Chemicals and the food.

Chemicals. 

One of those words that we have been taught is BAD.  What a shame on our educational system.  We are made of chemicals.  Thousands of them that would horrify most people if they heard the actual names.  Food labels scare most people.  Food marketing is designed to scare people.  I know.  I am a former food scientist by training and Associate editor and photographer for a food magazine.

So I happen to like aspects of the new molecular cuisine.  New approaches to using traditional ingredients in new ways.  The problem is they have chemical names.   I relate this to the "New Music" movement.  This started in the 1980's using traditional instruments in new ways or using new technology in music.  Windham Hill and Tomita are examples.  Somehow the guitar was still "organic."  I hate that deceptive, awful word after surviving Organic chemistry.  The new word is nothing like its truthful meaning.

Sodium alginate and Calcium chloride allow imaginative chefs to create new approaches to serving Soy Sauce as CAVIAR, or serving carrot juice in a little bubble.  I have had several examples recently and just now discovered the secrets behind the approach described in the link below.

See the following for a more detailed treatment.  Don't watch your DVD version of Julia Robert's movie portrayal of ERIN BROCKAVICH at the same time.  It won't work, believe me.  I will get hate mail.

Remember, the terms "all natural and organic" includes snake venom and poison ivy, tuberculosis, botulism and AIDS.
JA

http://www.chow.com/food-news/53792/burst-in-your-mouth/