Physics Meets Food, From Homemade to Haute Cuisine New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

The spectacular culinary creations of modern cuisine are the stuff of countless articles and social media feeds. But to a scientist they are also perfect pedagogical explorations into the basic scientific principles of cooking. In Science and Cooking, Harvard professors Michael Brenner, Pia Sörensen, and David Weitz bring the classroom to your kitchen to teach the physics and chemistry underlying every recipe.

Why do we knead bread? What determines the temperature at which we cook a steak, or the amount of time our chocolate chip cookies spend in the oven? Science and Cooking answers these questions and more through hands-on experiments and recipes from renowned chefs such as Christina Tosi, Joanne Chang, and Wylie Dufresne, all beautifully illustrated in full color. With engaging introductions from revolutionary chefs and collaborators Ferran Adrià and José Andrés, Science and Cooking will change the way you approach both subjects—in your kitchen and beyond.

Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) is a natural source of saponins, which are known for their surface-active properties and ability to form metastable foams. The properties of saponin extract from soapwort have not been well characterized. This study examines the chemical and physical properties of soapwort extract as well as its foaming behavior under food relevant conditions. We show that the extract produces metastable solid-like foams, with high foam capacity and stability. Further, the surfactant has a higher critical micelle concentration (CMC) than other natural sources, and shows some ionic character, although changes in pH only slightly affect its behavior. For a comprehensive understanding, the foaming properties were analyzed in the presence of other molecules commonly used in food systems. The presence of sodium chloride, sucrose, ethanol, and low pH was found not significantly to affect foam properties. Addition of heat increases the foam capacity, whereas ethanol at high concentrations is unfavorable. The extract presents a promising alternative surfactant for foams and other dispersions in diverse food systems.

Recent decades have witnessed an increasing interaction between chefs and scientists, fueling new trends in both cooking and in the sciences. In June 2018 an international symposium brought together chefs, scientists, communicators, students, and gastronomical entrepreneurs to discuss in an informal and creative atmosphere matters of mutual interest with the aim of further cross-fertilization and development of new ideas for future and collaborative work. The emphasis was on communication and public outreach. The symposium also included workshops with gastronomic and gastrophysical demonstrations and experimentation. The goal of the symposium was to bring together professionals from two very different fields — science and gastronomy, as well as those working at the intersection of both. In doing so we intended to spark new ideas for teaching and research. Moreover, we hoped that the symposium might also inspire novel collaborations in the field, a field which by its very definition relies on cross-talk between disciplines. The special issue contains a collection of papers under the heading Chefs meet scientists: GASTRO-SCIENCE-CHEF 2018. The collection mirrors some of the wide-ranging contents of the symposium, including both original research papers, reviews, short communications, and opinion papers. The papers cover diverse topics like soft-matter physics and gastronomy of jelly fish; gastrophysics of squid; science education and public understanding of science; culinary practitioners’ views of interaction between gastronomy and research; dining experiences at the inter-section of cooking, research, and communication; terminological conundrums related to science and gastronomy; phycogastronomy; taste learning in children; teaching science to chefs; the role of the chef in the 21th century; holistic cuisine; gastronomic research in tempeto; and frames for collaboration between chefs and scientists.

Millennia before the Columbian Exchange brought potatoes, tomatoes, maize, and pepper from the New World, many of the Old World’s core food plants and animals were domesticated in the region of Upper Mesopotamia in what is today Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. This includes barley and wheat, sheep, goat, cow, and pig, which to this day account for more than half of all calories consumed by humans on the planet.

It is therefore not surprising that the oldest known culinary recipes also come from ancient Mesopotamia. These recipes can be found on a group of clay tablets kept in the Yale Babylonian Collection.

Dishes known from ancient Mesopotamia include breads, cakes, pies, porridges, soups, stews, and roasts. A larger proportion of the food than is the case today was probably eaten raw. Unlike the modern Western tradition, there seems to have been no essential distinction between sweet and savory dishes, and no conventions about the order in which to eat them. As in many other traditions, presentation took precedence over order, with many dishes served together and continuously during a seating. Texts often reflect a close concern for the form and appearance of food, and elaborate utensils and molds found in excavations show great attention to its visual display