Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Of Foams and Formalisms

Scientific Expertise and Craft Practice in Molecular Gastronomy

Bibliographic Data

ID2280334
AuthorsSophia Roosth (0000-0001-7591-5043, Harvard University, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume115
Issue1
Pages4-16
Publication date2013-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Anthropologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1548-1433.2012.01531.x
OpenAlexW2153148991
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited54

This article reports on "molecular gastronomy," a food movement whose practitioners-chemists who study food and chefs who apply their results-define as the application of the scientific method and laboratory apparatuses to further cooking. Molecular gastronomy offers one example of how scientific rationales sometimes percolate outside professional scientific fields. I explore what happens when the explanatory ground occupied by "culture" is supplanted by a different mode of expertise-here, science. Following ethnographic research conducted in a molecular gastronomy laboratory, I show how French molecular gastronomists seek both to preserve and renovate classic French cuisine. Describing how they think about French cuisine in an anthropological language indebted to French structuralism-the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss, in particular-I reflect on the afterlives of anthropological concepts in scientific domains

Archaeology · Craft · Epistemology · Ethnography · Gastronomy · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Anthropology · Culinary Culture and Tourism · History · Organic Food and Agriculture · Philosophy

  • Expertise, Anthropological Approaches to

    Open Access•D Boyer•International Encyclopedia of the…•2015

  • Culinary Linguistics

    Cornelia Gerhardt, Maximiliane Frobenius et al.•Culinary Linguistics•2013

  • Bad to chew

    Joel Dickau•Food Culture & Society•2019

  • Tasting Ceylon Tea

    Alexios Tsigkas•Food Culture & Society•2019

  • An esthetic theory of the subversive sublime of Ital cuisine

    Maria Ann Noland•Food Culture & Society•2021

  • Multivariate statistics and the enactment of metabolic complexity

    Open Access•Nadine Levin•Social Studies of Science•2014

  • Evidence-based creativity

    Open Access•Chad Borkenhagen•Social Studies of Science•2017

  • The taste machine

    Open Access•Christopher J Phillips•Social Studies of Science•2016

  • Culinary Linguistics

    Cornelia Gerhardt, Maximiliane Frobenius et al.•English and American Studies in…•2015

  • Ethics, politics and embodied imagination in crafting scientific knowledge

    Open Access•E Bell, Hugh Willmott•Human Relations•2020

  • Sensory science research on taste. An ethnography of two laboratory experiments in Western Europe

    A Mann•Food and Foodways•2018

  • Tasting off-flavors

    Ella Butler•The Senses and Society•2018

  • Delicious molecules

    Sarah E Tracy•The Senses and Society•2018

  • Perfumer, chemist, machine

    Claire Spackman•The Senses and Society•2018

  • On the Virtues of Historical Entomophagy

    Emma C Spary, Anya Zilberstein•Osiris•2020

  • Of Foams and Formalisms

    Open Access•Sophia Roosth•American Anthropologist•2013

  • Teawords

    Open Access•Sarah Besky•American Anthropologist•2021

  • Biological Anthropology inAmerican Anthropologist

    Open Access•M Chibnik•American Anthropologist•2013

  • Rationalizing geosociality

    Elizabeth Reddy•Human Organization•2024

  • Science in action

    Bruno Latour•Science in action•1987

  • Changing order

    H M Collins•Changing order•1985

  • Food and the Senses

    D Sutton, David E Sutton•Annual Review of Anthropology•2010

  • Scientific Practice and Ordinary Action

    Open Access•Michael Lynch•Scientific Practice and Ordinary…•1994

  • Crafting Science

    Joan H Fujimura•Crafting Science•1996

  • Public Intellectuals

    Richard A Posner•Public Intellectuals•2001

  • Gravity's Shadow

    Harry Collins•Gravity's Shadow•2004

  • Every Farm a Factory

    Deborah Fitzgerald•Every Farm a Factory•2003

  • Accounting for Taste

    Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson•Accounting for Taste•2004

