yum.

hmm. ever wonder what's behind 'food'? is it simply substances we consume for our own sustenance, or is there more to it? you have people who love music, you have people who love movies, you have people who adore other people, so why not food? after all, you can live without entertainment, but you'll die without food (don't tell me you only survive on water). but food isn't really just food nowadays. we look at many more aspects - the marketability, the packaging, the way food is prepared. it is almost an art in itself, yet it remains something quite unknown to the vast majority.

been reading up on molecular gastronomy and it suddenly struck me that we are in the midst of a culinary revolution! haha... there are some really striking aspects that made me see food in a different light :P

somehow, reducing food to science isn't all too bad. i mean, quantifying the crispiness of potato chips as a function of the type of veg oil used, the temperature of baking/frying and the conditions under which they were packaged, isn't really taking out the holistic experience of consuming delectable foods. it's just coming up with a "scientific" way of recreating the experience i.e. being able to replicate the dish for an infinite number of times for the connoisseur's pleasure and the benefit of subsequent generations of chefs. ultimately, we benefit, don't we?

taking a reductionist approach to cooking makes life so much more fun! imagine creating textures by just adding chemical symbols and doing physics in your mind! yeah some people will snort at the idea of manipulating all these abstract concepts when conceiving new culinary ideas. but, do you see the inherent beauty in this? you can come up with new recipes by combining different ingredients and using different techniques - without doing any actual trial-and-error. it takes the hassle out of cooking, and you can predict the product of your culinary endeavour! isn't it amazing? it's similar to mathematics - the rigour and elegance of the theorem you derive, the manifestation of (what some people call) God (His image, His rules etc.) in our world...

yum yum. more gastronomic adventures this fri! lol...