Some of my friends look at me like I'm crazy when I talk about the texture of foods. They just don't seem to get it, maybe it's the language. When I say a food "tastes" slimy they understand, but when I say the texture is slick and viscous they just blink and stare at me. Finally I feel validated, the science of food texture is hitting the big time.

The texture of what we eat is the number one thing we base our likes and dislikes on. Making sure that commercial food products feel right in our mouth is an enormous part in the development of any new food item. That's why you see the ingredients carrageenan, carob bean, food starch, and guar gum on many foods. They increase creaminess, amp up the thickness, and otherwise make foods feel better in your mouth. Commercial food production has known about textures for centuries, but now the focus is both changing, and increasing dramatically. Chefs and restaurants have known about the importance of textures for just as long but now they are playing with the concept in new ways.

Part of this comes from how molecular gastronomy has become the hot thing at cutting edge restaurants. Sous vide, that ultra low and slow, vacuum packed, hot water bath cooking has made it to prime time; providing super tender food that's packed with flavor. Chefs are saying let's make soft things crunchy and firm foods soft, gels out of liquids and solids into foam. Chefs are changing the textures of traditional foods so that they surprise and delight, but it doesn't stop there. Texturing is also about making foods more about what they are. It's about making foods feel how they really should feel if it was a perfect world. Coaxing soft foods even softer, and crispy items so much more that they crackle just looking at them.

Now many folks pooh, pooh molecular gastronomy and food texturing as fad fancies from frou frou restaurants.The thing is that what's new and cutting edge today, first becomes trendy, then it hits mainstream. That is starting to happen with the focus on textures. Unless you work as a food scientist you probably won't be able to get your hands on the full report since it costs $6,000. I haven't, although I'm trying, but this abstract of the report Looking at Food Textures: Culinary Trend Mapping Report discusses the studies on food textures and trends.