Food Chemistry in Small Bites

Food Chemistry in Small Bites takes readers on an up-close scientific journey through the transformation of food when meals are prepared. Organized in bite-size, digestible units, this innovative text introduces students to food's molecular makeup as well as the perception of food by the five senses. Using familiar foods as examples, it explores what happens to ingredients when heated, cooled, or treated and also considers what happens when materials that don’t naturally mix are forced to do so.
 
With informative, full-color renderings and a hands-on lab section, the book encourages students to think like scientists while preparing delicious dishes. Readers will formulate hypotheses as to why certain foods taste hot despite being at room temperature, why milk separates into curds and whey when lemon is added, and other ordinary but chemically complex phenomena. This book also importantly challenges readers to think critically about the future of food in the face of a warming planet.

Patricia B. O’Hara is the Amanda and Lisa Cross Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biophysics at Amherst College, coauthor of The Chemical Story of Olive Oil, and author of numerous scholarly research publications.

Contents
 
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Boxes
Acknowledgments
 
Introduction
Part I. Informing
1. Why Do We Eat?
2. Making Sense of Our Senses
 
Part II. Transforming
3. Cooking with Fire and Ice
4. Transforming Food Using pH, Pressure, and Microbes
5. Manipulating Texture
 
Part III. Reforming
6. The Future of Food
 
Part IV. Performing
7. The Culinary Laboratory
 
Notes
Bibliography
Illustration Credits
Index