Texture, taste and aroma: multi-scale materials and the gastrophysics of food

Abstract

The common feature of the large variety of raw and cooked foods is that they are multi-component materials that consist at least of proteins, carbohydrates, fat and water. These basic classes of molecules define most of the structural and textural properties of the foods cooked and processed in the kitchen. Given the different solubility of these components in the basic solvents, water and fat, it becomes clear that many physical properties, such as structure and texture are determined by a large number of competing interactions between these different components.