TYPES

OF FOOD
Red meat
Meat has played a central role in human nutrition for
at least 2 million years. In the modern world, meat—
especially red meat—has accounted for an increasingly
high proportion of our diet, with consequences for
obesity, cardiovascular health, and cancer rates.
Myoglobin and
cytochromes

What makes red meat red?

Meat usually refers to muscle, however, the term can also
encompass organ meats. Red meat gets most of its color
from iron-containing myoglobin, a richly pigmented
protein that provides cells with oxygen, similar to
hemoglobin in red blood cells. Energy is supplied to
muscle by fats, which are broken down by cytochromes
— a type of protein in muscle fibers that is also red.

Muscle fiber
Muscle fiber
In muscles that are constantly
at work—such as leg muscles—
there are lots of myoglobin and
cytochromes, which provide
the muscle fibers with all the
oxygen and energy,
respectively, that they need
to function.

WHY CAN MEAT and liver.

SOMETIMES TASTE
METALLIC?
Very lean cuts of red meat
lack flavorsome fat, which
contributes to the typical
beef taste. This can
accentuate the metallic
flavor from the high
quantities of iron in red
meat, especially muscle
meat
BOWEL CANCER RISK clear patterns of a direct
relationship between higher red
Although some meat intake and increased risk of
large-scale cancers.
studies have
implied that that
consumption of
red meat
(particularly
chargrilled or
barbecued)
correlates with
a risk of
colorectal
(bowel) cancers,
the association is
weak.
Furthermore, the
reason for a link
is unclear, and
may be because
fatty red meat
contributes to
obesity (a high
BMI is associated
with a risk of
colorectal
cancer), rather
than the ingested
fat itself. An
analysis of 27
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 TYPES OF FOOD
Red meat
68 69
Red meat and nutrition
Red meat is a complete protein source, providing all of the
essential amino acids that our bodies cannot create. It is also a rich
source of iron and B vitamins. Significant health concerns remain,
however. The red meat we consume tends to be high in fat—the
higher the fat content, the greater the flavor and tenderness of the
meat.
FATTY
Higher fat content means a greater number of calories, more ACIDS
saturated fats, and the health risks associated with them.
U Enzyme breaks
fats down
to fatty
acids

AMINO
ACIDS
The body needs iron to We need the amino acids
make oxygen-carrying provided by meat to construct
hemoglobin in the blood, the proteins that make up our
as well as cells, including
their membranes and all Enzyme breaks Enzyme breaks
myoglobin in
the cell machinery. proteins down glycogen down
our own
to amino to glucose
muscles.
acids

Producing flavor GLUCOSE

Hanging is common for
any wild-caught meat,
including gamebirds
such
or charring meat can also
produce carcinogens.

The fat-burning nature of red muscle means that

Our own muscle fibers are built red meat is high in saturated fats and
from protein that we can only cholesterol, which can affect our cardiovascular
make if we get the right health
balance (see pp.214–15).
and supply of amino
acids in our diet.

SINCE 1961, GLOBAL

PORK CONSUMPTION
Carcinogens are naturally
found in many foods, but in HAS INCREASED BY 336
such small quantities that
they are offset by other PERCENT
nutrients. Smoking
as pheasant.
Enzymes
within cells
start to
attack other
cell
component
s. Proteins
are broken
down into
savory
amino
acids,
glycogen
into sweet
glucose,
and fats
into
aromatic
fatty acids.

Hanging meat
Meat should be
hung after
slaughtering to
prevent excessive
toughness. Meat cut
immediately on
slaughtering will be
very tender, but
within hours
muscles contract
irreversibly. To
minimize these
effects, carcasses
are hung in
such a way that the
muscles are
stretched by
gravity. Longer
hanging periods
(such as a week)
allow enzymes in
the meat’s own
muscles to get to
work tenderizing
and producing
flavors.
White meat
White meats include chicken, turkey, duck, and pigeon—
some definitions include veal, piglet, rabbit, certain
game birds, and frog. The different function and
physiology of white meat gives it unique characteristics
of flavor and nutritional value, which in turn have
led to an explosion in global production and
consumption of poultry.

