A couple of years ago, in March 2019, chefs and scientists from all over the world gathered at the World Congress on Science and Cooking in Barcelona (photograph) and signed a manifesto. They aimed to consolidate and set the course for a new discipline that has taken shape over the past few years: scientific gastronomy.
The document highlights, among other points, that cooking is an essential activity for humans, distinguishing them from other animals and necessary for their well-being. It also advocates that scientific gastronomy should be considered a new and independent discipline, with its own paradigms and synergies with other related sciences.
The field of food encompasses multiple and varied areas of knowledge. Nutrition and dietetics ensure that each of us has a healthy diet. Veterinary science and food sciences and technologies are responsible for primary production (agriculture, livestock, fishing), as well as the preparation and distribution of food on an industrial, domestic, and catering scale; they also ensure food safety, both in terms of health and the availability of sufficient and stable food for the entire population—along with the political and economic challenges this entails. Finally, gastronomy ensures that eating is a pleasurable organoleptic and social act.
The manifesto emphasizes the value of education. Training is essential in all areas, including culinary. Gastronomic environments should be places where comprehensive education is provided, systematically collaborating with formal education.
The last point of this declaration of principles defends the most innovative idea: that scientific gastronomy should advance according to the 17 sustainable development goals proposed by the United Nations, especially the global values of sustainability, social responsibility, and humanity. But how are these goals translated into cooking? Basically, by promoting an optimal work environment, caring for the environment of raw material and intermediate product production, rejecting any relationship with unsuitable environmental and social settings, and establishing collaborations with social, cultural, and academic entities that promote these values.
Regarding sustainability, a recent action is illustrative: the prestigious Michelin guide introduced a new quality label in 2020 to identify sustainable restaurants, represented by a green five-leaf clover. Its objective is to identify and value all restaurants that follow good environmental practices, also serving as a way to recognize and reward chefs who are concerned about the impact of their activities on the planet.
Another aspect related to the previous point is the commitment to recovery. This refers to maximizing the use of products that the gastronomic space has been discarding so far. This requires generating a strategy that minimizes discarded products, giving them gastronomic and nutritional value. As a collateral aspect, packaging and other elements considered non-recyclable until now should be promoted for recycling. The restaurant of the future will be sustainable or it will not be [see “Sustainable Restaurants,” by Claudi Mans and Pere Castells; Research and Science, June 2020].
Dear readers, after more than fifteen years of journey and with the desire to have introduced you to the fascinating world of gastronomic research, the “Science and Gastronomy” section comes to an end. We say goodbye with a game, a sort of “Who’s Who in the World of Scientific Gastronomy”: do you recognize the signatories of the manifesto in the photograph? The solution is on our website.
The Pending Revolution
We need more human, sustainable, and responsible gastronomy
Claudi Mans is an emeritus professor of chemical engineering at the University of Barcelona and a scientific disseminator.
Pere Castells, an expert in science and cooking, is the president of the Science&Cooking World Congress.
Dear readers, after more than fifteen years of travel and with the desire to have introduced you to the exciting world of gastronomic research, the «Science and gastronomy» section comes to an end. We say goodbye with a game, a kind of “Who’s who in the world of scientific gastronomy”: do you recognize the signatories of the manifesto that appear in the photograph?
¿QUIEN ES QUIEN_ Scientific Gastronomy Barcelona 2019
