MetaFilter posts tagged with food and science

Calories are delicious

silby — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:35:52 -0800

The Neuroscience of McGriddles: Evolutionary biology offers hypotheses about why we enjoy eating. "When you eat at McDonald's, a big part of the pleasure comes from the fact that the food is sustenance, fuel, energy. Even mediocre food is a little rewarding."

Diet Trend Smackdown--and no winners?

mecran01 — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 10:32:19 -0800

"People lose weight if they lower calories, but it does not matter how." According to recently published study in the New England Journal of Medicine, "For people who are trying to lose weight, it does not matter if they are counting carbohydrates, protein or fat. All that matters is that they are counting something." “The effect of any particular diet group is minuscule, but the effect of individual behavior is humongous,” Dr. Sacks said. “We had some people losing 50 pounds and some people gaining five pounds. That’s what we don’t have a clue about. I think in the future, researchers should focus less on the actual diet but on finding what is really the biggest governor of success in these individuals.” [full study here] As a big (no pun intended) fan of the work done by Gary Taubes, I find these results distressing. Fortunately for my wavering dietary faith, Taubes responds to the study.

Hervé This: the man who unboiled an egg

Lush — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 02:44:19 -0800

Hervé This, dubbed the "Father of Molecular Gastronomy", is also known as the man who unboiled an egg.

The Anatomy Of Taste

amyms — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:36:21 -0800

Yummy Science. Researchers unravel the complex combination of physical and emotional reactions that influence our perceptions of what tastes good. Once upon a time, flavor research was a matter of asking housewives to munch a few potato chips... Now it's about providing an exceptional flavor "experience." And as scientists learn to exploit the ways we perceive flavor, food manufacturers will be able to refine their products to appeal to us as individuals. Welcome to the world of personally tailored mass-produced food.

doctor delicious and molecular gastronomy

madamjujujive — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 22:00:49 -0800

Carbonated watermelon. Gelatin spheres with liquid centers. Broths and sauces whipped into foams. When the world's best chefs want something that defies the laws of physics, they come to one man: Dave Arnold, the DIY guru of high-tech cooking. Want to turn your kitchen into a science lab? Check out 25 extreme kitchen gadgets. Related, previously on Mefi: molecular gastronomy.

"What Makes Us Healthy", or "Was Woody Right"

caddis — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:58:32 -0800

"Sleeper":
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
Has anything changed?

Cheers | Prost | Gayola | Na zdraví | Skål | Slainte | etc.

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:48:15 -0800

Multicultural toasting as an accoutrement for Gunther Anderson's guide to making liqueurs at home [ Principles | Science | Materials | Example recipe | and more... ]

Earthlings

homunculus — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 16:00:33 -0800

Earthlings (1 hr 35 min Google video) is "a feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called 'non-human providers.'" Also in three parts on YouTube.

MegaFeeders

Gyan — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:43:29 -0800

Obesity: Epidemic or Myth?

Science of Cooking

Gyan — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 11:12:29 -0800

Science of Cooking guide resource

Inkjet sushi

AlexReynolds — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 07:52:07 -0800

Inkjet sushi - Some argue the kind of molecular gastronomy created by chefs like Moto's Homaro Cantu sucks the soul out of gourmet dining. Others turn it into better cooking for the unwashed masses, while still others turn it into a science project for the kids.

FoodExpert-ID Chip

taragl — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 18:13:29 -0800

"A single test can now reveal the presence of meat from any of 32 different species in food samples, enabling a wide range of important questions to be answered. These include whether chicken has been bulked up with beef or pork extracts; whether expensive albacore tuna is really cheap skipjack tuna; whether rats, mice or even bits of people fell into the mincer when your burger was being made..."

Great Mammon's Organisms

Blue Stone — Mon, 25 Aug 2003 03:55:10 -0800

Is the GM Food Business trying to nobble independent scientific inquiry? Scientists on the UK Government's GM Science Review Panel, say they have been threatened and bullied to provide pro-GM opinions.
(Meanwhile Tony Blair is reigning in his zeal for GMO's, it seems for entirely political reasons.)

The HRE was neither holy nor roman, talk amongst yourselves (about GMOs)

turbodog — Mon, 21 Jul 2003 14:10:26 -0800

Today the British government released a major report on the safety of genetically modified foods. According to New Scientist, "existing genetically modified crops and foods pose a 'very low' risk to human health and are 'very unlikely' to rampage through the British countryside", but others disagree.

Science in the kitchen.

ciderwoman — Mon, 31 Mar 2003 08:25:13 -0800

Science in the kitchen. It's more star trek then home-ec, the cooking of Blumenthal and the legendary Ferran Adria from El Bulli, brings the chemistry set into the kitchen. Egg and bacon ice cream anyone?

brownpau — Fri, 30 Aug 2002 15:35:37 -0800

The Twinkies Project: "Tests With Inorganic Noxious Kakes In Extreme Situations." Kids, do try these at home.

NortonDC — Mon, 18 Mar 2002 19:55:50 -0800

Where are your limits? Inspired in part by mikhail's earlier post on the gelatin used in Guinness (and Bass), for those with voluntary diet restrictions (kosher, halal, vegetarian, etc.), what unexpected choices have you faced? Does it go beyond food? Toothpaste? Collagen injections? Silk? Buying a car with leather seats? A used car with leather seats?

tenbroeck — Mon, 14 May 2001 11:44:40 -0800

Reports of the peanut's demise are greatly exaggerated. Efforts to counter the declining consumption of peanuts seem to be working, the National Peanut Board has announced. Sometimes you should feel like a nut.

holgate — Thu, 18 Jan 2001 19:17:54 -0800

"GMO free" labelling set to become illegal in the US? "The U.S. regulatory system is a model around the world because it is grounded in science, not superstition or uninformed emotion." So says the president of a biotech lobby group. Ahem.

mmanning — Fri, 28 Jan 2000 13:30:15 -0800

fast(er) food in so-cal. looks like we'll all be able to get our big macs a whopping 15 seconds faster at orange county drive throughs. why haven't they done this *inside* their stores, where it usually takes the cashier at least a minute to do the math, after the people in front of me spend 3 minutes digging through their pockets/wallets/purses to find their money and change.(disclosure: i was once a mcdonald's cashier)

mathowie — Wed, 13 Oct 1999 12:29:05 -0800

Although this is dated, it is still interesting. The long-story-short is someone left some spam out on a plate to see if would ever decompose. This person also left out other items for comparison. Check out the archived experiments for past projects and notes.

tdecius — Tue, 12 Oct 1999 13:09:32 -0800

Ah, Peeps, those resilient little birds. This is a neat site on basic Peep science.