All scientific and stuff

Today, the WaPo debuts its new monthly food column, The Gastronomer, in which writer Andreas Viestad, will ponder the relationship between science and food. I rolled my eyes at the title, expecting to find a long-winded missive on the merits of sous vide cooking or celery foam. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that, although Viestad's observations can tend toward the obvious ("We need science to teach us what goes on when we make a sauce or cook a piece of fish," he muses at one point), his attitude toward molecular gastronomy appears promisingly nuanced. Viestad's general premise is that cooking can benefit from scientific advancement, but that the relentless pursuit of technical perfection undermines the whole point of cooking and eating for pleasure. Okay, that's fair enough. But referring to himself as a "maverick gastronomer"? I dunno that a balanced view on the topic doth a maverick make.

I'm eager to see whether future columns reveal a thoughtful voice in the Our Food, Our Selves dialogue, or whether Viestad's fluffy souffle of big ideas will, alas, deflate. I also wonder about the Post's choice to incorporate this theme into its Food Section as a monthly column. It seems to me that, for most readers, molecular gastronomy is an occasional thrill to be experienced at the hands of Katsuya Fukushima, but is not neccessarily a month-in, month-out theme for reflection. Viestad seems to know his stuff though, so we shall see.

Photo of Minibar's Olive Oil Bon Bon by Flickr user Dabdiputs.