Culinary Techniques Research Articles

Synthesis and Characterization of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Using Moringa Leaf Extract

This paper investigates the technique of biosynthesis of nanoparticles of zinc oxide from the extraction of moringa leaves. Many researchers recognize the use of this method of green culinary technique because it is cost-effective and has no negative impact on the environment; however, this paper focuses on the bacteria chosen for the green synthesis, which was not addressed by many of the researchers. The firmness and reduction of Zn ions in nanoparticles of zinc oxide were analyzed with a UV-visible spectroscope. Its results show that a wide bandgap was observed in the visible region at a wavelength of 350 nanometers. Extraction of moringa leaves serves as a promising agent for the balance of particle size. The result of medical value shows significant antibacterial activity in contrast to the type of pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. From the XRD results, there are no further peaks that correspond to impurities that are discovered, demonstrating the great purity of the provided results.

Athens “is Dieting”. The relationship between “gastronomy” (opsopoietike) and politics in Plato’s philosophy

This paper addresses the question of the relationship between the diaita, that is, the psychophysical conditions related to nutrition, and the political regime that it generates in Plato’s philosophy. It will be argued that the reasons that stimulate Plato’s critique to the dietary nomos, that emerge in the V-IV BC centuries following the development of the culinary technique, are especially political reasons. Our purpose is to find the relationship between a food habit and a government’s pattern. In order to attain the aim, the article is divided into the following parts: First, we argue about Plato’s interest in foods and the effects that food has on individual and on political health; Then we examine the Plato’s judgment about the new habits and their social influences; Finally, we analyse the relationship between diaita and politics in the Republic and Laws. Keywords: Plato, diaita, politics, nomos.

Influence of culinary process on free and bound (poly)phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of artichokes

Artichokes are an important source of (poly)phenolic compounds, mainly caffeoylquinic acids, which consumption has been associated with health benefits. However, heat treatments have shown to affect the amounts of these bioactive food compounds.In the present study the influence of culinary techniques (boiling, griddling, and frying) on the total (poly)phenolic content of artichokes (Cynara Scolymus cv. Blanca de Tudela) was evaluated by LC-MS/MS. Additionally, the antioxidant capacity of cooked artichokes was evaluated by spectrophotometric methods.A total of 31 (poly)phenols were identified and quantified, being caffeoylquinic acids the most abundant compounds in raw artichokes accounting for more than 95% of total (poly)phenolic compounds. With the different culinary techniques, these compounds suffered degradation but also redistribution, probably due to isomerization and hydrolysis reactions. Frying and griddling showed the lowest content of (poly)phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity suggesting thermal degradation. Boiling also provoked losses, which were mainly due to leaching of phenolic compounds into the water. However, it was the heat treatment that best preserved (poly)phenolic compounds in artichokes.

‘Gilded Gravel in the Bowl’: Ireland’s cuisine and culinary heritage in the poetry of Seamus Heaney

ABSTRACT Seamus Heaney’s poetry is rich in detail about agricultural and food practices in his native Northern Ireland from the 1950s onwards, such as cattle-trading, butter-churning, eel-fishing, blackberry-picking or home-baking. Often studied from an ecocritical perspective, the abundance of agricultural and culinary scenes in Heaney’s work makes a gastrocritical focus on food and foodways suitable. Food has been recognized as a highly condensed social fact, and writers have long tapped into its multi-layered meanings to illuminate socio-cultural circumstances, making literature a valuable ethnographic source. A gastrocritical reading of Heaney’s work from 1966 to 2010, drawing on Rozin’s Structure of Cuisine, shows that the foodstuffs and culinary techniques featured in the poetry reflect historic and contemporary Irish cuisine and culture as explained by food-historical and folkloristic research, giving his work a particularly Irish cultural signature. In turn, Heaney’s poetic sensibilities and language craft may contribute to our verstehen of Ireland’s culinary heritage.

