WHAT music makes coffee taste better?
Oxford University psychologist Charles Spence, who works with top chefs including Britain's Heston Blumenthal and Spain's Ferran Adria, says our enjoyment of food depends on a range of sensory responses.
He says all the senses - taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound - combine to contribute to our enjoyment when we eat and drink.
Prof Spence was behind the laboratory experiments that led to the creation of Blumenthal's signature dish, "the sounds of the sea'', at his British restaurant The Fat Duck.
The dish, which has featured on Australia's MasterChef, is a delicate seafood creation with a twist - diners are provided with a set of headphones to listen to seaside sounds like crashing waves while eating.
Some diners were moved to tears by the experience.
Prof Spence's laboratory team played sounds of the sea to people eating oysters, while other diners listened to generic restaurant noises or more obtuse farmyard sounds including clucking chickens.
"We were able to show that people rate the oyster significantly more pleasant when they have the sounds of the sea in the background,'' Prof Spence told AAP on Thursday from Adelaide, where he is attending an international pain conference, Neurodynamics and the Neuromatrix.
His team also conducts research on the influence of flavours in alleviating pain, though his work with chefs and food - the area of neurogastronomy - is clearly a passion.
Prof Spence is currently working with Blumenthal's team to inspire a dish featuring bitter and sweet flavours, with a matching soundtrack.
The research invites participants to match bitter and sweet flavours with musical instrumentsand different pitches.
Most people opt for low-pitched sounds, and brass instruments, in response to bitter tastes like dark chocolate or coffee, Prof Spence said.
Meanwhile, a sweet or citrus taste was commonly linked to a more high-pitched, tinkling piano.
The Fat Duck has produced a dish based on the research, but it has not yet reached the table.
"It's not quite perfect yet,'' Prof Spence said.
"What the chefs are looking for is something that makes your jaw drop open.''
Sound designers are working on tracks to perfect the experience. Coffee chain Starbucks has also enlisted composers to create music, based on Prof Spence's research, to accompany coffee.
The plethora of aromas and flavours associated with wine provides potential to design music to match, Prof Spence said.
Experiments are also under way on the source of the soundtrack.
While 'sounds of the sea' diners are offered headphones, Prof Spence said it would be ideal to make dishes, plates and glasses that, when tilted, start playing music.
He is also exploring with designers the effect of cutlery, plates and glasses on a dining experience, suggesting that different materials and shapes might be better suited to some dishes than others.
"Why is it we've been using the same cutlery for 200 years?'' he asks.
"What could the experience be like if we got rid of those cutlery forms and made new ones?"
Source: smh.com.au
There are animal competitions that are judged entirely on looks and personality.
But when it comes to Sydney's Royal Easter Show school meat bird pair's competition putting on weight actually counts.
Around 40 schools, stretching from as far south as Albury, north to Kempsey and west to Dubbo, have been given 13 chickens each to fatten up for the competition.
The students have to design a monitoring and feeding program for the chickens for the next six weeks before selecting two birds to enter.
The chickens will then be judged on their commercial standards from growth, weight and appearance to meat quality.
The King's School year 10 student Thomas Taylor, who is one of 30 students in the school's agriculture club, will be heading up their chicken program.
Everyday he and his fellow club members will weigh the chickens and record their feed to weight ratio.
For the first 10 days, the chickens will be kept in a pen inside and will be given a crumble-base feed.
From there they will be moved to an enclosure outside and will be fed on grain.
"It's quite a big responsibility and we need to make sure we look after the chickens in a non-stress environment," Thomas said.
The show's poultry coordinator Kerry Pearce said the competition, which was in its second year, helped to educate students about the industry as well as dispelling myths of hormones given to chickens.
"They are given 13 each so they are all on a level playing field in case they happen to lose one," Mr Pearce said.
"But I'm told all of the chickens have arrived safely."
The winning school will receive $6000.
Meanwhile the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) has appointed Michael Kenny as the chief executive.
Mr Kenny is the former chief executive of Sydney Turf Club, where he held the position for 10 years.
Samantha Townsend - The Daily Telegraph - March 22, 2012
Why do pubs pride themselves on serving chicken parmigiana the size of a small Persian rug?
The average parma is so high in kilojoules, it has to be a pin-up dish for our national obesity problem.
But it's not hard to make a guilt-free parma with all the flavour you expect.
My parma is a satisfying size with almond meal for the crust, a yummy tomato sauce and some bubbling mozzarella cheese.
You get comfort food without all that boombah.
CHICKEN PARMA
Serves 4 4 x 140g skinless chicken breasts Sea salt, ground pepper 150g almond meal Zest of 1/2 lemon 3 tsp butter 1 tbs olive oil 500g tomato passata 120g grated light mozzarella cheese Cherry tomatoes, to serve 1 iceberg lettuce, cut into wedges, to serve
METHOD
Source: Herald Sun, February 28 2012
Snuffle snuffle. When colds and flues set in we employ our favourite home remedies. Everyone knows the wisdom of drinking lots of fluids when ill. Eating fluids proves to be a smart therapy too.
When ill we want the body to devote its energy to healing. Avoid heavy fat and protein foods like dairy and meat and stick with broths, soups, juices and teas. Some people find the time of illness shortened if they partially fast for a day or two, taking in only liquids.
Irwin Ziment, MD, pulmonary specialist and professor at UCLA School of Medicine, says chicken soup contains drug-like agents similar to those in modern cold medicine. For example, an amino acid released from chicken during cooking chemically resembles the drug acetylcystein, prescribed for bronchitis and other respiratory problems.
To further substantiate I found this gem while perusing around the Tufts Health & Nutrition Newsletter : Stephen Rennard, MD, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center published research on this topic in "Chicken Soup Inhibits Neutrophil Chemotaxis In Vitro," (Chest, 2000, volume 118, pages 1150-1157) Yes, chicken soup contains a number of substances-including an anti-inflammatory mechanism-that could ease the symptoms of upper-respiratory-tract infections such as the common cold. Specifically, Dr. Rennard demonstrated that chicken soup reduces the movement of neutrophils, the most common white cells in the blood that defend against infection. This in turn decreases activity in the upper respiratory tract that can cause symptoms associated with suffering from a cold. The study was unable to identify the exact ingredients in chicken soup that relieve cold symptoms, but plain chicken broth did not affect neutrophil activity. Dr. Rennard's grandmother-in-law's recipe proved effective, as did several commercial chicken soups. Rennard's study also noted that the aromatic seasonings enhanced opening and removal of purulent mucous. The active ingredients in traditional recipes include celery, onions, carrots, parsley, mushrooms and parsnips.
By Cynthia Lair