The Pioneer
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, French nobleman and chemist, recognized The importance of utilizing the scientific method to understand food properties as early as in the seventeenth century (1783). Half a century later Brillat-Savarin conducted further studies in his monograph “Physiology of Taste” (1825). A scientist who in more recent times emphasized the link between gastronomy and science was Nicholas Kurti, a low-temperature physicist at Oxford University in the UK.
The modern term that invokes the relationship between science and gastronomy is “molecular gastronomy" - coined by Elizabeth Cawdry Thomas, Nicholas Kurti and friends in 1992.
The Brain
Nicholas Kurti, a low-temperature physicist at Oxford University, was a hardened advocate and pioneer of applying scientific knowledge to culinary problems. Kurti was one of the first British television cooks, hosting a the TV show in 1969 entitled "The Physicist in the Kitchen". In 1992, Kurti with Hervé This coined the term "Molecular and Physical Gastronomy" (originally titled "Science and Gastronomy") and became the title for a set of workshops held in Erice, Italy.
The Collaborator
Elizabeth Cawdry Thomas studied at the London Cordon Bleu and owned a cooking school in Berkeley, California. As her first husband was a physicist, it exposed her to the world of science as she had many scientist friends whom she met at science conferences.
It was through this network that Thomas gathered renowned professors and physicists Nicholas Kurti, Hervé This, Ugo Valdre and Antonio Zichichi who have expressed exuberant interest in further exploring the science of cooking. With this collaboration, Thomas launched the inaugural "Molecular and Physical Gastronomy " workshop in 1992.
As described by Harold McGee, Elizabeth Cawdry Thomas, a cook and teacher, should be remembered for initiating the feasts of conversation between scientists and cooks that took place at Erice.