France And a number of food molecules and microbes have become familiar figures in the news, both good and bad Anyone who follows the latest in health and nutrition knows about the benefits of antioxidants and phytoestrogens, the hazards of trans fatty acids, acrylamide, E coli bacteria, and mad cow disease Professional cooks have also come to appreciate the value of the scientific approach to their craft In the first few years after On Food and Cooking appeared, many young cooks told me of their frustration in trying to find out why dishes were prepared a certain way, or why ingredients behave as they do To their traditionally trained chefs and teachers, understanding food was less important than mastering the tried and true techniques for preparing it Today it’s clearer that curiosity and understanding make their own contribution to mastery A number of culinary schools now offer “experimental” courses that investigate the whys of cooking and encourage critical thinking And several highly regarded chefs, most famously Ferran Adrià in Spain and Heston Blumenthal in England, experiment with industrial and laboratory tools — gelling agents from seaweeds and bacteria, non-sweet sugars, aroma extracts, pressurized gases, liquid nitrogen — to bring new forms of pleasure to the table As science has gradually percolated into the world of cooking, cooking has been drawn into academic and industrial science One effective and charming force behind this movement was Nicholas Kurti, a physicist and food lover at the University of Oxford, who lamented in 1969: “I think it is a sad reflection on our civilization that while we can and do measure the temperature in the atmosphere of Venus, we do not know what goes on inside our soufflés.” In 1992, at the age of 84, Nicholas nudged civilization along ... lamented in 1969: “I think it is a sad reflection on our civilization that while we can and do measure the temperature in the atmosphere of Venus, we do not know what goes on inside our soufflés.” In 1992, at the age of 84, Nicholas nudged civilization along... the world of cooking, cooking has been drawn into academic and industrial science One effective and charming force behind this movement was Nicholas Kurti, a physicist and food lover at the University of Oxford, who lamented in 1969: “I think it is a sad...investigate the whys of cooking and encourage critical thinking And several highly regarded chefs, most famously Ferran Adrià in Spain and Heston Blumenthal in England, experiment with industrial and