When food fuels science
The slim and dynamic profile of this food world shows that it does not offend its subject matter. But why does science dwell in the kitchen by placing small dishes in large dishes? There is nothing surprising about this, reassures the scientist, who remembers that researchers are interested in their environment, of which food is a part: It is often said that cooking is the culture that changes nature. Christophe Lavelle smiles. Obviously, the animal, plant, and fungal (mushroom) ingredients are processed by humans, as opposed to animals consuming them as is. This calls for the many disciplines present in the museum: anthropology, sociology, physics, chemistry, microbiology and ecology come together in an effort to learn more. It remains for us to start by going back in time to shed some light.
No offense to vegans, originally, man is not a vegetarian. “To claim otherwise is complete nonsense.” He engages with the researcher, asserting that man is a primate and that primates, even today, are carnivores. However, the sentence must be commuted. Primates, like many animals, are opportunists: they prioritize what is available to them. Lacking techniques and tools, the plant has met the needs, but insects and other small animals that present themselves are also on the menu. Later, the first weapons served as mascots for the mammoth, while the diet, in part meat, certainly imposed itself. Fish is also on the menu. “We have traces dating back more than 40,000 years attesting that our ancestors were able to go far into the sea to catch tuna.”Christophe Lavelle asserts. The transition through the expanding Neolithic protein potential was not without consequences.
“The domestication of animals and plants has led to today’s intensive agriculture, which allows us to feed almost 8 billion people, but we have caused a significant decrease in biodiversity. The model has reached its limits, we will have to revise all of that”World warns. Passionate, he now dwells on the “gastrodiplomacy” that made France shine through its expertise, but also admits to the existence of food that is both extravagant and extravagant, which makes France a country of good eaters. On the hyperbolic side, Christophe Laville revisits the past by emphasizing this Gargantua By Rabelais comes to mind, while refinement brings us to the writings of the famous pastry chef Antonin Careme, dubbed “the king of chefs and the cook of kings”. A contemporary of Lent, Jean Anthelm Brillat-Savarin distinguished himself by publishing Taste physiology And by launching famous aphorisms of the genre: “Dessert without cheese, beauty misses the eye.”; or: “Tell me what you eat, I will tell you what you are.”
Today, the sustainable food approach urgently requires the activation of two levers: “Reducing waste (a third of food is wasted on a global scale) and those of meat foods are absolutely harmful. Both from a health point of view and from an environmental point of view. So by reducing both things, we will gain in terms of healthy living and carbon footprint” confirms the researcher. Example ? “You season a vegetable dish with a slice of bacon, no more. No need to put in 250 grams of pork tenderloin to have fun. This is the future of cooking.”It remains to be seen what advice science gives us. We can sum it up in a basic recommendation: “Cook!”
“The ability to transform raw ingredients into something pleasant to eat does not require exceptional qualities.” Christophe Laville reassures. Having created in the 2000s, with Hervé This, the first undergraduate unit of culinary sciences at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris VI, he conveys his messages through courses that he offers to two audiences: doctors interested in food consequences such as cancer and, more broadly, courses led by cooking instructors, not Sima at the University of Toulouse and Anthony course. Hotel schools also sometimes have the opportunity to hear his recommendations.
“I’m in love with stories that can be eaten.” He told the council that he drank in his speech during his conferences. Without being complicated, he does not hesitate to address fashion influences: “During the 1970s we talked about a ‘new cuisine’. During the 1890s the so-called ‘molecular’ futurist cuisine was launched. All this is only accidental even if evolution also always leaves good traces to be remembered. »
In this festive period, it was tempting to ask Christophe Laville what acceptable menu he could recommend us. Here is his response:
” with turkey at 30 kg CO2-eq2 Emerging and coming in at 3,000 calories, the New Year’s Eve menu is neither sustainable nor nutritional in general. Then, not only is cooking about calories and greenhouse gases, it’s also fun, sharing, culture, and we’re all entitled to want to be around a table. But you can also come up with and prepare a vegetarian menu, for example, a nut velvety to the sweetest effect, slightly spiced with a touch of vanilla and a pinch of broken chestnuts, followed by a very creamy bread garnished with a few great mushrooms whose umami flavor will make you almost forget that there is no meat on the menu, and finally a tree Pretty orange (i.e. like a strawberry tree…but with oranges). And above all, let the party be on a date! »●
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