molecular gastronomy
n.— «Should jam be cooked in a copper pan? When gnocchi come floating to the surface of boiling water, does that mean they are cooked? Molecular gastronomy—a branch of food science that focuses on cooking and food preparation (rather than on the chemical makeup of food, as traditional food science tends to do)—has the answers.» —“Food: his passion, his science” by Émilie Boyer King in Paris Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Mass.) Feb. 18, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)