LOS ANGELES, Feb 23 – Foodies who like to be the first to spot trends and get insider tips on how to dry age beef or use sous vide machines properly may be interested to learn about a new scientific gastro journal edited by big name master chefs and food writers like Heston Blumenthal, Grant Achatz, René Redzepi and Harold McGee.

In the first issue of the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, contributing writers include top international chefs like Alex Atala of the much hyped D.O.M. in Brazil who writes about the culinary potential of priprioca, an Amazonian root traditionally used in the cosmetics industry, and Australia’s Neil Perry who writes about dry aging beef.

At a time when molecular gastronomy has reached an epoch in the timeline of culinary history, the scientific journal could be considered a written record of this gastro trend which treats the subject with the academic seriousness of a scientific journal in which papers are peer-reviewed.

The journal will publish scientific papers and review articles on original culinary concepts that bridge the gap between chefs and food scientists.

In the January issue of the journal, writer Douglas E. Baldwin, for example, explores the sous vide cooking method which vacuum seals foods in bags and is placed in a heated water bath favoured by fine dining chefs and advocated in cooking encyclopedia Modernist Cuisine.

David Chang of Momofuku fame also contributes his article on how native mushrooms can be used as a fermentative process, while Andoni Louis Aduriz of Michelin-starred Mugaritz in Spain explains the methods he used to achieve a ‘culinary trompe l’oeil’ in transforming a purple potato into, what seems like, an inedible river stone.

The journal will publish twice a year.

For more on the journal, visit http://bit.ly/yPVtN9. – AFP