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May 17, 2008

Eat Molecular Gastronomy and Ruin Your Health

It was inevitable. Someone was bound to accuse proponents of molecular gastronomy of poisoning their customers. And why not start at the top? Why not accuse Ferran Adria? Santi Santamaria, chef of the three-star Barcelona restaurant Can Fabes, made such a charge while receiving an award for his book La cocina al desnudo - The Kitchen Laid Bare - a critique of modern cooking practices. Read all about it in an article published Thursday in the Telegraph newspaper.

The charge is certainly sensational, and it will probably help sell copies of his book, but it doesn't appear to be entirely responsible. Santamaria is primarily complaining about E461 or methylcellulose. This is an interesting chemical that gels at high temperature and melts at low temperatures. This makes it possible to use in making hot ice cream. (Yummy). It is also used as a laxative when enough of it is ingested, but I'm not sure that makes it a health risk; especially as "like cellulose, it is not digestible, not toxic, and not allergenic." In fact, it appears to be a harmless, widely used food additive, and Sr. Santamaria appears to be blowing smoke.

Posted by Paul at May 17, 2008 01:16 PM | Food & Wine

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