in the scientific literature. Also, I stumbled over another scientific paper on the same topic from 2007 which has missed my attention until now.An important (and seminal?) contributionMartin at khymos has written a short post on the most recent and comprehensive addition to the scientific publications on

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-2209009279114210122009-12-21T22:11:00.009+01:002009-12-23T11:44:36.417+01:00

The last issue of the Norwegian science education magazine "Naturfag" (equivalent to "School science") has several articles on food previously posted here on fooducation. The magazine is in Norwegian and free for download.Issue 2/2009 with mostly Christmas- and winter related content includes the following articles based on fooducation posts. Most of them are updated/revised versions and are also

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-34201144673494799522009-11-09T23:10:00.003+01:002011-12-14T20:01:12.358+01:00

Last year, I had the pleasure to act as a co-supervisor for two students at in their final project for the Food and beverage management study at the University of Stavanger. The focus was low-temperature cooking. The students, Eirik Nestavoll and Martin M. Stokkan (both chefs), attended this as a continuing professional development study. The aim of their experimentally angled final project

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-23051845413892114412009-08-22T14:04:00.016+02:002009-08-22T16:21:26.379+02:00

Pastry chef Aidan Brooks has posted the invitation to join in on episode #18 of "They go really well together" (TGRWT). The idea is that foods with one or more flavour compounds in common will taste well in combination; the concept of flavour pairing. This month's ingredients are plum and blue cheese.I've found that simple dishes such as milk shakes, smoothies and ice cream (this post) provide

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-74660494573071219852009-06-26T13:06:00.011+02:002011-12-14T19:57:20.706+01:00

Among the challenges in science education are creating quality inquiry-based teaching methods as well as promoting students' argumentation skills. Both these topics might be seen as parts of what goes as "the nature of science". In this last post of three, I argue that statements about food and cooking might be an excellent starting point for learning argumentation as well as inquiry, as well as

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-31295325492943902852009-06-25T09:32:00.013+02:002011-12-14T19:57:41.917+01:00

Statements on what to do, how to do it, and occasionally why to do so, are abundant in the world of food and cooking. This is the second post of three, and deals with a rationale for analysing such statements. The third post will deal with the potential of using this for educational purposes, both in science and food disciplines. In the first post, I wished for, and tried to give good reasons

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-7357676923452290592009-06-24T09:12:00.013+02:002011-12-14T19:58:24.810+01:00

Is it really true that you shouldn't rinse, but rather brush, mushrooms? Should a steak be seared to keep the juices inside? The world of food is full of statements on how to do things, many of which are rooted in tradition. When tradition and science meet, interesting things might happen. This is the first post of three on the topic. This first part argues for an open database of such statements

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-25821744583026151752009-06-11T09:46:00.016+02:002009-06-25T09:52:23.998+02:00

Spring and summer time equals cooking pit time. This time we did some more serious temperature measurements, showing interesting results. A brief report follows...Every May/June we take our food culture students out for some primitive cooking, ref. the previous post Primitive food, heat transfer and a day out. This time we did some more serious temperature logging with the help of Type K 4-Port

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-6441703176977610952009-05-26T16:10:00.000+02:002009-05-26T16:10:57.697+02:00

During graduate studies, we often wished for a "journal of unsuccessful chemistry" for the benefit of all the failed experiments we do. What if there was a journal where we could look for the experiments we were planning, and see if someone else had tried it and failed? This is one of those stories.Cocoa powder has this property that it is hardly wetted by water. The result iswhen making cocoa,

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-59527551653013378852009-04-09T23:00:00.014+02:002009-05-26T16:11:09.763+02:00

Peter Barham writes that chocolate is shear-thinning; it becomes fluid when shear stress is applied to it, such as by a meat grinder. I went on grinding...A shear thinning, or pseudoplastic, medium is one that exhibits decreased viscosity when shear stress is applied. The most common example is probably ketchup. Turn the bottle upside down, and the contents stay put. Give the bottle a knock, and

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-75187110451927780772009-04-03T10:27:00.007+02:002009-04-12T14:21:06.980+02:00

