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The Cautionary Tale of Trofim Lysenko
One day, years ago, when I was a cocksure university undergraduate, I was chatting to some Jehovah’s Witnesses who had come to the door of the share house I lived in. I’d ditched lectures for the day so, as a man of leisure, I had some time to discuss philosophical issues with these poor people Continue reading
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Quick Bite: You say tomato, I say potato
On the face of it a tomato and a potato are two very different things. One a fruit, soft and bursting with juice and flavour. The other a tuber that grows underground, hard but packed with starch ready to become a delicious source of nutrients after some judicious cooking. Despite this some new research shows Continue reading
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Oxygen, electrons and Scottish chefs: How understanding redox reactions could save you from a bollocking
Many years ago I was working in a restaurant in Scotland and in an effort to save myself some time I prepped a stack of apples we were using as a garnish hours before we needed them. Thinking I’d done something clever I was radiating smugness until a coworker pointed out that the apples would Continue reading
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Bananas, uniformity and catastrophe
I’ve been reliably informed by influencers, billionaires, failed comedians, politicians, Twitter pundits and assorted spite-filled meat-puppets looking to build an audience that diversity is a bad thing. Now I’m not one to disagree with the new intelligentsia but as a scientist, a member of the old intelligentsia I guess, I can’t help but feel, deep Continue reading
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Everything you think you know about nutrition is probably wrong
Are you confused about what we should be eating? Bewildered by contradictory dietary advice? Overwhelmed by dietary fads and loud-mouthed influencers? Well you are not alone. Over the past five decades endless cycles of contradictory nutrition advice and dietary fads have left most people in a state of utter confusion about what constitutes a healthy Continue reading
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The science behind umami: Understanding the way we perceive taste
Most of us have now heard of umami and we probably all know that umami is now recognised as the fifth of our primary tastes, formerly limited to sweet, sour, bitter and salty. You might also know that Western societies were a bit slow to the umami party. Despite being recognised in the East for Continue reading
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Fermentation I: Beer and chemistry
I had a long break over Christmas and these are a few of the meals I had during that break: at the local pizza joint a pepperoni pizza washed down with beer, a trip to the German club where I had a pork knuckle with sauerkraut washed down with beer, a trip to a French Continue reading
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Understanding Emulsions II: Mayonnaise
In my mind mayonnaise has always been kind of a Jekyll and Hyde sauce. We all know what mayonnaise is and we all have a bottle of mayonnaise in the fridge. But we also have homemade mayonnaise, a sauce that can be richer tasting but which can also vary greatly depending on what oil and Continue reading
chemistry, cholesterol, eggs, emulsifier, emulsions, Food, lipid, mayonnaise, micelle, oil, proteins, Science, vinaigrette#cooking, cholesterol, eggs, emulsifier, emulsion, Food, food science, HDL, LDL, lipid, mayonnaise, micelle, recipe, recipes, salads, Science -
Mastering the science of sugar: From simple syrups to caramel
I’ve been catching up on the latest series of the Great British Bake Off and in one episode, amongst all the usual drama of collapsing pastries and sagging cakes, the contestants were overcooking their caramel for the Banoffee Pie technical and it made me think about sugar. In recent posts I’ve talked a lot about Continue reading
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Hurts so good: The painful pleasure of chillies
When I was running a medical research laboratory I was part of long running research project in Issan province in the north-eastern part of Thailand. One of the perks of working on this project was frequent trips to Thailand to work with Thai and American colleagues. My first visits were close to twenty years ago Continue reading
The Science of Food 