With changes in how we eat and cook the areas of culinary arts and culinary science are now merging --- many restaurant kitchens are now looking more like a science labs. Food Scientists are now linking up more than ever with chefs to produce healthy, creative culinary experiences.

What is Food Science?

Food Science integrates and applies knowledge within the disciplines of chemistry, engineering, biology, and nutrition to preserve, process, package, and distribute foods that are healthy, affordable, desirable, and safe to eat. Food Scientists will study the chemical composition of food and food ingredients; their physical, biological and biochemical properties; the microbiology of foods; and the interaction of food constituents with each other and their environment.

Interest in food science has grown in recent years because of the increasing awareness of the vital role of food in the health. In addition as economic status of individuals and countries increase people expand their desires for broader range of foods.

See Also: Degree Programs in Culinology --this is a single program combining both food science and culinary arts

Interested Reading and Sites:

New degree programs produce chef-scientists -- culinology degree program that blends food science and technology with culinary art. -- The Associated Press

This, Herve; Kurti, Nicholas, Chemistry and physics in the kitchen Scientific American 1994, 4, 44-50.

Food Nutrition and Information Center -- The Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) at the National Agricultural Library (NAL) has been a leader in food and human nutrition information dissemination since 1971.

New degree programs produce chef-scientists -- Culinology™ is the blending of the culinary arts and the science of food -- The Associated Press