Multidisciplinary perspectives on the origins of past foodways and farming practice in South Asia

Today, over half of the people living in South Asia are employed in an agricultural sector that supports one of the most densely populated regions on Earth. Yet the origins of agriculture in this environmentally and culturally diverse region have received relatively little attention compared to other parts of the Old World. Narratives of agricultural origins have frequently been monocausal, treating this massive landmass as a single entity. Recently, multidisciplinary applications of diverse methods (including archaeobotany, systematic radiometric dating, stable isotope analysis, and ancient DNA) have facilitated more nuanced insights into the origins, as well as the social and environmental consequences, of different farming foodways in prehistory. Here, we review the current application of these techniques across the Indian Subcontinent, focusing on the insights they have provided into cultivation and herding practices, dietary reliance on particular foods and culinary techniques, demographic turnover, changing settlement patterns, and the environmental impacts of agricultural practice in the Holocene. We argue that such approaches are essential if we are to properly understand the diverse drivers of different farming practices, as well as their demographic, ecological and dietary outcomes on the production and consumption of food in different parts of South Asia. Only then can we begin to discuss the prehistoric origins of the culinary and agronomic diversity that characterises this region today.

Effect of Cooking Methods on the Antioxidant Capacity of Foods of Animal Origin Submitted to In Vitro Digestion-Fermentation.

The human body is exposed to oxidative damage to cells and though it has some endogenous antioxidant systems, we still need to take antioxidants from our diet. The main dietary source of antioxidants is vegetables due to their content of different bioactive molecules. However, there are usually other components of the diet, such as foods of animal origin, that are not often linked to antioxidant capacity. Still, these foods are bound to exert some antioxidant capacity thanks to molecules released during gastrointestinal digestion and gut microbial fermentation. In this work, the antioxidant capacity of 11 foods of animal origin has been studied, submitted to different culinary techniques and to an in vitro digestion and gut microbial fermentation. Results have shown how dairy products potentially provide the highest antioxidant capacity, contributing to 60% of the daily antioxidant capacity intake. On the other hand, most of the antioxidant capacity was released during gut microbial fermentation (90–98% of the total antioxidant capacity). Finally, it was found that the antioxidant capacity of the studied foods was much higher than that reported by other authors. A possible explanation is that digestion–fermentation pretreatment allows for a higher extraction of antioxidant compounds and their transformation by the gut microbiota. Therefore, although foods of animal origin cannot be compared to vegetables in the concentration of antioxidant molecules, the processes of digestion and fermentation can provide some, giving animal origin food some qualities that could have been previously unappreciated.

Combining culinary art with food science

Combining culinary art with food science

New cuts of bullfrog carcass and its application in asian gastronomy

The consumption of bullfrog meat has been increasing in Brazil due to its nutritional quality and pleasant texture. The present study aimed to increase the percentage of use of the carcass marketed in the retail market, adding value, with the creation of new cuts in regions previously neglected and discarded, due to the small amount of muscle tissue. A new mapping was created aiming at its full use, in addition to the flank and thigh, innovative regions such as the front legs, hind paw muscles, located just after the thighs, and the last portion of the hind paw. On the back, the cuts called. Back bone and rib were, respectively, the central and peripheral bone parts of the carcass, used in broths and soups, as a technique to add value to these less used cuts in cooking. More elaborate meals were prepared with the thighs. For the valorization of the less noble parts, softening processes were used, by fast or slow cooking, these muscles being added to salads and fillings, respectively. The new cuts were used in the culinary techniques of Asian Gastronomy, being approved through sensory analysis carried out with Maifun salad, with a new version of the Tom Kha Gai soup, one with only bullfrog meat and the other with meat meal. and carcass bones (AABC); and introducing roasted Paris mushrooms in the fillings, providing a better use of the carcass, with a more digestive and hypocaloric menu with health promotion, when compared to traditional cuisine.

Microbiological and sensory characterization of kombucha SCOBY for culinary applications

Kombucha is a black tea fermented drink. It has been consumed for thousands of years in China, Russia and other Eastern countries. The fermentation process starts by adding part of some previous fermented tea and the inoculation of a starter in hydrogel form known as SCOBY, an acronym for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. This work shows that the SCOBY could be edible and used for gastronomic value elaboration. During the process, it acquires different organoleptic characteristics that requires distinct culinary techniques to be processed. The results show that applying the right culinary technique to the SCOBY, improves consumer acceptance. The adoption of the SCOBY as a new ingredient could help to reduce the food waste that is generated during kombucha making and bring new textures and possibilities for creativity and innovation in the kitchen.

Teaching Research Skills to Vocational Learners: Teaching Chefs to Research

This article focuses on teaching and mentoring course-based undergraduate research in a vocationally focused higher education setting. At the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), students are immersed in hands-on experiential classes. Their education begins with basic culinary techniques, and they gradually progress toward more specialized cooking skills such as the techniques of specific world regions or the production of specialty products such as chocolates and wedding cakes. The author discusses pedagogical techniques used to teach these learners, who are not the usual participants in independent research projects during a senior capstone. This article examines how to blend and utilize hands-on, experiential activities as part of teaching data gathering and the research process.

