DON'T LET THE title of this post frighten you. It's not contagious and it won't last for more than four hours, so there is no need to call a physician. Molecular Gastronomy is actually pretty interesting, but don't take my word for it, just read what follows.

The field of Molecular and Physical Gastronomy was created in 1988 by French physical chemist Herve This and the late Nicolas Kurti, who was a noted physicist from Hungary. Their intent was to make the distinction between cooking and gastronomy. In essence, cooking involves the preparation of food, while gastronomy is the knowledge of whatever concerns our nourishment. It has nothing to do with food fashions or the preparation of luxury food items, but rather the understanding of food. This field gets at the physics and chemistry behind food preparation. Here the concern is why mayonnaise becomes firm and why souffles swell. Essentially, molecular gastronomy deals with the understanding of food. The molecular in molecular gastronomy has the same meaning as it does in the field of molecular biology. This comes from the fact that chemistry and physics are at the core of both disciplines.

Obviously, this discipline is still very young, but it is already quite influential around the world. Countries such as Spain, Switzerland, and Argentina have formed organizations that promote this new field of study. France has lapped the field when it comes to the promotion of molecular gastronomy. For example, the French Academy of Sciences has created the Fondation Science & Culture Alimentaire. It is also possible to receive a doctorate from the University of Paris in molecular gastronomy.

In the beginning, Nicolas and Herve were a couple of food-loving scientists curious about the physical and chemical processes involved in cooking. They would meet with chefs to discuss cooking and culinary techniques as part of their research. They wanted to understand, scientifically, ways to make us really enjoy the food we eat and figure out ways to apply those findings to food preparation. The idea wasn't just to help chefs at famous restaurants, but also to help you with your home recipes as well.

One thing that should be noted is that although molecular gastronomy is a new field, the science of food is not new. Documentation found in London shows that as early as the second century before the common era someone was interested in whether fermented meat was lighter than fresh meat. The preparation of meat stock was first documented in the fourth century before the common era. Recipes for stocks appear in French culinary books as early as 1651. Chemists became interested in food preparation around the eighteenth century. The most famous of them is Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, who studied the processes involved in stock preparation by measuring its density to determine its quality.

Until the 1980's, the science of food and food preparation was mainly concerned with analyzing the contents and properties of food, how those foods related to the demands of our bodies, and in developing methods to process food on a large scale. There was no scientific endeavor that concerned itself with the individuals who prepared meals for their families. When you think about food preparation, consider that, with the obvious exception of microwave ovens, most of us still cook in the same manner as our ancestors did a millennium ago. We basically have the same types of equipment in our kitchens (pans, sieves, and whisks) as those who lived 400 years ago. It has also been noted that cook books from the fourteenth century are not much different from those that we have today.

What This and Kurti wanted to do was create a field that brought cooking into the present with the added bonus of catapulting it into the future. They began by stating goals for this new field and meeting with noted individuals from both the scientific and culinary communities. The first meeting was held at the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice, Italy in 1992. Since that first meeting, the field of molecular gastronomy has taken off. Earlier, I mentioned that this new discipline was known as molecular and physical gastronomy. When Nicolas Kurti died in 1998, the name was shortened to molecular gastronomy by co-founder Herve This, who also added Kurti's name to the title of their international workshops.

An example of how chemistry and physics effects the way we cook is provided by our friend the egg. By heating an egg, water evaporates, proteins denature and polymerize to enclose water resulting in an egg that is cooked. This can be duplicated by using alcohol since it also denatures proteins. So, if we add liquor to a raw egg, we can get the same result. In a similar manner, if you place a whole egg into alcohol and wait patiently, the ethanol will permeate the eggs shell and cause the contents to coagulate. It takes about a month, but the end product is a strangely coagulated egg called a Baume, named after the French Chemist Antoine Baume.

The science of food is complex. Take, for example, béarnaise, as reasonably simple sauce to make. It is actually a three phase system: solid matter (egg yolk), a hydrophobic liquid (oil), and a hydrophilic liquid (water). In the field of molecular gastronomy, a complex set of rules was adopted to describe relatively simple sauces like béarnaise as well as foams, emulsions and other simple and complex solutions. Later research led to the study and analysis of the aesthetic component of food. I like the theory that food can be explained as a story, with a beginning -- the ingredients are organized into a dish -- and an end: when the plates are empty and the guests satisfied.

What does all this have to do with bartending, drinking, and cocktails? I'm glad that you asked. You'll have to wait until next week for the explanation. Who doesn't like a good cliff-hanger?

So, there you have it -- molecular gastronomy partially demystified. Most of you probably never give a second thought to how your food is prepared. You either cook it yourself by following a set of instructions or you order it from a menu. Now you can take comfort in knowing that there are a dedicated group of scientists and chefs who enjoy researching the art and science behind food. Next week, I'll look at how we can use molecular gastronomy to give cocktails a little extra pizzaz. Until next time...prosit!!!