Rachel Ankeny is Senior Lecturer in the School of History and Politics and Manager of the Graduate Program in Gastronomy at the University of Adelaide, Australia. She holds a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Adelaide.

Although the term “molecular gastronomy” was coined only in the late 1980s, investigations of the application of science to culinary practices have a long history. So what distinguishes recent efforts, and more generally, what is molecular gastronomy as opposed to food science?

Rachel’s talk explores the concepts underlying molecular gastronomy and particularly its connections to the content and rhetoric of molecularization in the late twentieth century.

Outreach in Biotechnology’s Food for Thought Lecture Series brings together internationally recognized experts to talk about the best (and worst) ways to use biotechnology for food and fuel. For more information, go to http://OregonState.edu/OrB

A study guide to this lecture is available at http://oregonstate.edu/orb/food-for-thought

Recorded 8 Nov 2007