2013 Press Releases
UCC hosts molecular gastronomy workshop
Many leading chefs and representatives from the food business sector and higher education will attend a molecular gastronomy workshop hosted by UCC on Thursday 21 February.
The emergence of the discipline of molecular gastronomy has brought new focus on the interface between food science and culinary practice in recent years.
International and national experts in the field will examine the implications of molecular gastronomy for the Irish food scene. Molecular gastronomy is a modern approach to cooking, which is practiced by both scientists and food professionals in many professional kitchens and labs and takes advantage of technical innovations from the scientific disciplines.
The Workshop speakers will include: Professor Hervé This (AgroParis Tech, Paris) who is regarded as the ‘Godfather’ of Molecular Gastronomy, Ross Lewis (Chapter One Restaurant, Dublin), Professor Jorge Ruiz (University of Extremadura, Spain), Dr Juan Valverde (Teagasc), Quico Sosa (Sosa, Spain) and a number of companies who work in, or apply principles of, molecular gastronomy in their business.
In recent years, rapid developments in the fields of culinary science and molecular gastronomy have brought new focus to the interface between food science and modern cuisine. Traditional boundaries between disciplines, and between what happens in the kitchen, the laboratory and food-
processing environments, are being broken down, and food scientists collaborate more and more with chefs in a wide range of scenarios. Thus, the food scientists of the future must recognize how their skills in areas like food chemistry, sensory science and food physics and structure apply in the
kitchen as much as the processing plant.
UCC is recognised for the high quality of research and collaboration in human nutrition and health, cereals and beverage technology, dairy science, food packaging, ingredients technology, consumer behaviour, food economics, supply chain management, international food policy and rural development. Human nutrition, food science and the supply chain from farm to consumer are the specialties of the associated Schools of Food and Nutritional Sciences and Food Business and Development at the university. UCC staff are among the most highly cited scientists in their respective fields and contribute to the development of policies that improve public health, safeguard food safety and promote innovation and sustainability of the rural economy and the modern food industry.
The academic leader of this workshop is Professor Alan Kelly, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, UCC. The workshop will take place in Room ALG30, Áras na Laoi Building, University College Cork.
Further information from: Mary McCarthy-Buckley, Food Industry Training Unit, College of Science, Engineering and Food Science, UCC Tel 021 490 3363 Email m.mccarthybuckley@ucc.ie
Ends
Read about the workshop in The Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sciencetoday/2013/0214/1224330005219.html