Science meets haute cuisine

Hannah Hoag in Seed Magazine:

Molecular_chef_article1On a Tuesday night in early fall at the Montreal Science Centre’s IMAX theatre, Hervé This, a tallish man with wispy, grey hair, paces the short length of a makeshift stage with evangelical fervor. Wearing a pale grey suit and his trademark white, un-collared shirt, he holds an egg at eye level.

“Imagine you have only one egg,” he says. “It is not a question of money to cook a good egg or a bad egg. It is a question of knowledge.”

This, a physical chemist, wants to bring the scientific method to the kitchen. At his laboratory in the Collège de France in Paris, he and his students debunk dictums, test old wives tales, and pare dishes down to their barest elements before rebuilding them into new food blends and innovative cuisine.

More here.