Food Science - Why It Works
published by joedirt 1 year 5 months ago • 539 views
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For example, Why do onions make us cry? Well, when you cut an onion, sulfur-containing compounds within the onion combine and irritate your eyes causing them to tear. Nature did it like that so that predators wouldn't eat them. Why add coffee to beef gravy? Because the flavor compounds that form when you brown meat are the exact same flavor compounds that form when you roast coffee. And why shouldn't you marinate your steaks overnight? Because by the time the inside gets tender, the outside is mushy.
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My four-year-old loves sliced apples. I'm going to try that apple trick next time.


written by firefly  | 1 year 5 months ago | CH
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Yep, it you have vitamin C tablets, it works. Also, that's why lemon juice stops browning.


written by joedirt  | 1 year 5 months ago | CH
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Heh, this only brushes the surface of food science. If you're really interested, check out a book called On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. I got it for my birthday last year because I was spending hours upon hours at the library reading it. It is in the reference section and not available for borrowing. It really is the bible for food science. The chemestry, the physics- so so so so much information. An absolute MUST for food nerds.


written by djsunkid  | 1 year 5 months ago | CH
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Hard to hear though.


written by ant  | 1 year 5 months ago | CH
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I think you do not understand the principles of evolution. Nature did not *do* anyting and even if it did so, it would not do something "so that". Evolution is a process of natural selection, you make it sound like some nature-goddess like Gaia thought "Oh, let's make onions in a way that predators have to cry when trying to eat them."


written by pragmatick  | 1 year 5 months ago | CH
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I think you do not understand the principles of evolution. Nature did not *do* anyting and even if it did so, it would not do something "so that". Evolution is a process of natural selection, you make it sound like some nature-goddess like Gaia thought "Oh, let's make onions in a way that predators have to cry when trying to eat them."
pragmatick, maybe you feel like you know evolution better than this guy, but I expect that you DON'T want to argue against this guy:
Living things are not designed, but Darwinian natural selection licenses a version of the design stance for them. We get a short cut to understanding the heart if we assume that it is 'designed' to pump blood. Karl von Frisch was led to investigate colour vision in bees (in the face of orthodox opinion that they were colour-blind) because he assumed that the bright colours of flowers were 'designed' to attract them. The quotation marks are designed to scare off mendacious creationists who might otherwise claim the great Austrian zoologist as one of their own. Needless to say, he was perfectly capable of translating the design stance into proper Darwinian terms.
-- Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion pg182

So there.


written by djsunkid  | 1 year 5 months ago | CH
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I don't, but I was always taught not to use causal clauses when describing natural behaviour or phenomena. I think it's one thing if anyone (clearly) knowing about evolution like Richard Dawkins uses phrases like "designed" and another, if it's used commonly. I am not sure if people who say things like "nature did that so..." actually believe that or if it is just out of the inability to express it the right way. So as long as it is not clear that everybody knows what's what it does not hurt do use proper terms. Biologists say "was designed to" altough they know it's wrong, I think that's the point of your quote, but considering there are a lot of people who might understand it wrong you just should try to be as precise as possible.

I did not want to start a discussion. I am neither an expert in evolution or biology nor a native english speaker, so one way or the other I would lose :-P


written by pragmatick  | 1 year 5 months ago | CH
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Fair enough. I'm sure that casual use of causal clauses and other language shortcuts used by scientists is probably at least partly responsible for the education crisis in the USA right now. Just look at how many creationists latch on to the word "Theory" in evolutionary theory, and try their damndedst to convince the public that theory means that scientists just GUESSED.

Perhaps it would be better to say that the release of sulphur is adaptive for the onion because...


written by djsunkid  | 1 year 5 months ago | CH
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