What makes white meat white?

White muscles are specialized for short bursts of intense
action (they are full of what are known as “fast-twitch
Myoglobin and
fibers”). They burn glycogen (made of linked glucose cytochromes
molecules) and can work without oxygen for brief (oxygen-carrying
pigments)
periods, although they must rest in between bursts of
activity.
This means they have less oxygen-carrying pigments
(red pigments that deliver oxygen to muscle)
than red meat. Chicken legs, which always
support the body, will have slightly more red
pigments, giving dark meat. Also, these
redder muscle fibers have their own
fat supply, making dark meat
more flavorful.

UPSIDE-DOWN ROASTING
In Western cultures, there is a chef’s trick
Fat from back
to roasting chickens and turkeys—place drips into meat
them breast-down in the oven. This is Muscle fiber
because most of the bird’s fat is Light meat
located on its back, so when White muscle cells do not need as
placed upside down and rich a bloody supply as red muscle
cells, so they contain less oxygen-
cooked, the fat trickles into the
carrying red pigments—making
bird’s meat—providing a rich white meat lighter in color.
flavor and moist texture. If
cooked breast upward, the
flavorsome fat just pools at the
bottom of the pan and is wasted! HEAT
 TYPES OF FOOD
White meat
70 71
Pasture-raised or caged chickens?
Nutritionists argue that there is a nutritional difference
between hens raised inside in cages and those allowed
to roam and feed outside in pastures. Pasture-raised
chickens have a different diet, a more active foraging
strategy, and lower stress levels than caged, barn-
raised, or free-range chickens (see pp.232–33). There is
evidence that this not only improves the amount of
essential fatty acids and vitamins in the meat, but also
reduces the levels of unhealthy fatty acids.

-32.9% -51.9% +90.8% +406.8%

Nutritional differences
According to a study KEY IN THE US,
comparing pasture-raised and
caged chicken, the pasture-
Caged chickens TURKEY
raised poultry had less
omega-6 fatty acids and
Pasture-raised CONSUMPTION
chickens
more beneficial omega-3
(especially when fed on
HAS DOUBLED IN
soybeans), less fat overall THE PAST 25
(including saturated fat), and
much more vitamin E. YEARS

RESTORATIVE PROPERTIES OF CHICKEN SOUP

In several cultures, most notably in
Ashkenazi Jews, chicken soup has DOES TURKEY
long been described as particularly MAKE YOU DROWSY?
effective against colds. One study was
conducted in which blood samples of No, not at all—this is a
those who ate myth that stems from the
chicken soup and had a cold were analyzed. fact that there is an amino
The study found that chicken soup did
have anti-inflammatory and decongestant acid called tryptophan
properties that eased symptoms such as found in turkey that is
runny noses, as well as promoting good used to create the sleep-
digestion, boosting fluid intake, and
providing healthy nutrients. inducing hormone
melatonin.
Cuts of Fat within
muscle

meat Fatty meat takes

longer to cook

The nutrition, taste, texture, nutrition,

and even the cooking method of a piece
of meat is ultimately determined by its
original location on the animal’s body—
and how active that part was in life.
STEWING

Muscle
Taste and texture
Each cut encompasses a different set of muscles on the
animal. The guiding principle behind evaluating different Fatty meat CHUCK STEAK
cuts of meat is that more active muscles (such as those
found on the legs) have thicker fibers and more
connective tissue, and so will have tougher
and chewier meat. More active muscle will
also have more fat, however, and so may Fattier cuts of meat can benefit from slow cooking
to render down their fat. Globules of fat are
be more flavorsome. Butchers divide most scattered in-between muscle fibers that would
animals into a broadly similar set of cuts, have provided the muscle with energy (see
with the same terminology applying to p.68).
cows, sheep, goats, and pigs—the
French have the most types of cut
when it comes to beef.
CHUCK

