Hi Reddit! My name is Matt Hartings, and I am a chemist and faculty member at American University. I have written a book titled, “Chemistry in Your Kitchen,” published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, which will be released within the next month.
For most of my life, I have been studying chemistry, diving into research and immersing myself in its history and trying to have an effect on its future. For most of my life, I have also enjoyed cooking, even though I might not have been particularly good at it. In my mind, I had segregated cooking and chemistry as completely different.
As I started in my position at AU, the relationship of these two themes started to become much clearer to me. I wanted to enable my students (especially those who aren’t science majors) to be able to explore chemistry outside of a classroom. It became clear to me that cooking (and eating) is the one kind of chemistry that everyone does. Sure, we’re all affected by the chemistry of fossil fuels and pharmaceuticals and from many of our other consumer products. But cooking is the one place where we get to play around with chemistry in our own lives.
So, I developed a class at AU called, The Chemistry of Cooking. We talk about all sorts of things. We talk about food texture, flavor and flavor development, and the changes brought about by cooking. Using food as the context for chemistry, I am able to explore some really complicated and cutting-edge chemistry with my students (who are all non-science majors) without turning them off. I am excited about chatting with all of you today. I’m happy to share my thoughts on different reactions in cooking (Maillard reaction, protein unfolding, etc.). And, I’m just as happy talking about “traditional cooking” chemistry as I am with the chemistry of “modernist cuisine.”
I’ll be back at 12pm ET (9am PT, 5pm UTC) to answer your questions about cooking chemistry. Let’s have some fun, AMA!
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