As this year's Easter greeting, Deptartment of Chemistry at the University of Oslo has developed an egg cooking calculator with reference to Martin's Khymos and my Maturfag ("Norwegian fooducation").The issue of cooking the perfectly boiled egg has been discussed several places, amongst others on Khymos, fooducation, and on "Maturfag" which is fooducation's teacher resource pages at the Norwegian

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-2380930296041887472009-03-29T16:48:00.013+02:002009-03-30T00:14:55.286+02:00

Markus at Supernova Condensate has posted the invitation to join in on episode #16 of "They go really well together" (TGRWT). The idea is that foods with one or more flavour compounds in common will taste well in combination; the concept of flavour pairing. This months ingredients are chicken and rose.I like to keep things rather simple flavourwise so that the flavours are allowed to come forth,

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-239827640309170202009-03-15T19:03:00.016+01:002009-06-25T09:52:51.754+02:00

If just a little amount of water finds its way into melting chocolate, it goes all grainy and solid - it seizes/curdles. There is really no fix to the problem. However, if some more water is added, the chocolate suddenly becomes fluid again. How come?In three recent posts in the Swedish food blog Matmolekyler ("Food molecules"), Malin discusses the physics of chocolate. In the third one, the

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-46597993469931138532009-02-23T00:19:00.027+01:002009-03-12T17:08:12.338+01:00

The ingredients to match in round no. 15 of "They go really well together" are cold smoked salmon and dark chocolate, and the round is hosted by Mex Mix. I thought I'd give it a go, and ended up with smoked salmon-goat's cheese-chocolate ganache-tortilla roll-ups/wraps.I've attended "They go really well together" a few times now, and a description of what this flavour pairing relay is really

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-73869581627178287252009-02-07T01:20:00.036+01:002009-06-25T09:53:18.773+02:00

Yes, I know. I'm six years late to be among the cool guys, but who cares? To me it's all about having fun and learning, and then being late is no issue.As far as I know, spherification and it's related methods were introduced by El Bulli chef Ferran Adrià et al. some time after the turn of century. I has got a lot of attention, and a You Tube search on the term gives quite a few hits on

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-44213130558691275122009-02-01T20:42:00.008+01:002009-06-25T09:53:37.600+02:00

The term Molecular gastronomy has been debated quite heavily the few last years, and several prominent chefs and writers have denounced the term. What's in a name?An interesting post on the development and applications of molecular gastronomy (MG), both as a term, but also as a phenomenon at Martin's khymos. Most of the relevant links are found in that post as well. Also, many of the comments are

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-28977751419338030462009-01-25T17:43:00.011+01:002009-06-25T09:45:45.085+02:00

Thorvald Pedersen has been writing about food and cooking from a scientific perspective for years (mostly in Danish as far as I know), probably well before the term molecular gastronomy gained much attention. Now he's published his third book on the subject and has dared to use the debated and, according to some, oft misunderstood and misused name Molecular gastronomy. In fact, Pedersen has

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-79534573054696614222009-01-11T16:59:00.005+01:002009-06-25T09:53:55.392+02:00

Matmolekyler published last month an incredibly easy and straightforward experiment for illustrating the phenomenon of odour adaptation.Adaptation is the phenomenon in which you stop noticing an odour/aroma when you've been subjected to it for a while. This is, amongst other, used as a motive for varying aroma components throughout a meal. Have a look at "Jullovsexperiment: Hacka ditt luktsinne"

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-63723676232780625182008-12-31T14:30:00.048+01:002009-03-12T17:07:57.881+01:00

It's time to sum up the entered dishes for They go really well together #13. From the entries, it seems like caraway and cocoa/chocolate indeed do go well together.However, for starters it should be mentioned that this combination has been discussed on khymos at several instances already. Also, I was made aware of the fact that pumpernickel contains both of these, see discussion and links at

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-30668094591578162522008-12-29T02:00:00.008+01:002009-03-29T16:48:17.124+02:00

As a part of "They go really well together no. 13" (TGRWT #13), I wanted to try on making chocolate truffles. This was a first-timer for me, but I must (not very humbly) say that this time I had a lucky strike.I think this might be the first time I've made something that gives me that experience you get when you go to a restaurant and they serve something you've never tasted before which leaves