CHEEK NECK
TONGUE
Connective
tissue RIB EYE

Tough meat
takes longer
to become
tender
RIBS

BRISKET
BRISKET

BRAISING Muscle
fiber

BRISKET MEAT
Tough meat
Cuts from the breast, such as brisket, have higher
levels of connective tissue that supported much
of the animal’s weight when it was alive. Brisket
is cooked for longer and often in liquid to
dissolve
the connective tissue and make the meat less tough.
 TYPES OF FOOD
Cuts of meat
72 73
Muscle fiber

OFFAL
Lean tender
meat can be Offal (the internal organs of an animal, not including
cooked in a muscle or bone) comes in many forms, and each
shorter time organ has its own distinctive flavor and texture. Offal
generally has more connective tissue and tends to
need slow, thorough cooking; livers are a popular
exception. A lot of offal and organ meat has high
levels of nutrients and essential fatty acids, and
low levels of harmful fat. For instance, liver and
kidney can be particularly high in iron and folate
FRYING (vitamin B9).

SIRLOIN STEAK Kidney Tongue

Lean meat
Less active muscles such as those found in
sirloin cuts need less of an embedded
energy supply and so will have less fat or no
fat at all; hence they are known as lean, or
Heart Liver Feet
tender, cuts.

RUMP

4 HOURS IS
THE MAXIMUM TIME IT CAN

5
TAKE TO COOK PIGS’ FEET—AFTER
WHICH EVEN THE BONE IS
EDIBLE

FLANK

WHY CAN’T WE
EAT RAW
MEAT?
LEG
It is thought that our teeth
and stomachs evolved to be
better at digesting the more
easily available nutrients in
safer, cooked meat, but we
are able to eat very fresh
r
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w

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f
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t
e
a
k

t
a
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a
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e
)
.
Processed meats Grinding
Surfaces are the risk zones
Since ancient times, meat has been processed to for meat contamination, and
extend its lifespan and to add flavors and aromas that grinding radically increases
meat’s surface area. Producers
can only be produced through the unique biochemical therefore ensure any
bacteria are killed by
processes involved—resulting in a wide range of blanching the meat (very
products. briefly heating and cooling it)
before grinding.

Why do we alter meat?

Meat is metabolically active. It is fragile on the cellular Meat mixtures
level and rich in moisture and nutrients, so it is at high Meat mixtures
were traditionally a
risk of rapid spoiling. Spoiling includes fats going way to
rancid (oxidizing), and growth of microbes from animal maximize use of every
hides and intestines if they contaminated the meat part of a valuable animal
carcass so that nothing
during butchering. Processing meat helps to delay or went to waste. Today,
halt spoilage and generates complex and interesting meat mixtures are
flavors and textures. It can also mean turning whole thought of as cheaper,
lower quality products,
meat into ground and reconstituted forms, sometimes often with negative
known as meat mixtures. These bring their own health impacts.
culinary possibilities, but also their own health risks.

THERE IS A 42 PER-
CENT HIGHER RISK
OF DEVELOPING
HEART DISEASE FOR
GROUND MEAT
EVERY HOT DOG
YOU EAT PER DAY

Methods of preservation Dead

Curing encompasses a range of MEAT MEAT bacteria
preservation techniques,
including the traditional methods
ANTIOXIDANT
of smoking and salting (which can
often be used together). In
modern times,
preservative chemicals such as CARCINOGEN SALT
potassium nitrate are also used. ANTIMICROBIAL
Bacteria in the meat process it into
nitrite, which reacts with oxygen in Moisture drawn out
the meat to form nitric oxide. This of surrounding meat
Smoking Salting
binds with the iron in the meat gains a rosy color and a Smoke contains antimicrobial and
to prevent oxygen from affecting piquant flavor. antioxidant compounds and helps to prevent
fat from going rancid. However, smoke also
fat and making it rancid. Meat contains carcinogenic (cancer-causing)
compounds. Adding salt to meat draws water
out of cells, depriving microbes of
the moisture they need to thrive.
High salt levels cause protein
filaments to spread out so that they
no longer scatter light, making
meat translucent.
 74 75
Sausage-making
Mechanically reconstituting Injections of salty
To make sausages, chopped meat
Most reconstituted ham is made water Many bacon and
and usually some filler, such as
by pressing together pieces of ham products are injected
bread crumbs and spices, are
pork (not necessarily muscle with a solution of water,
stuffed into tubes traditionally
meat) that have been blasted off sugars,
made from animal intestines.
the bone by jets of high-pressure preservatives, flavorings, and
The fat in sausages keeps them
water. This is just one method of additives to bulk them out
from drying out when cooking.
what they call “mechanical and save money. Some bacon
recovery” of meat. strips are 50 percent water.

High-pressure
water blasts meat
off bone

Different parts
of meat in
sausage
results in
mottled color Solution injected
into bacon
Meat flecks Different parts of meat results
pressed
together into ham slices in ham’s patchy color

SAUSAGES RECONSTITUTED HAM BACON

PRESERVATIVE HEALTH CONCERNS

Nitrite has been a popular preservative for
WHY DOES the flavor and color it adds to meat, and is
RECONSTITUTED often used in salamis. It is especially good
HAM HAVE A RIND at delaying the growth of bacteria that
OF FAT? produce toxins that cause botulism.
However, nitrite can react with amino
Manufacturers of re-formed acids in the meat to produce
ham often add a coating of fat carcinogenic compounds called
nitrosamines. Although there is
to give an illusion of little hard evidence that nitrites
authenticity to their product, in cured meats increase cancer
as if it has risk, its use is now often
carefully regulated.
been cut directly
off the carcass!
Meat
substitutes 1 Fungus, glucose,
and minerals added
A starter culture of the fungus Fusarium
is added to a fermentation tank. It needs
Consumers prize meat for its flavor, texture, and food to metabolize into protein, so
sterilized glucose syrup is
nutritional value, but many are concerned by the added to the tank, along
negative health, environmental, and ethical impacts with trace minerals.

of meat consumption and production. One solution Trace

minerals added
to these problems is the use of increasingly popular
Glucose added
meat substitutes.

Starter culture
of fungi added

Mycoprotein
5 grows
For about six weeks the
mycoprotein continues to
cycle around the fermenter
Cooling down
and grow. Eventually, it 4 The rapid growth of the
collects in a chamber
and is then harvested. fungus, and its constant metabolism,
generate lots of heat. Coils of cooling
water help to maintain the
optimum temperature for fungal
growth.

Oxygen Nitrogen

Ammonia and air added

2 Fungal growth is MYCOPROTEIN COLLECTS
boosted by adding nitrate from
ammonia and oxygen from air.
These gases are bubbled through
the mixture to help mix it.
COOLING SYSTEM

the use of I
HEAT TREATMENT D N
Using meat substitutes other R G
Although meat substitutes might protein Y
I
seem like a modern trend related to sources
N
health benefits, they have actually such as G
been popular since ancient times nuts, and,
through cultural and religious as shown A
here, the N
prohibitions against meat. For
D
example, tofu was created in ancient controlle Finishe
6 d
China by vegetarian Buddhists. Today d growth C produc
the primary sources of meat of H ts
substitute are soy-based products, mycoprote I Harvest
ins from L ed
gluten-based products from grains, L mycoprotein
fungi.
is heated to neutralize harmful substances, spun
in a centrifuge to dry, and is then chilled. The
mixture is also treated to make it more closely
resemble muscle
fibers, flavored, and shaped into meatlike
products, such as sausages or slices.

SAUSAGE

HARVESTE SLICES
D
MYCOPROTEIN
 TYPES OF FOOD
Meat substitutes
76 77

IN 10TH CENTURY Versatility of soy

CHINA, TOFU WAS Soy is rich in proteins and oils, which makes
it an extremely useful base for meat substitutes.
COMMONLY KNOWN Fermenting the soy releases its rich cargo of
AS “SMALL MUTTON” nutrients and these can then be processed in
similar fashion to milk and dairy products. Many
Waste gases different soya products have been developed.
3 The air and ammonia
bubbled through the mixture, Gases
along with waste gases released
produced by the
metabolism of the fungus,
are extracted from the
fermenting vessel.
Tofu Thousand layers tofu
Tofu, or bean curd, is made A process of freezing then
by curdling soy milk to thawing tofu creates a product
produce curds, which are with a spongy network that
then broken down to resembles many layers.
release water and pressed
into blocks.
Mycoprotein (fungus)
starts to grow

