A Food Experience

Molecular Gastronomy has been predominantly seen as a trend in the luxurious epicurean dining scene. Most people see it as a fad with no greater purpose than to entertain large wallets, yet what they do not realize is that molecular gastronomy is actually cutting edge food technology with potential for greater social good.

That potential is what we hope to impart on you as our guest. The workings of Molecular Gastronomy have the ability to aid chemotherapy patients’ taste buds and reduce CO2emissions wreaking havoc on the enviornment. All you have to do is eat.

Molecular Gastronomy noun

Molecular Gastronomy is a subdiscipline of food science that seeks to investigate the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur in cooking.

Disruptive DiningCourse 1

Seared Ahi TunaPlated by consuming CO26kg/kg

Mat

eria

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Tuna

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SCIENTIFIC NAME

Thunnus and Katsuwonus species

WEIGHT40- 500 pounds

LENGTH 3-10 feet

Millions of people in the United States enjoy consuming tuna, with it’s numerable health benefits it has become one of the most commercially valuable fish. There are four species of tuna being skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye, and albacore. The fishing industries’ techniques for catching fish have improved considerably over the last decade yet their management and conservation of the tuna species hasn’t. Tuna stock at this moment in time is fully exploited meaning that there is no room for fishery expansion leaving an imminent threat to the species looming in the near future.

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eria

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Watermelon

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SCIENTIFIC NAME

Citrullus lanatus

WEIGHT

20 - 25 pounds

CROP SEASON

May-October

Originally from South Africa watermelon is a flowering plant with large leaves as well as white and yellow flowers. The watermelon plant is grown for what we know to be watermelon, the edible fruit, which is actually a certain kind of berry botanists call pepo. The familiar striped rind and it’s juicy and sweet flesh are what we have come to identify with. Breeding efforts have been put into creating a disease resistant strain which has allowed for the fruit to grow within a hundred days of being planted as well as allow for watermelon to be grown locally across the United States.

The

Issu

e

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Food Miles

4Oz. of tuna

=the same

greenhouse emissions as

driving

1.5miles

6CO2kg/kg

Emitted into the atmosphere

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DEFINITION noun

A mile over which a food item is transported from producer to consumer, as a unit of measurement of the fuel used to do this.

CONCERNING tuna

“Yellowfin tuna can be found in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Once caught, they find their way to Thailand, the biggest producer of tinned tuna in the world. About 70 per cent of all fish eaten in Britain originates in foreign waters.”

Main exporter: Thailand

Food miles to UK: 5,900

CONCERNING watermelon

Today, farmers in approximately 44 states in the United States grow watermelon commercially. Georgia, Florida, Texas, California and Arizona are the United States’ largest watermelon producers. When sourced locally and then treated through molecular gastronomy watermelon is a better option for a tuna-like dining experience.

The

Expe

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Dishes and Dining

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Dish presentation

When the food has been consumed the plate will reveal 6 topographical rings alluding to the 6 CO2kg emitted into the atmosphere by each kg of tuna. The information presented on the plate is only to spur further curiosity about the ecological damage that is being caused when by enjoying high-demand high-carbon causing foods.

Watermelon

Cut into slabs

Marinate

Vacuum Seal

Sear in liquid Nitrogen

Plate and serve to customer

Eat

“Tuna”

Met

hod

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MolecularGastronomy

“The idea with this is that we’re going to eliminate tons of food miles, wasted energy, and over-fishing of tuna, by creating tuna, or any exotic produce with local organic produce. So, we have watermelon from Wisconsin.”

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SOLUTION: using molecular gastronomy to eliminate food miles

The process of vacuum sealing slabs of watermelon provides participants the experience of eating tuna, a high carbon footprint food without the resulting carbon emissions into the environment.

FOOD DECONTEXTUALIZATION:

In order to foster a learning experience and moment of revelation when dining we have to undermine both the participants’ thoughts about molecular gastronomy as well as their notions about the immediacy of consumer society. Placed in a setting that under normal circumstances promotes thoughts of luxury, privilege, and high dining the diner is expecting a certain degree of trust in what is being served to them.

By serving them modified watermelon under the pretense that it is tuna the diner goes through a series of checks and balances that makes them really consider what is being placed on their plates. The way in which the “tuna” is treated is similar in a lot of ways to that of actual tuna. By replacing the tuna with local watermelon the food-miles, over fishing, and mercury levels that are created during the distribution of tuna are almost entirely eliminated and the diner is still satisfied.

Once we are aware that we can “decontextualize” high-demand high-carbon foods the possibilities are endless. Molecular gastronomy could become a large factor in reducing carbon emissions produced by food distribution. The first step is on the plate.

2 COLUMBUS CIRCLE NEW YORK, NY 10019 PRESENTED BY THE MUSEUM OF FOOD AND DRINK

EXHIBITION BY APRIL MCMULLAN

WORK CITED

“Watermelon.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.

WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.

The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.

“Transcript of “Cooking as Alchemy”” Homaro Cantu + Ben Roche: Cooking as Alchemy. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.