This year food science day moved north of the river. Not that Tim, our generous host of previous years (one and two) was not happy to let us re-use his excellent venue, but we thought that it might be best for his upstanding in his community that the smell of burning cheese, the sight of falling cheese and the remnants of thrown fruit and vegetables should be rests from Peckham. Instead our generous and genial host was Mark S, and his piano. No food science was done with the piano in this period.
Before getting into the grittiness of the real actual science, it is good to remind readers why we do this every year. Yes, there is something of the restless polymath in the FreakyTrigger writers which want to push the limits of science (often to areas where the science no longer has its usual meaning). But we also do it as a tribute to Liz, who we all still miss terribly. Some people may not say the marinading tinned ham in Cava for the want of a simple pun is a strange kind of memorial, or leaves a bad taste in the mouth. And they would be right about the second statement there. But we hope that in our continued relentless pursuit of culinary science we honour her own restless imagination and skills in the kitchen.
Indeed this year we eschewed last years gourmet list of ingredients for a wander down the somewhat less fashionable aisles of the Clapton supermarket. This is due to a number of reasons. Firstly the more gourmet members of the usual team (who would have balked at someone eating Primula from the tube) were unavailable due to their own Baby Science (well done Aiden and Harry). Secondly we want to spread the gospel of food science, and therefore it is important for the development of this as part of the national curriculum that the experiments are doable in the cheapest classroom. And also it is important to bear in mind that whilst Liz was a gourmand herself, she also had a soft spot for the dirty side of food, as inventor of the term INDIE CHICKEN.
So unable to produce a list of detritus (like last year), I can however exclusively reveal the shopping list for the day, for you to ponder as we write up the various bits of COLD HARD SCIENCE:
17 x Bottles of various beer
12 Eggs
1 x packet of Mars Planets
1 x packet Marshmallows
1 x packet Flying Saucers
2 x tine of Ye Olde Oake Hame (43% PORKE)
1 x tin Bacon Roll (34% PORK)
1 x Packet of Smash Instant Mashed Potato
2 x Bottle of Pink Cava
1 x Tube of Primula Cheese Spread
A rubber band
A bag of Ice
A tub of Marmite
Processed Cheese Slices
2 x packets of jelly
1 x 9 month old baby
Cheers to all the participants this year: ROLL CALL
Mark S, Tim, Robster, Alix, Starry Sarah, CarsmileSteve, Meg, Tom, Lytton, Cis, Suzy and special guest bemused cameraman from the US DAN PERRY!