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The Kitchen Thinker: Anosmia
Daily Telegraph (UK), 20 January 2010
A great summary by food journalist Bee Wilson of a talk that I gave at the 2009 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. I described how the sense of smell is unique to each of us, and how this affects our enjoyment of a meal. Here is one example, as summarized by Bee: "Seven per cent of the population cannot smell trimethylamine, a compound whose presence indicates that fish is going off. I find this fact truly astonishing. Seven people out of a hundred would not notice if the grilled lemon sole on their plate was fresh or fishy. The odds are that some of those people are working in restaurants [and serving you your food]."
Food for thought!
Vegetable Acoustics and the Carrot Clarinet
Oxford, September 2008
A talk which I gave at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery (www.oxfordsymposium.org.uk/index.html), and which attracted some media attention. The talk was filmed and will form part of a forthcoming BBC4 TV series on the life and work of symposium founder Alan Davidson. An article featuring the talk (and the clarinet) subsequently appeared in the Financial Times on 17 January 2009.
 The Best Way to Stir Porridge
Daily Express, 4 September 2004
It’s amazing how just about any everyday activity has a scientific angle. Even stirring porridge can be turned into a scientific problem, as I found when I investigated the properties of the mysterious “spurtle” that is used to stir porridge in Scotland. With the aid of world porridge-making champion Duncan Hilditch and my physics colleague Jeff Odell, I worked out that this implement makes smooth porridge by creating the ideal stresses to break up lumps but not to disrupt the individual oat grains. “Fletch” would surely have approved. View image of article.
A Dunkable Delight, the Sweet Potato Biscuit
Daily Mail (London), 31 August 2009 (and many other newspapers)
Felice Tocchini has created a biscuit which he claims can survive up to a minute in a hot drink before disintegrating into a sodden mess. This smashes the current record of 25.5 seconds for a chocolate digestive…The recipe is a closely-guarded secret, but he revealed that the key was layering flour and oat-based doughs to build strength, before coating it all in an 'impermeable' egg-based glaze before baking. One of the more outlandish ingredients is tiny slivers of sweet potato, which keep it together without spoiling the taste…Physicist and author Dr Len Fisher said the new creation was fascinating. He added: 'This sounds like a clever use of science to solve the perennial dunking problem.' Dr Fisher wrote the book How to Dunk a Doughnut, which applies science to everyday life. He discovered that dunking releases up to ten times more flavour than eating the biscuit dry.
 Scientists Get the Art of Dunking Down to a T
The Daily Telegraph
One of the best media stories about the physics of dunking a biscuit. Unlike some newspapers, the Daily Telegraph actually got the equation right, and also explained just what it meant extremely well. Conclusion: Many journalists are really keen to help put over what science is about. It is really up to scientists to help them more. View image of article.
Len Fisher on Dunking
BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme, November 1999
 Inflammable Jelly
In one of my incarnations I am involved with chefs and food writers who are interested in using science to improve gastronomic techniques. At a conference with this group at Erice in Sicily, the subject of jellies came up, and I started to think just how alcoholic one could make a jelly. The answer was “very alcoholic indeed”, and eventually I succeeded in making inflammable jellies, as the above story shows. View image of article.
 Great shakes
The Guardian, October 2002
Kir Royale jelly: This is interesting because it manages to keep the bubbles in the jelly itself. My friend, the chemist Len Fisher, devised the clever technique of preserving the bubbles more than in a regular champagne jelly. The crème de cassis and sugar seem to reduce the volatility of the champagne...
Gravy Boffin Uses His Loaf
BBC Radio News, December 2001
A Bristol-based scientist has carried out extensive research to work out the ideal bread to mop up gravy. Dr Len Fisher, a research fellow at the University of Bristol, has determined that the Italian crusty bread Ciabatta soaks up the most sauce...
 Great Gravy Saver Sum
Daily Mail, 30 November 2000
My next venture (with colleague Peter Barham) was also at the request of a publicity company, and again I imposed the condition that it should let me show how scientists think. This time it was for Bisto gravy, who asked me to work out how much gravy was absorbed by a Christmas dinner. The resulting equation produced the immortal headline “You’ve got to be Bisto kidding!” View image of article.
 Cold Milk Takes the Biscuit
BBC News, November 1999
The best way to enjoy a biscuit is not with tea or coffee but with cold, chocolate-flavoured milk, according to new research. Scientists at Nottingham University have found milky drinks trap the biscuit flavours in the mouth, whereas hot drinks tend to "wash away" the experience before the mouth and nose have had time to fully appreciate them...
Good Dunking Guide
Daily Mail, November 1999
The publicity company came back for a second bite the next year. This time I looked at what liquid you should dunk you biscuit in. It was a simple but substantial bit of science, using a remarkable instrument developed at the University of Nottingham and called MSNose. It measures the concentration of aromas released as one chews, and I discovered that fatty materials like milk (especially chocolate milk!) are best for dunking because the fats and oils retain the flavours in the mouth for longer. I have since used this discovery when helping leading chefs to design flavoursome recipes. View image of article.
 The Optimum Cheese Sandwich
Another project that used MSNose was to work out how much cheese there is in the ideal cheese sandwich. This project produced a real scientific surprise – there is no gain to be had by adding more cheese above a certain thickness, because this does not produce any more release of flavour. I am still trying to work out why!
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