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-36410923523181234812008-12-27T13:21:00.014+01:002009-11-09T23:08:35.051+01:00

Christmas time is making your own stuff from the basics. This year brought, amongst other things, salty almonds and caraway schnaps (aquavit).Salty roasted almondsca. 1 l concentrated brine0.5-1 kg almondsA very approximate, but still fool proof, method: Make a concentrated brine by dissolving as much salt as possible in ca. 1 l boiling water (takes approx 500 g or so, maybe). Dump in almonds (

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-36235698719827425512008-12-20T01:20:00.023+01:002009-06-25T09:41:00.822+02:00

Recently, I published a popular science article in Norwegian. Title might be translated "Christmas cookie chemistry, ...and some physics" on www.naturfag.no/mat. Focus is testing the effect of using different chemical leavening agents on the same cookies (yeast is hence not the issue here). A summary follows.All photos (unless otherwise stated): Erlend KrumsvikWhy do some recipes require baking

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-30480131740007981852008-12-08T23:52:00.007+01:002008-12-12T17:14:46.287+01:00

A visit by The Food Geek made me aware of this treasure of a web site. The food timeline gives a comprehensive overview on the history of various foods and dishes. When teaching food topics, historic facts (or myths) are often excellent starting points. The problem is that such information isn't really very easy to get to. Here, loads of fascinating information is organised in a straightforward

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-2700596553742040672008-12-04T08:29:00.015+01:002009-03-12T17:07:16.091+01:00

"They go really well together" round no. 13 is hereby announced. In taking on the task of hosting this somewhat sinister-sounding round, I thought a whiff of Christmas might be a proper safeguard, announcing caraway and cocoa/chocolate as flavour partners.For newcomers: TGRWT (They Go Really Well Together) is a monthly(?) open invitation to come up with dishes that combine certain given

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-58064877748957273662008-11-24T17:28:00.023+01:002009-08-22T16:09:47.009+02:00

The "They go really well together" relay rolls on, and it's time for #12 - matching chanterelle and apricot. Host for this round is Tri2Cook. I've been rather reluctant to try on mushrooms in cooking, but there has to be a first time for everything. So, I strayed into the kingdom of fungi.Since we had bought a lamb earlier this autumn and had planned on a dinner (literally) on parts of this

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-91745196710636351302008-11-06T11:24:00.010+01:002009-06-25T09:54:12.687+02:00

A great article in the last issue of Science in School: "Easily removable chewing gum". Secondly: is there a culinary potential in restaurant/home-made chewing gum?The article by Halina Stanley in the last issue of the Science in school (free journal) is fun reading, describing why gum sticks and also referring to recent research at Bristol University (UK) on making non-stick chewing gum.Taking

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-24902397257205683942008-10-27T20:37:00.010+01:002008-11-18T10:47:15.244+01:00

"I am an imbecile! I see only half of the picture!"...is one of my favourite quotes of Agatha Christie's famous detective, Hercule Poirot. After pondering for months about why the broccoli cooking water turns green when using slightly basic and not when the water is slightly acidic the answer was right beneath my nose all the time, and I felt exactly like beloved Hercule (see the posting "

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-62757558751616668832008-10-09T22:37:00.009+02:002009-08-22T16:15:32.676+02:00

Martin at khymos.org has posted another invitation to join in on "They go really well together" (TGRWT). The idea is that foods with one or more flavour compounds in common will taste well in combination; the concept of flavour pairing. This is my first attempt to participate, and the focus is what might be work together with kids (i.e. in a school situation).My first idea was to keep things

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-17135904356923868302008-10-06T22:21:00.021+02:002009-06-25T09:54:28.729+02:00

What did people do when there were many to feed and ovens weren't though of yet? To start digging a hole in the ground was maybe not a bad idea. At least, that was what we did with 40 twelve-year old kids. This is the Stone age way of cooking, and we ended up feeding 130 persons.Cooking in a cooking pit (nice animation at steinalder.no) is in fact quite a simple thing as long as you've got enough