  • Tacit Knowing

    Open Access•Michael Polanyi•Reviews of Modern Physics•1962

  • Narratives of Race and Indigeneity in the Genographic Project

    Open Access•Kim Tallbear•Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics•2007

  • The practice turn in contemporary theory

    Open Access•Alexander Styhre•Scandinavian Journal of Management•2003

  • All manners of food

    Stephen Mennell•All manners of food•1987

  • Intellectuals, Culture and Public Policy in France

    Jeremy Ahearne•Intellectuals, Culture and Public…•2010

  • Kinship, Law and the Unexpected

    Open Access•M Strathern•Kinship, Law and the Unexpected•2005

  • The Politics of Life Itself

    Nikolas Rose•The Politics of Life Itself•2007

  • Organic food and agriculture in the US

    David J He•Science as Culture•2004

  • The Molecularization of Race

    Duana Fullwiley•Science as Culture•2007

  • Uncovering Gynocentric Science

    Open Access•Ruth Ginzberg•Hypatia•1987

  • Creating the taste of place in the United States

    Open Access•Amy B Trubek, Amy Trubek et al.•GeoJournal•2008

  • The Dissemination, Standardization and Routinization of a Molecular Biological Technique

    Open Access•Kathleen Jordan, Michael Lynch et al.•Social Studies of Science•1998

  • The Body of the Artisan

    Pamela H Smith•Body of the Artisan•2004

  • Evaluating fair trade consumption

    Open Access•Sarah Lyons, Sarah Lyon•International Journal of Consumer…•2006

  • Bio Science

    Open Access•A Nelson•Social Studies of Science•2008

  • Relative Values

    Franklin, Gillian Feeley-Harnik et al.•Relative Values•2001

  • Border Crossing

    Open Access•H Rao, Philippe Monin et al.•American Sociological Review•2005

  • Practice, Reason, Context

    Open Access•Timothy Lenoir•Science in Context•1988

  • The House of Experiment in Seventeenth-Century England

    Steven Shapin•Isis•1988

  • From Settlement to Fordism

    Brian Page, Richard Walker•Economic Geography•1991

  • The Mangle of Practice

    Andrew Pickering•Mangle of Practice•1995

  • The Manufacture of Knowledge

    Trevor Pinch, Karin D Knorr-Cetina•Technology and Culture•1984

  • Epistemic Cultures

    Karin Knorr Cetina, K Knorr-Cetina•Epistemic Cultures•1999

  • Histoire et ethnologie

    Open Access•Claude Lévi-Strau, Claude Levi‐Strauss et al.•Annales Histoire Sciences Sociales•1983

  • Vintages and Traditions

    Robert Layton, Robert C Ulin•Journal of the Royal Anthropologica…•1998

  • After Culture

    Open Access•Stefan Helmreich•Cultural Anthropology•2001

  • Techne versus Technoscience

    Open Access•Chaia Heller•American Anthropologist•2007

  • Techne, Technoscience, and the Circulation of Comestible Commodities

    Open Access•Deborah Heath, A Meneley•American Anthropologist•2007

  • The Sociology of Intellectuals

    C Kurzman, Lynn Owens•Annual Review of Sociology•2002

  • Of Foams and Formalisms

    Open Access•Sophia Roosth•American Anthropologist•2013

  • Locating Value in Artisan Cheese

    Open Access•Heather Paxson•American Anthropologist•2010

  • Institutional Change in Toque Ville

    Hayagreeva Rao, H Raghav Rao et al.•American Journal of Sociology•2003

  • A Cultural Field in the Making

    Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson•American Journal of Sociology•1998

  • How to Make a National Cuisine

    Open Access•A Appadurai•Comparative Studies in Society…•1988

Unique citing works19
Citations per year1,46
Citation span2013 - 2024 (12)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 19
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae