Meeting Abstract

S10.1-2  Tuesday, Jan. 7 08:11  Biomimicry and the culinary arts BURTON, L.J.*; BUSH, J.W.M.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Massachusetts Institute of Technology lisa.j.burton@gmail.com

Avant garde cooking, or modern cooking using knowledge of physical and chemical processes, has gained tremendous popularity in the past 20 years. Focusing on science in cooking has introduced new food preparation techniques, revived old cooking methods, and led to novel dishes that aim to engage all the senses. In this presentation, we demonstrate the incorporation of interfacial biological processes into avant garde cuisine. Inspired by a family of floating flowers and interfacial insects, we have developed two culinary devices that rely on surface tension. The cocktail boat is a drink accessory, a self-propelled edible boat powered by alcohol-induced surface tension gradients, whose propulsion mechanism is analogous to that employed by a class of water-walking insects. The floral pipette is a novel means of serving small volumes of fluid in an elegant fashion, an example of capillary origami modeled after a class of floating flowers. The biological inspiration and mechanics of these two devices, along with the collaborative process that led to their development and deployment, are detailed.