LASER CUISINE: The Art of Food Hacking

Laswer Beams, test tubes, and Binford Blenders.

Scientists and Computer geeks have officially entered the world of culinary cuisine, and we all know that this can only lead to great and marvelous things. And now they have. As a nerd who loves food, I have come across a group of fellow-nerds (though more knowledgable and professional in both fields) who have taken the culinary arts to the next level. They call themselves 'Food Hackers' and they make high-tech geek cuisine.

Welcome to the future of food. There is a new movement in the art (or science) of good eating, and it is called Molecular Gastronomy. Based out of San Francisco, these once Computer Hackers have now aimed their motherboards to the world of food. Their idea is to create dishes based on the molecular compatibilities of foods. (ex. Mango's and Pine or Mushrooms and Pears)

A food hacker will have one card in his recipe box -- a Periodic Chart.

So many times the common non-hacker will cook while being foolishly driven by taste or texture, color or smell. Preferences such as these blindly limit them (not me) to chemically unhealthly choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Luckily, Food Hackers tap into the periodic table to save you from your ignorance.

Food hackers computerally breakdown the chemical make-up of fruits, vegetables, desserts and meats. They then regroup them according to molecular structure (say goodbye to the food pyramid).

According to this new idea, meals based on common molecular structure will be healthier (and better for you), possibly taste better (as they tap into a new dimintia of cognital and palatial bliss), and in the end allow your body to more efficiently break down and process the food we eat.

For example, all of my life I have been eating Snicker's Bars because of the smooth blend of caramel, peanuts and chocolate (and nuget). But this has come to an end. Dorkbots (as they also call themselves) have discovered that Oyster's are the next closest food in moleculare make-up to that of chocolate. A new slogan could perhaps go like this: "Hungry? Eat an Oyster Bar", or maybe: "OYSTER-BAR, find the pearl in your candybar" (but unfortunately oysters dont have pearls, who knows, there are plenty of slogans to be had).

But that's not all, Food Hackers do much, much more. Science has allowed many new methods to cooking, freezing and lazerbeaming your food. Most of the recipes require liquid nitrogen-cooled food, and use steak-flavored cellophane. They have even developed a 'meat glue' which will seamlessly bind a porterhouse to a chicken breast. Finally, a glue that I can use on chicken and beef, no more toothpicks. But for all of you that love a breakfast dessert, you have to try the bacon & egg ice cream.

This all may sound weird, but if the creator built them the same, we should eat them the same.