Ole Mouritsen (Univ. of Copenhagen, Copenhagen), What is gastrophysics?

The history of physics demonstrates repeated moves into other areas turning them into physics. This has happened with, e.g., astronomy, geology, chemistry, as well as biology and is possibly about to happen with gastronomy, turning it into gastrophysics. The subject matters of gastrophysics are food, preparation techniques, and flavor; and the methods of study include the arsenal of modern techniques and concepts from the physical and chemical sciences. I will provide examples of what a gastrophysicist may work on, and will speak about taste experience, mouthfeel, and texture, thereby illustrating how physics and physical chemistry can illuminate fundamental properties of taste and the structure of complex foodstuff like emulsions, sauces, jellyfish, seaweeds, and cephalopods.