Using Molecular Gastronomy for Dysphagia Recipes (2024)
by Jeanette19 Comments
This post explores the possibility of using Molecular Gastronomy for Dysphagia Recipes to improve the lives of people with dementia, Parksinson’s disease, ALS, cancer, and other medical conditions that make it difficult for them to eat. Over the past few years, I’ve developed an interest in molecular gastronomy and the implications it might have for helping people with dysphagia enjoy eating. I’ve cooked for people undergoing cancer treament, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), all of whom have had difficulty eating due to their illnesses, and seen how the pleasure of eating has been taken away from them.
Molecular gastronomy or modernist cuisine is used to describe cooking where scientific processes and ingredients are used to transform food into different forms and textures. Dysphagia is a medical condition where people have may have difficulty chewing and moving food or liquid into the throat and swallowing food. Dysphagia may occur after a stroke, throat or mouth cancer, and can occur in people undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, and people withdementia, Parkinson’s disease and ALS.
Although molecular gastronomy is typically associated with high end restaurants, serving beautifully plated foods or co*cktails with foams, gels, airs, powders and spheres, I believe there is a unique opportunity to use molecular gastronomy in all its shapes and forms to help improve the quality of life for people living with dysphagia.
The cooking techniques employed by molecular gastronomy – sous vide, gelification, spherification, foams, powders, airs – provide a variety of textures and consistencies that I think have practical implications for delivering food and flavor in a form that people with dysphagia can enjoy.
Gels can deliver liquids that might be easier to swallow without choking. Pictured below isPomegranate Gel made with pomegranate juice (400g), sugar (4g), and xanthan gum (.4g), and low acyl gellan gum (4 g).
Here is a Coffee and Milk Foam (Recipe from MolecularRecipes.com). Foams are another way of delivering liquids in a form that might be easier to swallow.
These Strawberry Spheres (recipe on MolecularRecipes.com) and Yogurt Spheres (also from MolecularRecipes.com) have a thin gel coating that pop in your mouth, releasing a thickened liquid or pureed filling. Spherification or Reverse Spherification could provide a vehicle for food forpeople who have trouble chewing and moving food around in their mouth.
This is “Nutella” Powder made by mixing maltodextrin with cocoa almond spreaduntil it becomes a powder. This works with anything with a high fat content, e.g., olive oil, sesame oil. Powders can deliver flavor enhancement in small amounts.
Sous Vide Poached Eggscan be a good source of protein and nutrition for someone on asoft food diet.
I raise the topic of using Molecular Gastronomy for Dysphagia Recipesas food for thought. Currently, people with dysphagia have few food options. There are food thickeners on the market that are used to thicken nutritional shakes (that is what we were told to do for my father-in-law who had Parkinson’s disease). Food is also pureed. Although both of these more traditional ways of serving food to people with dysphagia work, there’s nothing pleasurable about mealtime.
I’d like to see a world where people with dysphagialook forward to mealtime and find it enjoyable again. During a recent visit with a friend with ALS who can no longer eat or talk, she typed, “I just want a steak.” I’d like to be able to give her that taste of steak that she’s craving.
Examples of techniques used in molecular gastronomy include low temperature-immersion (sous-vide) cooking, liquid nitrogen fast freezing and shattering, and dehydrator made fruit jerky. Notably, molecular gastronomy makes extensive use of hydrocolloids (e.g., starch, pectin, and gelatin) in the creation of novel foods.
At first glance, molecular gastronomy might seem more focused on presentation than nutrition. However, this innovative culinary approach can have significant health benefits. By understanding the chemical composition of foods, chefs can manipulate ingredients to enhance their nutritional value.
Instead of following traditional culinary techniques, chefs that specialise in molecular gastronomy experiment with chemicals and techniques to alter the properties of food and create and innovative surprising new dishes.
Since this food science involves liquid nitrogen fumes, dry ice, xanthan gums, calcium salts, the concern about its health repercussions is but natural. But most experts have allayed the possibility of any harm as the amount of chemicals used is miniscule.
Some cooking schools offer molecular gastronomy as a specific area of study or as an optional subject. You can also look for opportunities to work with chefs who specialize in molecular gastronomy and gain hands-on experience practising the techniques and using the ingredients found in this style of cooking.
This described molecular and physical gastronomy as the physics and chemistry behind the preparation of a dish, and he began testing the scientific validity of cooking rules and old wives' tales in a research environment that was part kitchen, part high-tech lab.
There are many different molecular gastronomy techniques, all developed to create delicious dishes in surprising new presentations. Below we explore the most popular techniques: spherification, gelification, emulsification, transformation, and sous vide.
Yes, molecular gastronomy is generally considered safe, especially when experimental food creations are consumed in moderation. It further depends on the ingredients used. For example, naturally occurring emulsifiers and hydrocolloids (thickeners), like gelatin or agar agar, are safe to consume.
molecular gastronomy, the scientific discipline concerned with the physical and chemical transformations that occur during cooking. The name is sometimes mistakenly given to the application of scientific knowledge to the creation of new dishes and culinary techniques.
Grant Achatz is also known as one of the leaders from molecular gastronomy or what we call the progressive cuisine. He began working in restaurants as soon as he could walk.
Some molecular gastronomy techniques can also be dangerous, such as working with liquid nitrogen. Another problem is that molecular gastronomy can sometimes result in dishes that are more science experiment than food. Finally, molecular gastronomy can be off-putting to some diners who prefer more traditional fare.
At the end of 2006, Ferran Adrià, Heston Blumenthal and Thomas Keller, together with Harold McGee, published a statement on the 'new cookery': “The fashionable term 'molecular gastronomy' was introduced relatively recently, in 1992, to name a particular academic workshop for scientists and chefs on the basic food ...
gastronomy, the art of selecting, preparing, serving, and enjoying fine food. Gastronomy is grounded in relationships between food, culture, and tradition. Through the ages gastronomy has proved to be a stronger cultural force among the peoples of the world than linguistic or other influences.
Molecular gastronomy seeks to generate new knowledge on the basis of the chemistry and physics behind culinary processes—for example, why mayonnaise becomes firm or why a soufflé swells. One side goal is to develop new ways of cooking that are rooted in science.
Gastronomic tourism products are authentic food and drink offerings that are unique to a specific region or country. These products play a significant role in the development of different forms of tourism and contribute to the overall tourism experience.
Chefs who practice this technique seek to understand how the chemical components of food interact with each other and how these reactions can influence the sensory experience of the diner.
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Over the past few years, I’ve developed an interest in molecular gastronomy and the implications it might have for helping people with dysphagia enjoy eating. I’ve cooked for people undergoing cancer treament, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), all of whom have had difficulty eating due to their illnesses, and seen how the pleasure of eating has been taken away from them.
