Ingredient: Unveiling the Essential Elements of Food

Ingredient delivers on its promise to give the reader x-ray vision into the basic chemistry of food. The complex concepts presented are made easier to understand and visualize with Ali Bouzari's liberal use of metaphors. The wonderfully eccentric (and detailed) illustrations by Jeff Delierre and photographs by National Geographic Explorer Jason Jaacks also aid in envisioning these chemical interactions. The tone is also light and informal, as the intent of the content is made to be presented in "humanspeak". This allows the reader to easily develop a basic level of understanding of the "behind the scenes" of food, no matter what the scientific background the reader possesses. There are numerous other books on the market that delve deeper and describe in more details the physics of food that, in order to understand, require a degree in science and a tolerance to dry content. Ingredient is not one of them.Bouzari is not new to the food writing scene. He has written numerous articles on food chemistry in ChemistryWorld and Popular Science with the same style. Read them if you're still wondering how Ingredient is presented then buy the book because simply, it's great.Popular Science "The delicious taste of struggle"[...]Scientific American "How good cooks keep green veggies from going brown"[...]

Ingredient isn't like anything I've ever read before. Its clever illustrations and beautiful photographs complement Bouzari's intriguing explanation of the science of cooking. Ingredient isn't a cookbook, and it doesn't have a single recipe. Rather, it's a fascinating, up-close look at the basic types of foods that make up every culinary creation, and how they interact with each other either to cause mischief or make masterpieces. Bouzari's unique, snappy writing style turns what could be a dry, academic treatise into a truly delightful read. Professional chefs, home cooks, even intellectually curious people who can't scramble an egg, will all love this book!

Lovely to look at and fun to read! This is a wonderful book for those of us who enjoy cooking and eating as a hobby rather than as a profession. Bouzari makes science of cooking entertaining and accessible. Bouzari's lively prose and anthropomorphizing make the processes he explains easy to understand and remember. I plan to give this book to all my favorite foodie science geek friends.

A very fun book for anyone that is interested in food, especially the cooking of food... I consider myself a reasonably good cook and i have a through background in science, but reading this book i learned a lot about both, that will inform all my cooking in the future... It is especially usefulfor cooks, or aspiring cooks, that don't have a science background and are not interested in getting one...for them, it is an essential read!

For a long time I had been looking for a science-focused book about cooking. This book is written in a very clear and matter-of-fact way so that it is fairly simply to comprehend. I initially purchased it to gain a better understanding of how lipids work in emulsions. I’ve been reading off-and-on for a few months now and it has been such a learning experience for my job (as a professional cook) as well as at home. By learning the properties of Ingredients* and heir behaviors, one can manipulate foods in different ways and with greater control. Very interesting stuff! Great for quick reference mid-way through a recipe, or even read in full as the textbook it is. Colorful illustrations are very helpful as well and compliment the text.

This book was the project of a young up and coming chef. He has also done some great Ted Talks and is taking the culinary world to a new level.. the illustrations and explanations in this book make what may seem complicated easy to understand and you can take your own cooking to a new level too..

This book completely changed the way I look at and think about food. It opened my eyes to a world just below the surface that I did not know existed, uncovering the science of flavor. You truly know nothing about cooking and flavor combinations if you don't have this as your foundation. Should be required reading for any cook, amateur or otherwise, and if you don't consider yourself a cook due to feeling overwhelmed try this book and it just may simplify the entire concept for you. Thank god someone wrote this down in a way that can so easily be consumed.

Great book, great recipe ideas.