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-75304497456531221312008-08-04T22:12:00.020+02:002010-06-15T07:37:57.287+02:00

Teaching food preservation methods combined with science often results in the classical why-questions; why does the recipe tell us to do things this way, and why is that so important (...and is it really that important?)Autumn means ripe fruit, berries and vegetables, and many of us look forward to harvesting for the coming year. Only a few areas of the world have the benefit of continuous supply

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-80331270443238102942008-07-30T16:01:00.020+02:002009-06-25T09:55:18.167+02:00

During our summer holiday in the United States this summer, I found over-the-counter dry ice in the supermarket. A truly marvelous thing! This opens up a host of possibilities, both in the home kitchen and as a science teacher.Dry ice is in fact frozen, solid carbon dioxide (CO2), the «carbonated» part of carbonated drinks. One fascinating thing about CO2 is that it sublimes rather than melts –

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-76282876322377088042008-07-03T22:41:00.014+02:002008-07-04T00:20:13.520+02:00

If you can live with reading some Norwegian, this freeware program will calculate whatever you like in terms of nutrient content, energy etc.Albeit not among the most recent news (at year and a half old), it might be appropriate to comment on Mat på data 5.0 v2 ("Food on computer") which was last year taken over by the public Food Safety Authorities (Mattilsynet) and rendered free. A great step

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-17934847579254397842008-06-29T10:31:00.002+02:002008-06-29T10:42:57.845+02:00

after a long break in order to finish my doctoral thesis, this summer I plan to start blogging again. Lots of energy and creativity to spare now, so hopefully there'll be some contributions before end of summer.Erik

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-67137033590512916342007-11-20T17:11:00.000+01:002007-12-16T16:28:55.390+01:00

More music than science lately, but this one is inevitable: Recently, the improvisational electroacoustic jazz band Food released their fifth record named "molecular gastronomy"!Furthermore, seeing the track list, I was baffled by the rather specific concepts taken directly from molecular gastronomy (MG), such as khymos (Martin Lersch's blog), spherification and texturas (ref. the Texturas series

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-66988597033774869162007-11-13T00:50:00.001+01:002009-06-25T09:55:35.818+02:00

Cooking is a discipline that is often heavily focussed on a successful result. Sometimes this is a good thing, but other times focus on achieving is not necessarily the best strategy in terms of learning. In these cases, a science perspective may be just what is needed.In Norway, cooking in school has had a rather strong feminine focus, possibly because the approach has been home cooking and

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-35115048623136954002007-09-24T15:48:00.002+02:002009-06-25T09:46:19.157+02:00

Not long ago, I was told that the Swedish physicist Hans-Uno Bengtsson regrettably had passed away. A great loss for many of us that appreciated his unique way of illuminating the science in everyday life, and, to me, the physics in food and drink.Hans-Uno Bengtsson was associate professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics at Lund University, Sweden. According to Wikipedia, Lund University

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-84960981677814843652007-07-22T23:48:00.000+02:002007-07-23T00:39:24.081+02:00

Spurred by a recent comment a previous posting about chemistry and music, I thought I'd leave a few thoughts about chemistry/taste/scent/aroma vs. music; most of all just to have them written hem down, really.At the moment I haven't come any further with this apart from day to day musing. The main idea is that as a large proportion of taste is in fact aroma; what is perceived through the nose

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-34989826042951649292007-03-16T19:01:00.002+01:002010-07-09T13:44:14.932+02:00

A follow-up on the last entry, comments and Brian's Diet Coke Floating blog entryThe comments on the last entry on Coke density spurred my curiosity, and I decided to follow up with a few experiments:What's the density of different kinds of Coke? I did a simple experiments, weighing measured amounts of Coke (ca. 100 ml) and got the following result. I did the same measurement for water and

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-46113108727105600822007-03-12T14:18:00.002+01:002010-07-09T13:43:06.012+02:00

In a simple demonstration playing around with light products floating/sinking in water a fascinating contrast emerges.Try submerging the following two pairs of products: ordinary and light mayonnaise, and diet coke (or other cola vs. cola light).Light mayonnaise floats lower than ordinary mayonnaise. In the case of the soft drink, cola light floats while ordinary cola sinks! What's going on?

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-70846142648884300412007-02-04T13:53:00.003+01:002009-06-25T09:47:15.822+02:00

Slightly embarrassing, I forgot to include Hervé This' work on dispersions.Hervé This has done some beautiful systematic work on dispersions which he has termed "Modelling dishes". He has several publications on this, but one of these is a paper in British Journal of Nutrition: "Modelling dishes and exploring culinary ‘precisions’: the two issues of molecular gastronomy". It's (at the moment, at

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-61228000456881673842007-02-03T21:58:00.003+01:002009-02-18T21:58:22.483+01:00

Most of the matter and materials that surround us aren't pure compounds or true, homogeneous solutions. If we want to give a science education that is relevant and connected to everyday life, why then is so much of the labwork we do focussed on pure substances and solutions? ...and will the home-/professional cook benefit from knowing a little about dispersions?A look in the kitchen cupboard and

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-81658016616279310272007-01-29T19:13:00.001+01:002009-06-25T09:45:12.171+02:00

Inspired by Martin's blog entry "Ten tips for practical molecular gastronomy", I came to remember Östen Dahlgren's five cardinal rules in cooking:Be critical of recipesStop and think - should I really do [it like] this?Keep in mind how the heat is distributed/transferredKeep in mind what is soluble in whatTaste while you're cooking - often(my translation)Dahlgren has written the book "Laga mat -

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-52774308751125708232007-01-21T00:57:00.000+01:002007-01-29T19:02:34.027+01:00

My first experience with the annual ASE (The Association for Science Education) conference was at The University of Birmingham 3.-6. January. A paradox was that I had to go all the way to England to find that one of the most interesting experiences was to be a Swedish lecturer.A packed programme with hoards of parallel sessions, spanning most thinkable and unthinkable science education issues;

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-36439664457827712572006-12-27T12:09:00.004+01:002008-10-27T21:14:13.148+01:00

Many a Christmas dinner, we end up with the potatoes falling apart in the dish and pale olive-green Brussel sprouts. Does it have to be like this? Using a little scientific knowledge in the kitchen can help.Part two - green vegetablesBrussels sprouts and the broccoli: Do you prefer a fresh, vivid green colour, or a dull olive green? The colour in green vegetables is due to chlorophyll, which is a

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1751912066624184002006-12-18T20:36:00.002+01:002009-06-25T09:46:42.586+02:00

Many a Christmas dinner, we end up with the potatoes falling apart in the dish and pale olive-green Brussel sprouts. Does it have to be like this? Using a little scientific knowledge in the kitchen can help.Part one - potatoesIn Norway, Christmas dinner is often accompanied, amongst several things, by boiled potatoes and Brussels sprouts. The potatoes are often of a mealy sort, and peeled before

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1164178447309278632006-11-22T07:47:00.001+01:002009-06-25T09:47:41.633+02:00

Hervé This, co-founder of the term Molecular gastronomy, has published another paper: "Food for tomorrow? How the scientific discipline of molecular gastronomy could change the way we eat" (EMBO reports, see free html or pdf versions). I've had a brief look, and there are lots of interesting and important issues to be discussed further. He discusses the role of molecular gastronomy in everyday

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1159193822317290842006-09-25T15:58:00.000+02:002007-01-30T12:54:53.046+01:00

(See the posting from 20. June for the discussion on this).Since June the curriculum (goes also by the name/abbreviations "Kunnskapsløftet", LK06, L06 or R06) has been revised. Now, the final version (at least for primary school) is published (http://www.utdanningsdirektoratet.no/lk06). Therefore I've redone the informal food-in-science and science-in-food analyses:- Food in science - 58 out of

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1156079358115734862006-08-20T13:19:00.001+02:002009-08-17T23:56:10.312+02:00

It was with immense anticipation i opened the book "Kitchen chemistry" from RS*C (the British Royal Society of Chemistry) when I received it almost a year ago. The book is a collaboration between Ted Lister and the Michelin-star chef Heston Blumenthal known for his Molecular gastronomy-approach to cooking. Upon closing the book after the first read, I must admit I was slightly disappointed (

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1150317728150040842006-06-14T22:10:00.000+02:002007-02-04T14:14:07.915+01:00

Lately, there have been (at least) three interesting podcasts related to science and food:In Norwegian:"NRK Verdt å vite spesial" 22. May 2006 - about salt.Salt is definately a fascinating theme crossing several subjects, both within the sciences and across to other subjects (food, history, social sciences etc.). This programme represents just this interdiciplinary approach.Erik Fooladi on "

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1147427290286493992006-05-12T11:16:00.004+02:002009-04-03T13:49:16.143+02:00

Cooking an egg we usually use boiling water, and we need to monitor the temperature carefully. One minute too much, and we get a less-than-perfect-boiled egg. Reason: the interior of the egg (aka: the proteins in both white and yolk) coagulates/stiffens at far lower temperatures than 100 °C. According to Harold McGee the "[...]egg white begins to thicken at 63 °C and becomes a tender solid when

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1143154583984129122006-03-23T23:42:00.001+01:002011-07-02T12:25:35.636+02:00

New teacher's resource (Norwegian only) published on Norwegian Centre for Science in Education pages www.naturfag.no:Å fange luft med egg - Om trollkrem, skum og proteiner("Catching Air With Eggs - Concerning Troll's Cream, Foam and Proteins")How much foam can you get from one egg white? Why is it so difficult to get good whipped egg white foam if a small amount of grease, soap or egg yolk is

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1119257273508540332005-06-20T09:30:00.000+02:002007-01-14T12:50:35.771+01:00

Norwegian education is at the present going through a politically driven reform - new curriculum for all pupils/students, including primary (6-11 yrs), secondary (12-16) and high school (16-18). The current curriculum called L97 (6-16 yrs) is translated into English, but the new ones are not yet translated (not yet finished, but drafts are published). In Norwegian primary/secondary school natural

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1118268568430549772005-06-08T22:43:00.001+02:002010-05-11T20:57:32.585+02:00

The Norwegian cook, food writer and weekly source and inspiration (at least to me) Andreas Viestad wrote a fascinating piece on tomato mousse:Run a tomato or three (cut in pieces) in a blender for five minutes. Running for a shorter time will not give the desired result even though it seems finished. Pour into a bowl and leave for a few hours and you get a mousse-like pink jelly. With reference

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1117899703631599682005-06-04T16:34:00.000+02:002006-12-18T21:08:42.282+01:00

In my opinion, some of the most interesting and creative things happen in the intersections between fields of interest. My fate is being both experimental chemist and experimental musician/percussionist, maybe a less-that-obvious combination to look for intersections, but none the more a good reason to construct one. I'm not talking about the more obvious connections between music and chemistry/

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1117615145226726532005-06-01T10:14:00.000+02:002007-02-04T14:14:22.881+01:00

Molecular gastronomy (Norwegian: molekylær gastronomi). What is this constellation? I believe that the term, as language in general, is in constant development. However, there are a few other words that together could clarify. In my opinion molecular gastronomy contains all the following terms at one time: food, cooking, (natural) science, gastronomy, kitchen chemistry, pleasure, curiosity, and

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1117448375681517512005-05-30T12:19:00.004+02:002009-03-15T19:32:06.979+01:00

I finished the book "The Science of Chocolate" yesterday night:In my opinion, the book is ok for people with a certain scientific overview, but a little heavy on the industrial side to be very relevant to everyday molecular gastronomers (see future postings for definition). The experiments part in the last chapter is fascinating, but should have been elaborated further (experiments are described,

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13263638.post-1117403261234889602005-05-29T23:39:00.000+02:002005-05-29T23:58:05.766+02:00

Hensikten med å opprette denne bloggen er at jeg skal kunne poste og reflektere over (natur-)vitenskap, mat, utdanning, musikk og helst det som ligger i skjæringspunktet at minst tre av disse på samme tid. Skal jeg skrive på engelsk eller norsk? Begge deler? Jeg vet ikke. Vi får seThe point of starting this blog is for me to be able to post and ponder on (natural) science, food, education, music

fooducationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10509393835685414024noreply@blogger.com1