While watching this Ted Talks video you learn that nearly every food can be manipulated to taste like something else. For example they made a dessert look like nachos. The modifications they used are healthy alternative foods like mango shredded into liquid nitrogen to have the appearance of cheese. The mango starts to behave like cheese and starts to almost melt. The "beef" is actually chocolate and the "tortilla chips" are candied but it has the direct appearance of actual nachos and you can't tell that it is a dessert until you start to taste it.
It is fascinating that they are able to make healthy foods behave like and even appear as the foods we are use to. They can change the properties of healthy foods to taste like the unhealthy foods while still remaining healthy. Homaro Cantu and Ben Roche speaks about how they can imitate the taste of burgers without the cow which makes them nearly obsolete in that sense.
I feel like this is a really great idea but I don't know that it is truly practical. As the men like to joke, you pay a lot of money for these dishes in their restaurant. I don't think that every household could necessarily get direct access to liquid nitrogen to create these dishes at home and I don't know that that is healthy in itself. Is there not any negative affect from liquid nitrogen? They are changing the properties of food surely that could create some reactions that are not good for you. And if it has negative side effects are they worse than just eating the burger or nachos? Although the intentions seem really great. I cannot help but question it. If this is possible and healthy why isn't is more widely known or practiced? Seems like there is more to it than the video addresses.
I wanted to think that this was a great idea and support it. But it just seemed to raise more questions than offer solutions. Yes of course it would be great to end hunger in places by being able to utilize what available plant life there is, but then again if they are impoverished societies how are they going to be able to afford liquid nitrogen? It seems more expensive than just growing lettuce and tomatoes in your back yard or sticking to whatever methods and means of a meal they were use to.
