| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, March 1, 2013 | 3:30PM - 7:30PM | External Event, Room 100, Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St. George Street |
| Saturday, March 2, 2013 | 10:30AM - 5:30PM | External Event, Room 100, Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St. George Street |
The Jackman Humanities Institute Program for the Arts and the Network for Sensory Research are pleased to present
THINKING ABOUT DINNER: A Workshop on Cuisine
Cuisine used to be the perfection of what you ate at home. It still is, to a great extent. But now technology and art transcend the “tasty”. New cuisines increasingly reflect a creative urge that has no roots in home eating. This workshop examines new and surprising trends in cooking outside the home.
Friday, March 1, 2013
3:30-4:45 Charles Spence (Oxford) “Visual Display of Food: Historical Reflections”
5:00-6:15 Ophelia Deroy (London) “Food as Art”
6:30-7:30 Chef Charles Michel (Bogota)
Saturday, March 2, 2013
10:30-11:45 Katarzyna Cwiertka (Leiden) “Kaiseki and Japanese Cuisine”
12:30-1:15 Chef Dan Felder (Momofuku New York)
2:30-3:45 Peter Ludlow (Northwestern) “Molecular Gastronomy as Hacktivism”
4:00-5:30 Round Table Discussion: Steven Shapin (Harvard), Barry Smith (London), Mohan Matthen (Toronto)
Traditionally, food choices were seen simply as a matter of sensory pleasure. Consequently, the focus for consumers and producers was exclusively on the quality of the food and wine consumed. However, there is increasing awareness of the importance, first, of the overall experience in which a meal is consumed, and, second, of culinary culture
Recent research in the sensory and food sciences has shown just how multi- sensory the experience of eating and drinking are, and how extrinsic circumstances not only contribute to overall enjoyment, but even influence the perception of flavour. In an important development, chefs now work with scientists (including cognitive and behavioural scientists) in a quest to discover what makes for the perfect meal. They have also begun to experiment with new configurations of the ancient components of appreciating meals. They are deconstructing and reconstructing traditional cooking.
Until about 1965, restaurants shared the same aesthetic goals as home cooks, though of course with professional levels of execution. Culinary technique was perfected in restaurants, but culinary aesthetics emerged from homes. In the last fifty years, however, a new culinary aesthetic has developed, an aesthetic that originates in restaurants, not homes. The apex of the new aesthetic is to be found in such restaurants as El Bulli, Fat Duck, and Noma. Importantly, each of these restaurants has research and technical development projects of their own.
Some results: the use of vacuum and low cooking temperatures, flash freezing with liquid nitrogen, ultra-high temperature searing, and other such “molecular” techniques; the development of new food sources and new ways of using foods, including notably moss, fungus, seaweed and kelp.
These R&D projects are housed in dedicated research facilities. While some of these resultant techniques will undoubtedly enter home cuisine (and already have), and be adapted to the social aesthetic of eating at home, it is important to recognize that they represent a new way of appreciating food. They are arguably the basis of a new cuisine, perhaps even more distinct than classical French cuisine and Japanese kaiseki are from the corresponding home cuisines.
This event is free and open to the pubic. Due to space limitations, we request that you register if you plan to come.
REGISTER: http://thinkingaboutdinner.eventbrite.ca
INFORMATION: http://www.humanities.utoronto.ca/event_details/id=932
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