Rapid Ethnonutrition Assessment Method Is Useful to Prototype Dietary Assessments with a Focus on Local Biodiverse Food Plants

ABSTRACT Ethnonutrition is the study of diets in the context of food systems of different peoples and cultures. Its scope comprises native or local categories used to classify food, and also includes biodiverse food availability, local culinary techniques, seasonality, and cultural perceptions related to diet with nutritional implications. Here, we describe a method useful for gathering ethnonutrition data to design dietary interventions or assessments, the Rapid Ethnonutrition Assessment (REA). REA is a tool that offers food and nutrition research a broad biocultural view of diets, considering food system-level, by prototyping dietary assessments with high efficiency. This method permits us to prevent misinterpretations that lead to wrong conclusions in nutritional research.

Effects of seasoning on the formation of heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in meats: A meta-analysis.

Cooking improves digestibility, palatability, and microbiological profile of meats, but can produce compounds with carcinogenic potential, such as heterocyclic amines (HAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). It has been shown that the formation of these compounds in meats can be inhibited by spiced marinades, but there is a complexity to check and compare the results of isolated studies with so many variables involved. Thus, this work aimed to review studies that evaluated the effects of spices on the formation of HAs and PAHs in meats according to cooking techniques and spice type. A meta-analysis with a random effect model was conducted using response ratios (R) to identify and summarize previous results and answer the research question. The use of spices before frying (R*=0.52), grilling (R*=0.63), or roasting (R*=0.74) meat, and spicing with garlic and onion (R*=0.57), pepper (R*=0.63), and other spices with phenolic compounds (R*=0.63), decrease the formation of HAs and PAHs, due to the antioxidant and electron transfer capacity. In this article, we discuss how the improvement of culinary techniques with the dissemination of knowledge about meat preparation conditions is an effective strategy for reducing the formation and ingestion of HAs and PAHs; this is important due to the growing evidence about the association between meat consumption and chronic diseases. This is the first systematic review with meta-analysis about this topic and can guide industry, food services, and population to improve the safety associated with meat consumption.

Abstract C032: A hospital farm: Using urban agriculture to address nutrition, physical activity, and food insecurity in cancer survivors

Abstract Purpose: Lyndon B Johnson (LBJ) Hospital, a safety net hospital, serves the racially/ethnically diverse (60% Hispanic) and low-socioeconomic status urban population of Harris County, Texas. A number of chronic disease outcomes including cancer are worse than national statistics, of which a major determinant is modifiable behaviors related to energy balance – nutrition and physical activity. A lack of educational opportunities promoting healthy living and a high prevalence of food insecurity further exacerbate the problem. In response, we are building a farm on the campus of LBJ Hospital. We report the current status and future plan of this long-term project. Methods: The 1.5-acre farm broke ground in April 2018. In the context of cancer, the 2 objectives are: 1) to educate survivors about nutrition and gardening as physical activity, and 2) to reduce cancer incidence by engaging the community through educational activities and satellite gardens. We assembled a task force consisting of a medical oncologist, a nurse, dieticians, a farmer and population health experts to design a skill-based curriculum. Funding thus far comes from philanthropy and a competitive grant. Results: A full-time farmer was hired in March 2019 to oversee daily operations and to be the liaison with community groups. To date, 34 raised garden boxes have been built, 1/4-acre main plot is expected to yield 250kg of produce/week in fall/winter 2019, 32 fruit trees have been planted, and a nursery is planned. An evidence-based curriculum has been developed: 5 1-hour learning modules integrate nutrition (culinary techniques, culturally-sensitive recipes) with gardening (basic soil biology, seasonality). A 12-month pilot is to begin in fall/winter 2019. Outpatients with hypertension, diabetes or cancer will be eligible for the class. Participant questionnaires will be administered at baseline, completion and after to assess the primary endpoints of knowledge in nutrition (food groups, labeling, etc.), change in consumption of fruits and vegetables (amount, frequency), change in physical activity level (intensity, duration, frequency), and adoption of gardening as physical activity (duration, frequency). Secondary endpoints will be rate of adherence to medical appointments, change in weight, blood pressure control, change in hemoglobin A1c, and quality of life. Food insecurity will be identified using the Hager 2-item screen. We have solidified partnerships with city government officials and community organizations – local high school, churches, county public health department, local food bank and farms. Conclusion: The hospital-based farm is a multi-level intervention targeting energy balance as a root cause of chronic diseases including cancer and food insecurity as a social determinant of health on the patient and community levels. In the upcoming 12-month pilot, we hypothesize the integrated nutrition/gardening classes will increase consumption of fruits and vegetables and uptake of gardening as physical activity. Citation Format: Hilary Y Ma, Avni P Mody, Janelle Lustgarten, Lisa Ronning, Rebecca Verm, Thomas Garcia-Prats, Michelle Seitzinger. A hospital farm: Using urban agriculture to address nutrition, physical activity, and food insecurity in cancer survivors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr C032.

