On Tuesday, November 16, 2021, the Indonesian Gastronomy course of the Department of Food and Agricultural Products Technology UGM held a guest lecture on the topic “Molecular Gastronomy”. This guest lecture was presented by Andrian Ishak, who is the founder of Namaaz Dining. The guest lecture, which took place at 07.15-08.55 WIB, was held through the Zoom platform and moderated by Andika Wicaksono Putro, S.T.P., M.Sc., TPHP UGM lecturer.
Molecular gastronomy is a term invented by Nicholas Kurti, a Hungarian nutritionist. Gastronomy focuses on culinary science, but many people do not want to apply science in the kitchen because people think it is not related to cooking. The two indirectly collaborate because science helps create tools and determine the ingredients used.
Some of the tools and materials used in gastronomy are liquid nitrogen, spherification, hydrocolloid, sous vide, and rotary evaporators. Liquid nitrogen is used to freeze food quickly and is food safe as 79% of the air is nitrogen. Spherification is similar in concept to jellification in that calcium ions combine with alginate, but are suspended and form bubbles that when eaten break up in the mouth. Hydrocolloids are commonly used to change the texture and the ingredients used are methyl cellulose and maltodextrin. Sous vide is a versatile and very practical tool because it can cook by utilizing precise temperature regulation (with a water medium). Rotary evaporators can make something to capture the aroma, and then the aroma is used for the binding experience.
If gastronomy talks about food and the cooking process, then gastrophysics, according to Charles Spence, is more about the behavior when eating or what happens to the body when eating and studying how food can affect the way humans think, or vice versa. Gastrophysics can be used as a dining experience by utilizing the sense of taste, sense of sight, sense of hearing, atmosphere, and personalized menu.
“Molecular gastronomy is within gastrophysiscs which is very broad and molecular gastronomy does not discuss sensory during eating, but discusses what happens during food processing,” the speaker added.
The Indonesian Gastronomy Guest Lecture video can be accessed through the following link
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74T9S7YVJU0[/embedyt]
