GDave — thanks for the culinary science lesson! I don’t know who any of these people are, but I find the science behind all this fascinating. However, I think I’ll pass on reclaimed meat that has been reconstituted (please don’t tell me what that means). I think of the two, I’ll take a serving of Rod’s snail porridge.

Melissa

Of course, Ronald McDonald also uses it to reconstitute reclaimed meat for his delicious “Happy” Meals. I wouldn’t have a clue what (if any) the long term effects of consumption would be, despite your best efforts to educate me. Frankly, I would love to have a mess around with it at home, but it’s only sold in industrial quantities and has quite a short shelf-life.

GDave

Miles

Sure you’re right though!!

MIles

It’s worth remembering that once upon a time somebody thought I’ll chop these leaves up and chuck it in with the meat and see what happens - herbs were introduced into cookery.

Will it take off . . . well it won’t be going on it professional kitchens and homes throughout the land but as an idea I think it will spread with a new generatiopn of chefs.

It’s a dining experience rather than simply a meal as I see it.
You don’t go to the Fta Duck for example because you’re hungry or you want the health benefits of highly nutritional eating - you go for the experience.

One snail porridge and an egg and bacon ice cream for Table 5 please
Rod

GDave mentioned transglutaminase, which caught my eye. Tissue transglutaminase is an enzyme found in every cell of the human body and elevated levels can indicate celiac disease (thought I’d throw that in as anti-tTG blood levels are used as a diagnostic tool). tTG is just a naturally occurring enzyme, but it’s odd to think of it in culinary terms. Very weird, in my opinion.

Tranglutaminases are resistant to proteases, which are enzymes that break down proteins into amino acids so our bodies can utilize them. What happens in your gut if your food (food?) is more resistant to digestion? The natural enzymes in whole foods also help the digestive process. Seems like we might end up with some bloated and uncomfortable diners.

:-)

Plus, don’t you lose some of the visual impact of the beauty of whole foods on a plate. Isn’t an almond more appealing than a spray gun? Or a fig more appetizing than a glob of gel? And what additives are needed to keep things from spoiling or losing color (oxidating). Once you start taking the food apart, it diminishes in nutritional value.

Frankenfood! Ugh! I’ll pass.

Melissa

My perception as a consumer is that MG is the ‘present’ of cooking, rather than the ‘future.’ Cid’s right, we’re going to get bored of pea spheres formed in a calcium bath, and thermoreversible gels, aren’t we? Of course, innovation and experimentation is important, but if a maître d’ sprayed me with an almond atomizer while I was trying to eat, he’d be on his backside.!

GDave

If I’d been Herve then I would certainly want to team up with someone like Pierre… it makes sense to get an acclaimed chef on board. Perhaps together they will write something into the gastronomy textbooks to influence future dishes and future cooks/chefs? The recent tv series with Heston will cement his popularity in this country…. kids will love it because it’s exciting and involves test tubes. Whether this will mean more youngsters being drawn into cooking for themselves, only time will tell. So will MG take off to such a degree that we’re all at it…. no, most people out there are quite content with whatever the local chippie or pizza house serves up.

The marketing of Ferran as the leading light in MG was unbeatable in my view…. he has a restaurant which is, by all accounts quite modest to look at but is remote and booked up a year or so ahead and only opens its doors for a few months a year. It shouts mystery and exclusivity. I should add that recently in a local restaurant, I had a dessert which was topped with ‘popping’ sugar crystals…. they snap, crackled and popped and everyone wanted to try it. Will they be so interested next time, probably not, bread and butter pudding proved the most popular choice from what I could tell, being delicious and inexpensive.

Miles we could open a cafe on the east coast which is only accessible via a mud hopping, converted rickshaw….

Cid

Miles

… I mean, what’s next? Curry Foam?

GDave