SOYBEANS

Textured vegetable protein

Tofu skin
Made from the by-products
Heating soy milk creates a thin
of soy-bean oil processing,
but solid skin that traps oil.
textured vegetable protein
Fibrous and chewy, it is
is a versatile meat
dried as sheets
alternative.
or sticks.

IS
MYCOPROTEIN
VEGAN?
Although pure mycoprotein
probably would be vegan,
most marketed products
are not because they use
egg white as a binder and
milk ingredients during
processing.
 0
OMEGA 3 FATS (PERCENTAGE BY WEIGHT)

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0 1.0

2.5
1.6 1.6
2.0 2.1
TROUT

BLUEFIN TUNA

MACKEREL

SALMON

HERRING
Oily fish
One of the richest known sources
of vital omega-3 fats, oily fish have
oil throughout their tissues and 184 BILLION TONS
more oil overall than white fish.
They tend to be warmer-water TOTAL GLOBAL FISH
species or more active fish, such
as trout, tuna, and salmon. PRODUCTION IN
2014
Oily fish and white SASHIMI
fish
Fish are high in protein, rich in nutrients such as iodine, calcium, and
B and D vitamins, and low in cholesterol. Fish are often divided into oily Fish sashimi, thin slices of raw fish
(or fatty) and white fish. Oily fish have more fat than white fish and are prepared Japanese-style, is popular
particularly rich in omega-3 fatty acids (see pp.28–29), notably EPA and worldwide. However, because the
DHA. These two omega-3s can be made in the human body from fish is raw, there is the risk that it
another omega-3, alpha linolenic acid (ALA), but only in small amounts may be contaminated with
—so EPA and DHA are best obtained from the diet. White fish have less parasites or microbes, and the fish
must therefore come from
fat than oily fish. They also contain omega-3s, but less than oily fish.
high-grade sources and be
prepared carefully.

Fish
The largest single source of wild food in the human
diet as well as the product of a rapidly growing
branch of farming, fish are a source of important
nutrients such as protein and omega-3 fatty acids.
 TYPES OF FOOD
Fish
78 79
0

0.5

1.0

0.2 0.3
0.6 1.5
0.4 0.5

2.0

HALIBUT
CATFISH

SNAPPER

FLOUNDER
COD

2.5

KEY
Fat under skin Fat between
Oily fish
muscle blocks
White fish High
fat Dark
Omega-3 fats (% by weight)
concentration muscle Where’s the fat?
in dark In fish, fat is generally stored
muscle White in thin layers under the
White fish muscle skin and between muscle
White fish have less oil and omega-3s than Spine blocks. It is also present in
oily fish, and the oil tends to be concentrated strips of dark muscle that
in the liver rather than throughout their body Gut cavity run along the body. These
tissues. White fish include all flatfish, such strips are larger and fattier
as halibut and flounder, as well as some White in oily fish and smaller and
cold-water muscle less fatty
ocean fish, such as cod, monkfish, and mullet. OILY FISH WHITE FISH in white fish.

Concentration of toxins
The ocean is the ultimate
repository of much of the pollution MERCURY
generated by natural and Volcano
manmade sources. Pollutants that Mine
are not readily broken down Factory
naturally, such as mercury, heavy
FOOD CHAIN HEAVY
metals, and persistent organic
METALS
pollutants (POPs, see pp.202–03),
may be present in low levels in
small prey animals but
accumulate through the food chain, Large
Tuna Mackerel
shark
becoming concentrated in top Krill
predators, such as sharks.

