Khymos » cupcake http://blog.khymos.org - dedicated to molecular gastronomy Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:41:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 TGIF: Periodic tables of food http://blog.khymos.org/2009/10/30/tgif-periodic-tables-of-food/ http://blog.khymos.org/2009/10/30/tgif-periodic-tables-of-food/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:05:44 +0000 Martin Lersch http://blog.khymos.org/?p=1566 pt-blank
Does food fit into this table?

Here at Khymos I aim to cover things related to food and chemistry, and as I stumbled over a periodic table of cupcakes (with clickable “elements” linked to recipes) I couldn’t resist to dig a little deeper. And look what I found! The periodic table of elements is iconic, but the periodic table has also become an organizing metaphor for all sorts of things, including food. The Internet database of periodic tables holds more periodic tables than you could ever dream of, but it’s not complete – at least not with regards to food. Here are the food related periodic tables that I’ve been able to find. Fun? Yes! Useful? No, not really :) At the end of the post I’ve also included examples of how the real periodic table of elements can be illustrated in a more or less edible fashion. All images are linked to the page where I found them. Are you aware of other periodic tables of food? Please let me know and I’ll include them in this post.

pt-beer
Available as a poster. HighRes available here.

pt-booze
Available as a poster

pt-candy

pt-cereal
In case you wondered, it’s a periodic table of breakfast cereals!

pt-cheese
HighRes flash version

pt-condiments
Condiments that periodically go bad

pt-cupcakes
Cupcakes – what else! And each “element” is linked to a recipe. Very well made!

pt-dessert

pt-food-disneyland
Period table of food from Disneyland in Los Angeles (Photo: Martin Lersch). Click for a larger image.

pt-herbs-spices
Available as a poster

pt-fruitsnuts
Available as a poster

pt-mixology
Available as a poster

pt-sandwichry
Available as a poster

pt-scoville
HighRes version available

pt-produce
Two cropped scans available from Slashfood. Original was published in “Simple Life” fall 2006.

pt-vegetables
Available as a poster

pt-wine1
Available as a poster

pt-menu
The menu at “Miracle of Science Bar & Grill” in Boston is a periodic table painted on the wall. More info at the C&EN blog. Photo: Scott Beale/Laughing Squid


Periodic table of preserves. Full resolution view available through this preview (browse to page 22 of the preview, book pages 48-49).

The real periodic table of elements represented in food
If you think fitting some kind of food into a periodic table is stretching a little too far, why not make an edible version of the real periodic table? In the process you may even learn the name of some elements :)

pt-real-cupcakes
Photo by melpenguin

pt-pumpkins
A nice idea for Halloween?

As the name suggests, the TGIF posts are a little less serious than what I otherwise post here at Khymos. I hope you enjoy it :)

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