Healthy eating recommendations: good for reducing dietary contribution to the body's advanced glycation/lipoxidation end products pool?

The present review aims to give dietary recommendations to reduce the occurrence of the Maillard reaction in foods and in vivo to reduce the body's advanced glycation/lipoxidation end products (AGE/ALE) pool. A healthy diet, food reformulation and good culinary practices may be feasible for achieving the goal. A varied diet rich in fresh vegetables and fruits, non-added sugar beverages containing inhibitors of the Maillard reaction, and foods prepared by steaming and poaching as culinary techniques is recommended. Intake of supplements and novel foods with low sugars, low fats, enriched in bioactive compounds from food and waste able to modulate carbohydrate metabolism and reduce body's AGE/ALE pool is also recommended. In conclusion, the recommendations made for healthy eating by the Spanish Society of Community Nutrition (SENC) and Harvard University seem to be adequate to reduce dietary AGE/ALE, the body's AGE/ALE pool and to achieve sustainable nutrition and health.

Reflections on the Historical Construction of Huaiyang Cuisine: A Study on the Social Development of Shanghai Foodways in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Chinese regional cuisines have developed their own flavors and presentation styles. Huaiyang cuisine (淮揚菜) in the Jiangsu area emphasizes excellent cutting skills, culinary techniques, and the use of ingredients cultivated in the Yangtze River Delta area. There is no doubt that regional cuisines have distinctive local characteristics. However, with increased migration since the 1950s, it has become important to investigate how these local cuisines have changed in relation to the culinary skills and tastes of people in different regional contexts. To gauge the discrepancy between the historical construction of the cuisine in modern times and everyday food practices, Hong Kong will be used as a case study. Since most people in Hong Kong are unfamiliar with Huaiyang cuisine, this paper explains why there has been an overemphasis on official historical discourse from the national perspective and how the change of regional should be understood as a living practice from the diasporic context.

The “Japanese Turn” in Fine Dining in the United States, 1980–2020

In the 1970s, Japanese cooks began to appear in the kitchens of nouvelle cuisine chefs in France for further training, with scores more arriving in the next decades. Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, Joël Robuchon, and other leading French chefs started visiting Japan to teach, cook, and sample Japanese cuisine, and ten of them eventually opened restaurants there. In the 1980s and 1990s, these chefs' frequent visits to Japan and the steady flow of Japanese stagiaires to French restaurants in Europe and the United States encouraged a series of changes that I am calling the “Japanese turn,” which found chefs at fine-dining establishments in Los Angeles, New York City, and later the San Francisco Bay Area using an ever-widening array of Japanese ingredients, employing Japanese culinary techniques, and adding Japanese dishes to their menus. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, the wide acceptance of not only Japanese ingredients and techniques but also concepts like umami (savory tastiness) and shun (seasonality) suggest that Japanese cuisine is now well known to many American chefs.

Multisensory Flavour Perception: Blending, Mixing, Fusion, and Pairing Within and Between the Senses.

This review summarizes the various outcomes that may occur when two or more elements are paired in the context of flavour perception. In the first part, I review the literature concerning what happens when flavours, ingredients, and/or culinary techniques are deliberately combined in a dish, drink, or food product. Sometimes the result is fusion but, if one is not careful, the result can equally well be confusion instead. In fact, blending, mixing, fusion, and flavour pairing all provide relevant examples of how the elements in a carefully-crafted multi-element tasting experience may be combined. While the aim is sometimes to obscure the relative contributions of the various elements to the mix (as in the case of blending), at other times, consumers/tasters are explicitly encouraged to contemplate/perceive the nature of the relationship between the contributing elements instead (e.g., as in the case of flavour pairing). There has been a noticeable surge in both popular and commercial interest in fusion foods and flavour pairing in recent years, and various of the ‘rules’ that have been put forward to help explain the successful combination of the elements in such food and/or beverage experiences are discussed. In the second part of the review, I examine the pairing of flavour stimuli with music/soundscapes, in the emerging field of ‘sonic seasoning’. I suggest that the various perceptual pairing principles/outcomes identified when flavours are paired deliberately can also be meaningfully extended to provide a coherent framework when it comes to categorizing the ways in which what we hear can influence our flavour experiences, both in terms of the sensory-discriminative and hedonic response.

The Smell of Home: Refogado and Culinary Identity in Portuguese-American Culinary Literature

SummaryThis article examines the ways in which the cuisine of the Portuguese diaspora in the USA comes to represent the ethnic heritage of those who produce it, both as the food that holds connotations of home, and the food that allows them to perform their identity as Portuguese-Americans. The article focuses mainly on the work of two cookbook authors: Maria Lawton and David Leite. It analyses how specific culinary techniques, such as those used to make the onion, oil and garlic base for many dishes, which is known in Portuguese as the refogado, may reveal tensions between cultural identities, practices and values. It explores how the materiality of food and specific dishes are used by cooks to negotiate memory, emotions and cultural identity.

Evaluation of the acceptability of low glycaemic index preparations, formulated by replicating traditional Chilean culinary preparations with a high glycaemic index.

The aim of this study was to determine the acceptability of low glycaemic index (GI) preparations, equivalent to the traditional high GI ones in Chile, elaborated with minimal changes in the ingredients and culinary techniques that significantly diminish the GI and maintain acceptability level. Twelve high-GI traditional lunches and their low GI counterparts were prepared. For 12 days, 20 apparently healthy women randomly tasted 2 paired preparations per day (low and high GI). The attributes of appearance, taste, smell, and texture of salads, main course, and desserts, as well as those of the full lunch, were evaluated using a hedonic scale of 7 and 9 points. Lunches with a high GI (90 ± 20.5 %) were modified by changing types of food ingredients, and/or by using culinary techniques to provide a low-GI counterpart with 47 ± 5.9 % GI (p < 0.001). All the preparations were classified as optimal, exceeding the established cut-off point. The "Legume with CHO" lunch had a higher acceptability level in its low GI version (p = 0.006), while the "Chicken with corn" lunch had it in its high GI version (p = 0.004). There was a preference for low-GI salad appearance (p = 0.003) and dessert flavour (p = 0.024), while high-GI main dishes were better praised for flavour (p = 0.034) and texture (p = 0.012). It is therefore possible to prepare low-GI menus equivalent to their traditional counterparts that are received as generally acceptable, with components and sensory attributes equal to, or even better than typical Chilean cuisine dishes.

Habilidades culinárias de idosos praticantes de atividades aquáticas

A prática das habilidades culinárias auxilia de forma significativa na promoção e manutenção de hábitos alimentares saudáveis. Na população idosa, a prática de habilidades culinárias pode se relacionar à autonomia desses indivíduos, assim como contribuir para comportamentos ativos no dia a dia. O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar as habilidades culinárias de idosos praticantes de atividades físicas aquáticas. Pesquisa descritiva e abordagem quantitativa, que avaliou idosos em quatro academias que ofertavam atividades aquáticas no município de Curitiba-PR. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevista ou pelo autopreenchimento de um questionário, com questões sobre dados socioeconômico, estado de saúde, prática de atividade física e habilidades culinárias. Participaram da pesquisa 30 idosos, sendo a maioria do sexo feminino (90%), com renda maior que 10 salários mínimos (30%), com ensino superior (60%) e casados (50%). Com relação ao questionário de habilidades culinárias, verificou-se que os idosos tinham boa disponibilidade de frutas, legumes e verduras em casa (escore 0,91±0,12), assim como tinham confiança para preparar refeições utilizando frutas, legumes, verduras e temperos (escore 3,98±0,55). Além disso, 50% dos participantes afirmaram preparar refeições com ingredientes básicos diariamente. De modo geral, os idosos demonstraram conhecer os termos e técnicas culinárias apresentados no questionário, exceto o termo “Branquear” que não era muito conhecido e a técnica para medir líquidos. Conclui-se, portanto, que os idosos apresentam habilidades culinárias e práticas alimentares positivas, assim como confiança na prática de cozinhar.