Toxins in the food chain contain OF MERCURY

Persistent pollutants become concentrated dangerous
as they move up the food chain. Sharks, levels of these
swordfish, and other top predators may pollutants. HIGH LEVEL
MEDIUM LEVEL OF MERCURY LO
W
LEV
EL
OF
ME
RC
UR
Y
 Shellfish WHY DOES
Colossal heaps of discarded shells at prehistoric sites COOKING CRUSTACEANS
attest to the historic importance of shellfish in the TURN THEM RED?
human diet, and today this diverse group of aquatic The shells of crustaceans
organisms is still a valuable source of nutrition. contain carotenoid
pigments linked to proteins.
The value of shellfish Cooking alters the proteins,
Shellfish—crustaceans such as crabs and shrimp, and mollusks such as
releasing the reddish-
oysters and octopus—are a superfood category all of their own, being an
excellent source of lean protein. They are also rich in B vitamins, iodine, colored carotenoids.
and calcium. From a flavor point of view, seafood is rich in tasty amino
acids, such as glycine, which tastes sweet, and umami (savory) glutamate.

APHRODISIACS
Raw oysters have a historic ABOUT ONE-THIRD
reputation as an aphrodisiac, and
20% there is some evidence that OF THE WARM-WATER
this reputation may be justified. SHRIMP HARVEST
They are high in zinc, which
aids male fertility, and have IS FARMED RATHER
also been found to contain
amino acids that can trigger the
THAN FROM
release of sex hormones in men WILD STOCKS
15% and women.
PERCENTAGE OF FAT, BY WEIGHT

High protein, low fat

Compared to the meat of land animals, most crustaceans and
mollusks offer high protein for little fat. Their meat
protein also offers a contrast in texture with land-animal
red meat, because it is white muscle packaged with high
10% Crab meat
levels of the protein collagen, making it firm and moist. In
contrast, red meat contains high levels of the protein contains a similar
myoglobin, which give the meat its red color, and lower proportion of
levels of collagen. protein and fat
to shrimp

Scallops have little fat

but also a fairly
5% small amount of
protein
OYSTER

SQUID
SCALLOP CRAB
SHRIMP
0
10% 15% 20%
PERCENTAGE OF PROTEIN, BY WEIGHT
 TYPES OF FOOD
Shellfish
80 81
When to eat shellfish
Many types of shellfish are best KEY
avoided at certain times of the year, Safe
Toxic algae Nontoxic
for a number of reasons. First, many algae Dangerous
species breed in the summer and
expend their energy reserves during Seasonal toxicity
this period, becoming meager and The summer months
High levels of Lower levels
are often the worst
less tasty. Second, summer is also algal toxins of algal toxins
for toxic blooms of
the period when toxin levels are algae and for harmful
highest. The best period for eating microorganisms,
many shellfish is during the winter which proliferate in
warmer waters and
months, when they are fattening up in can accumulate in
preparation for the breeding season filter feeders, such
as many mollusks
and when toxin levels are low. SPRING SUMMER FALL WINTER and crustaceans.

Shellfish poisoning
Many shellfish feed by filtering
out food particles from the
Lamb has a high water. However, they also trap
LAMB percentage of fat in
relation to protein
toxins and microbes, which may
build up and, if enough
contaminated shellfish are
eaten, may cause poisoning. The
toxins are not destroyed by
cooking. Symptoms of the main
BEEF types of shellfish poisoning are
outlined below.

CHICKEN
Paralytic shellfish poisoning
Numbness and tingling, loss
of coordination, difficulty
speaking, nausea, vomiting.
May be fatal.

Amnesiac shellfish poisoning

Octopus meat is one Memory problems,
of the best sources of which may be long term,
low-fat protein or even permanent brain
damage. May be fatal.

