CHEMICALS OF DISTINCTION
The similarity between these flasks and jars of oil and vinegar is not surprising.
Early chemical apparatus was developed from kitchen equipment and the links between
chemistry and cooking remain to this day. Organic chemistry (the chemistry of carbon
compounds that comprises the whole of the living world and much more besides) is sometimes
called 'bucket chemistry' by more theoretically inclined scientists.
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HOW NUTRITION WORKS
Food consists of nutrients held together in a form the body is equipped for by
evolution to digest. The body doesn't use food 'naturally, - it processes it ruthlessly
and extracts what it needs.
NATURAL AND CHEMICAL
To be nutritious food ingredients have to have a specific function
WHY INGREDIENTS WORK
How the cook uses a battery of chemical reagents (better known by their more homely
names to create familiar foods.
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Chemicals have always been welcome in the
kitchen: sodium bicarbonate, pectin, yeast, acetic acid etc. Every cook is a
chemist. The first chemical laboratories, back in the Middle Ages, were glorified
kitchens, and many chemical processes derive from techniques of cooking. The vital
technique of distillation was perfected in the course of man's search for intoxicating
drinks. And far from being dehumanizing, such chemical processes have an ancient magic and
glamour, as the great Italian writer Primo Levi pointed out (he was also a chemist):
'Distilling is beautiful. First of all, because it is a slow, philosophic, and silent
occupation, which keeps you busy but gives you time to think of other things, somewhat
like riding a bike. Then because it involves a metamorphosis from liquid to invisible
(vapour) invisible, and from this once again to liquid; but in this double journey, up and
down, purity is obtained, an ambiguous and fascinating condition, which starts with
chemistry and goes very far. And finally, when you set about distilling, you acquire the
consciousness of repeating a ritual consecrated by centuries, almost a religious act, in
which from imperfect material you obtain the essence, the usia, the spirit, and in the
first place alcohol, which gladdens the spirit and warms the heart.'
Every kitchen contains a battery of chemical reagents, each with their specific
chemical purpose; e.g. sodium bicarbonate, pectin, yeast, acetic acid, sodium chloride;
and also substances, such as milk and eggs, that are not usually thought of as chemicals
but which actually miracle reagents that chemists would still be incapable of creating if
they didn't already exist.
In many cases, ingredients that sound like chemicals are derived from natural products:
lecithin from soya is similar to egg lecithin, acetic acid comes from vinegar, Vitamin C
is the active ingredient of lemon juice, and so on. The principle of using additives is
something that every cook, high or low, uses every time they prepare a meal. To understand
the processes of making sauces, meringues, bread and cakes, of marinading, tenderising and
caramelising is to become a food chemist, and it greatly enhances the pleasure of cooking
to see it from a chemical point of view. Cooking is chemistry in action, with the added
benefit that you can eat the results. |
