RFLA 200S 05 - The Science of Sustenence (CRN 10770)

Why does an egg turn white when you cook it or an avocado turn brown when you cut it? Why are some chocolate chip cookies soft and others crispy? Where do recipes come from? In this course we will discover the inextricable relationship between science and our everyday experiences as humans sustained by food. The class will focus on an understanding of how individual food components, as well as physical and chemical changes, contribute to the overall quality of a food. We will explore innovations in food science (e.g. molecular gastronomy) and how new foods are created as we conduct edible experiments to illustrate the scientific method and physical, chemical, biochemical, and microbiological principles in cooking. Science is always involved in the foods we eat, and an act of creative cooking is truly the same as conducting a science experiment.