Neurotoxic shellfish
poisoning Nausea, vomiting,
slurred speech. No known
fatalities.
OCTOPUS
LOBSTER

Diarrheal shellfish poisoning

Diarrhea, nausea, vomiting,
25% 30% PERCENTAGE OF PROTEIN, BY
WEIGHT abdominal pain. No known
fatalities.
Eggs
After a decade or more in the shadow of
a health scare in the developed world,
eggs are reemerging as what many
consider to be the perfect food. Handy
self-contained packages of healthy
protein, eggs are rich in almost every
desirable nutrient. Inside chicken eggs
Eggs provide an almost perfect
balance of proteins, along with
omega-6 fatty acids, and
Nutrition powerhouse EGG INGREDIENTS the
The egg white, or albumen, Icon sizes show total antioxidants zeaxanthin and
contains 90 percent of an egg’s amount of each nutrient. lutein. In fact, they contain every
nutritionally essential vitamin
water and half of its protein. The 0.1–9 mcg and mineral with the exceptions
most plentiful protein in egg of vitamins C and B3 (niacin).
0.01–9.9 mg
white is ovalbumin. Accounting
for around one-third of the mass 10 mg–0.9 g
of the egg is the yolk, which
contains half the egg’s overall
1–5 g
protein, three-quarters of the MAGNESIUM
calories, and all the iron, thiamin
(vitamin B1), fat, cholesterol, and Rich in protein, VITAMIN A
vitamins A, D, E, and K. In fact, but low in fat and
cholesterol, egg
eggs are one of the few food
white is FAT
sources of vitamin D. Also present extremely useful VITAMIN D
in the egg yolk are essential fatty in cooking
VITAMIN K
acids.
The yolk contains
the vast majority of ZINC
the egg’s rich load
of vitamins, minerals,
SELENIUM
and other trace PROTEIN
nutrients

EGGS AS EMULSIFIERS
POTASSIUM
Emulsifiers blend substances that are unmixable, such as
IRON
oil and water. The result is an emulsion—tiny droplets of
one substance suspended in the other. Egg proteins VITAMIN E
can create emulsions useful in cooking, such as
mayonnaise, which is an emulsion of oil in vinegar or
lemon juice.

MAYONNAISE
Water-loving PROTEIN
IN CLOSE-UP
part of egg
Vinegar protein
Oil faces the
Oil-loving part of egg protein water-based
surrounds and fluid outside
isolates a tiny droplet
 TYPES OF FOOD
Eggs
82 83

17
Cooking eggs
Eggs are versatile cooking
ingredients, but the quality of an
egg diminishes over time, partly
because the shell is highly porous,
allowing moisture to escape. As an Curled
THE NUMBER OF

9
egg dehydrates, it becomes more protein
alkaline, which makes the egg EGGS PER PERSON
white runnier and the membrane
around the yolk weaker. Freshness,
In a raw, unbeaten egg, the protein chains
are folded and curled up, enabling
AVAILABLE FOR
therefore, is essential in making them to remain separate,
self- contained units
CONSUMPTION
the best fried and poached eggs.
Eggs have proteins that harden
suspended GLOBALLY
in water; the
when heated or beaten, resulting in egg remains IN 2014
a range of useful cooking effects. liquid.

N G
Trapped air
bubble

Uncurled
Uncurled Air bubble
protein with
protein expands
cross-links

Heating gives energy to the protein

Whisking or beating eggs is another The scaffolding provided by long,
chains, which shake themselves out into
way to put energy into the system. interlinked egg proteins helps to give
long chains that can cross-link.
As with heating, the protein chains cake mixtures structural
Cross- linked protein assemblages
acquire energy and unravel and integrity, allowing the trapped
cause
interlink, trapping bubbles of air to air bubbles to expand without
the egg to harden
form a foam. breaking
and become
or bursting open.
opaque.

A BAD REPUTATION
WHAT’S THE In recent years, eggs have experienced
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN bad press, but most concerns are
WHITE AND BROWN unfounded. For instance, egg yolk is
high in cholesterol, but contrary to what
EGGS?
scientists once thought, dietary
The color of a chicken egg cholesterol does not greatly affect blood
cholesterol levels. Salmonella
in no way reflects contamination, which has hit the headlines
differences in taste or in some countries, is in fact the main risk in
nutritional value. It is eating eggs, but the risk is now very low
thanks to hen vaccination.
merely determined by the Vulnerable people (such as the elderly)
breed of the hen that can further lower the risk of becoming ill by
produced it. cooking or pasteurization of their eggs.