Humans have evolved a long way from nomadic wanderers to building artificially intelligent robots. As a consequence and sometimes even attribute of the process of evolution, our eating habits have also changed considerably. Earlier, stone age man mostly ate his food raw. With the accidental discovery of roasted meat in wild fire; cooking was pioneered. After so many years of evolutionary experience we have the diversified collage called ‘Culinary Art’.
One of the key aspect of cooking food is keeping it fresh and healthy for longer times. In short, preservation of food. In the era of franchises and food chains, preservation of food has gained the status of being a separate industry. Salt has been the oldest trick in the book when it comes to preserving food. The jars filled with pickles and salted fish are excellent examples of the same. The age old knowledge is passed from one generation to another. How our ancestors gained the insight to use salt is a mystery. One might say that observation and experimentation might be the trick.
In modern times, the fast standards of living put more pressure on cooking and consuming food due to time constraints. How many times have you found yourself complaining of upset stomach or food poisoning? Modern problems require modern solutions. The age old methods are no more sufficient for food preservation. This has led to the search of new preservation techniques. How? Experimentation again. But this time it will be coupled by chemistry.
There is a lot of chemistry involved in cooking food. Each process, time, ingredient and environment matters. With the powerful science backing us up, we look for smart ways for preserving our favourite delicacies. The so called saviours of food are known as food chemist. Victoria Ronga, a student at Northeastern University, wants to pursue a career as a food chemist. She studies the lipid content in meat products. During degradation process, fatty acids content increases. This knowledge can help in building better preservation mechanism.
Shraddha Patil