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Science and Food Links

Science and food links from around the web!

Were chickpeas responsible for the rise of a human empire? Cultivated chickpeas had more than three times as much tryptophan as their wild cousins. Increased amounts of tryptophan in the diet can improve performance under stress and also promote ovulation, handy advantages when you're taking over the world.

An In-depth scientific explanation of why we develop food allergies.

celery straw
Duda Farm Fresh Foods has engineered celery to grow with hollow stalks, thus celery straws.

MIT Technology Review's two-parter, "The Alchemist" (part 1, part 2) goes deep with Grant Achatz and Alinea:

The highest and most expensive forms of cooking have always involved the latest kitchen technology. But seldom has technology worked to bring food as far from what was considered normal as it does today. Cooks are straying into the preserves of the laboratory, appropriating equipment, processes, and ingredients that were formerly of interest only to biology researchers and industrial food manufacturers. Among American chefs, it's Achatz who has most successfully walked the balance beam between weird and appealing—probably because of his rigorous apprenticeship with [Thomas] Keller.

Serious Eats on Alinea: Alinea's Most Exciting Food.

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