Molecular and physical gastronomy
Gastronomía molecular y física
- Date
- 1992 · confidence high
- Place
- Erice, Sicily, Italy
- Credited to
- Nicholas Kurti and Herve This
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
A scientific discipline that studies the physical and chemical transformations of food during cooking. The first international workshop in Erice (1992) brought together physicists and chemists to make it a field of research.
The term was coined in 1988 by Kurti and This; Kurti had already spoken on 'the physicist in the kitchen' at the Royal Society (1969). The term molecular gastronomy is itself disputed by chefs.
What it led to
- avant-garde cooking techniques (spherification, emulsions, gels)
- author cuisine based on laboratory methods (El Bulli)
- culinary science at universities