NEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE ART & SCIENCE OF FOOD NOW
As our perspectives change, our appreciation changes. It’s true of everything. It can even change the way food tastes.
According to a recent study, conducted by Robin Dando, who heads a taste physiology lab at Cornell University, and coauthor Corinna Noel, emotional state has an effect on taste perception. It’s a matter of psychophysics.
Winning really does taste sweet, it turns out. In their study of hockey fans who sampled ice cream, both after winning and losing games, they found that mood altered their perspective on a chemical level.
Nathan Myhrvold, formerly Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft and co-founder of Intellectual Ventures, is an avid foodie. He became fascinated with the science behind an everyday food. He made it his mission to gain and promote this newly expanded perspective.
As part of his quest, Myhrvold earned a culinary diploma from École de Cuisine La Varenne in France and founded Modernist Cuisine, a tech-minded, science-focused, culinary company to explore the science and art of food.
Whether you are a home chef, a restaurant chef, or an artisanal maker, when you dive into Modernist Cuisine findings and creations, you are sure to have your own perspectives about food widened and deepened.
Modernist Cuisine produced a series of books documenting its experiments and studies. The photos are breathtaking as they brilliantly capture art and science in perfect balance and with clear illustration.
While Myhrvold is also a photography enthusiast, photographers Ryan Matthew Smith and Chris Hoover helped to illustrate most of the new perspectives gained by the Modernist Cuisine team.
“I take illustrative concepts and turn them into photographs via photo illustration,” explains Smith.
He works with a process of taking many photographs and manipulating them into a single scene, and by doing so with finesse, he conveys ideas in new ways that not only facilitate greater understanding but generate aesthetic excitement.
See more amazing photos and learn more in the award-winning Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, The Photography of Modernist Cuisine, and 
Check out Modernist Cuisine’s beautiful forthcoming book, Modernist Bread: The Art and Science, documenting over 1,500 experiments with 3,000 photos, using everything from digital cameras, to 3D scanners, to electron microscopes to capture the incredible images.
Smith is co-founder of ChefSteps, a Seattle-based food and technology company on a mission to help people cook smarter and more creatively. Check out his Video here.
In his new book, something to food about: Exploring Creativity with Innovative Chefs
Read more about Beautiful Perspectives in Surreal Perspectives Are Beautiful Now and Beautiful Perspectives Show Us the Art of the Earth Now.
And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact Daily Fix posts.
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IMAGE CREDITS:
- Image: by Ryan Matthew Smith. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. The Hidden Garden.
- Image: by Ryan Matthew Smith. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Thrown Away Food.
- Image: by Tyson Stole. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Levitating Ice Cream.
- Image: by Chris Hoover. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Salad Cutaway.
- Image: by Ryan Matthew Smith. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Watermelon. Still from The Photography of Modernist Cuisine.
- Image: by Nathan Myhrvold, of Modernist Cuisine. Super-Macro Image of a Rambutan.
- Image: by Ryan Matthew Smith. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. The Photography of Modernist Cuisine. Exploding Eggs.
- Image: by Ryan Matthew Smith. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Artichoke.
- Image: by Ryan Matthew Smith. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Borage Flower.
- Image: by Chris Hoover. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. 110% Hydration Crumb.
- Image: by Nathan Myhrvold. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Heat.
- Image: Courtesy of Clarkson Potter. somethingtofoodabout: Exploring Creativity with Innovative Chefs.
- Image: by Ryan Matthew Smith. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Frying Egg Just Landing.
- Image: by Ryan Matthew Smith. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Modernist Cuisine Soup Dumplings.
- Image: by BN App - Download now!
- Image: by Ryan Matthew Smith. Courtesy of Modernist Cuisine. Barbeque Hamburger Cutaway.
