Delivery of Functionality in Complex Food Systems: Physically Inspired Approaches from Nanoscale to Microscale

Abstract

The purpose of this Delivery of Functionality in Complex Food Systems symposium was to develop a fundamental understanding of the rational design principles required to create high-quality and healthy foods. The symposium highlighted the need for a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to rational food design, involving physicists, chemists, biologists, food technologists, physiologists, sensory scientists, psychologists, chefs, and social scientists. The conference moved from a consideration of the characteristics and interactions of basic food components to the nanoscopic and microscopic structures created by assembly of these basic components, to the bulk physicochemical and sensory properties of foods, to the interaction of foods with the mouth and gastrointestinal tract, and finally, to the scientific basis of fine cuisine (molecular gastronomy).