Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating

337 Pages·2017·10.25 MB·English

by  Charles Spence

VIKING
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Copyright © 2017 by Charles Spence
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First published in Great Britain by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Spence, Charles (Experimental psychologist),
author.
Title: Gastrophysics : the new science of eating / professor Charles Spence ; foreword by Heston
Blumenthal.
Description: [New York] : Viking, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017020341 (print) | LCCN 2017021626 (ebook) | ISBN 9780735223486 (e-book) |
ISBN 9780735223462 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Gastronomy. | Food—Sensory evaluation. | Dinners
and dining. | Nutrition.
Classification: LCC TX631 (e-book) | LCC TX631 .S679 2017 (print) | DDC 641.01/3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017020341
Version_1
To Norah Spence, who knew implicitly the value of a good education without
ever having had the opportunity to have one.
And Barbara Spence, who had to read more about the legendary F. T. than any
loving wife should ever have to.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Amuse Bouche
1. Taste
2. Smell
3. Sight
4. Sound
5. Touch
6. The Atmospheric Meal
7. Social Dining
8. Airline Food
9. The Meal Remembered
10. The Personalized Meal
11. The Experiential Meal
12. Digital Dining
13. Back to the Futurists
Notes
Bibliography and Related Readings
Illustration Credits
Index
Acknowledgments
I would never have ended up in the world of gastrophysics if it hadn’t been for
the enduring support and mentorship of Prof. Francis McGlone then at Unilever
Research, for which I will always remain grateful. As will become clear from the
main text, though, it was really the introduction to Heston Blumenthal by Tony
Blake of Firmenich that led to my growing interest in gastronomy, rather than
food science! In recent years, I owe an especial debt of gratitude to Rupert
Ponsonby (R&R), Christophe Cauvy (then of JWT), and Steve Keller (iV Audio
Branding) for having believed in the multisensory approach to gastrophysics and
all things fun. To Prof. Barry Smith, for helping make the Baz ’n’ Chaz wine
roadshow so enjoyable. Long may it continue! It has, though, really been the
enthusiastic support and collaboration of the next generation of young chefs,
including Jozef Youssef, of Kitchen Theory, and Charles Michel, Crossmodalist
extraordinaire, that has made the latest gastrophysics research such fun to do.
You will read about a number of their dishes and designs in the pages that
follow.
I would also like to thank the many chefs and culinary schools for their
support, and opening up their kitchens and restaurants to the “Mad Professor”: I
have been lucky enough to conduct gastrophysics research over the last fifteen
years together with a number of world-leading chefs including Heston
Blumenthal and all the team at The Fat Duck Research Kitchen and restaurant;
Chef Sriram Aylur, Quilon, London; Chef Jesse Dunford Woods, Parlor,
London; Ben Reade, Nordic Food Lab; Dominique Persoone, The Chocolate
Line; Chef Albert Landgraf from Epice, São Paolo; Chef Xavier Gamez, of
Xavier260, Porto Allegre, Brazil; Chef Andoni and Dani Lasa from Mugaritz,
San Sebastián; Chef Joel Braham, of The Good Egg, London; Chef Debs
Paquette, of Etch, Nashville; and not forgetting Chef Paul Fraemohs, of
Somerville College, Oxford. I have also been lucky enough to conduct research
together with Ferran Adrià’s Alicía Foundation in Spain, The Paul Bocuse
Cookery School, Lyon, France, and Westminster Kingsway College, London. I
would also like to thank Jelly & Gin, Blanch & Shock, Caroline Hobkinson, Sam
Bompas, and all the students, past and present, who have done most of the
research here at the Crossmodal Research Laboratory.
Finally, I would like to thank Tony Conigliaro from 69 Colbrooke Row,
London, Ryan Chetiyawardana, aka Mr. Lyan, Neil Perry (of Rockpool,
Sydney), and Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, of Colonna & Small’s, Bath. All
masters of their art. And, finally, Fergus Henderson, for the memorable evening
onstage at the Cheltenham Science Festival back in 2007 (along with a bucket of
tripe oh so gallantly displayed by my vegan then graduate student, Maya
Shankar).
Foreword
There was a time when—apart from the late, great Nicholas Kurti—scientists
didn’t consider the science of food a serious or worthwhile subject for study. I’d
talk with them, offering up theories based on what I’d observed and carefully
tested in The Fat Duck kitchen, and get an indulgent smile that seemed to say,
“You stick to cooking and let us get on with the rest.” Admittedly, chefs were no
better, insisting that cooking had little to do with science, as though the eggs
they were busy scrambling weren’t in fact undergoing the technical process of
coagulation.
Charles, though, wasn’t like this. One of his strengths is that he has a curiosity
that crosses disciplines and, for all his scientific rigor, isn’t confined to a narrow
academic viewpoint. Upon meeting him, I discovered that many of the ideas I
was exploring in my kitchen, he was also exploring in his lab. And so, as you’ll
see in this book, he and I began doing research together on how we react to the
food we see, hear, smell, touch, and put in our mouths. We eat with our eyes,
ears, nose, memory, imagination and our gut. Every human being has a
relationship with food, some of it positive, some of it negative, but ultimately it’s
all about emotion and feeling.
To me, this is at the very heart of how we respond to food: much more than
the tongue (which detects at least five tastes); more even than the nose (which
detects countless aromas), it’s the conversation between our brain and our gut,
mediated by our heart, that tells us whether we like a food or not. It’s the brain
that governs our emotional response.
It’s a hugely rewarding subject (and an essential one for us, as humans, to
understand), but it’s undoubtedly a complex one, too. Charles is the perfect
guide to introduce us to this world and to investigate with us—in a truly
accessible, entertaining and informative way—how it works. On every page
there are ideas to set you thinking and widen your horizons, from the notion that
we all of us live in separate and completely different taste worlds, to questions
like, “Is cutlery the best way to move the food from plate to mouth?”
What I take away from Gastrophysics is that, as Charles says, in the mouth
very little is as it seems. The pleasure we get from food depends, far more than
we could possibly imagine, on our subjectivity—on our memories, associations
and emotions. It’s a fascinating topic into which you can take your first steps
through the door by reading Gastrophysics.
Heston Blumenthal