food

Apr 5, 2012

Easter Eggs, Baby Chicks…and Pathogens

Editor’s Note: This is a guest piece written by Dr. Ben Chapman, an assistant professor and food safety expert at NC State. Easter has been on my 3-year-old’s radar since Christmas. Jack has succumbed to the eggs/bunnies/chicks hype at retail stores, and is now really interested in colored eggs (because he thinks they all contain chocolate).… 

Mar 1, 2012

Food History Q&A, with Mark Kurlansky

Editor’s Note: Mark Kurlansky is the best-selling author of “Cod,” “Salt,” “The Big Oyster” and other books focused on the story (and history) of food. He is the winner of the James Beard Award for food writing and the Bon Appetit Food Writer of the Year, among other awards. Kurlansky is the keynote speaker at… 

Feb 7, 2012

The Science Of A Good Pour

I love writing about science. I also enjoy a good beer. I’ve decided to marry these two interests and write a series of posts about the science of beer. It’s not much of a stretch, since brewing is an intensely scientific art. I requested, and received, a lot of questions about the science of beer.… 

Feb 3, 2012

Norovirus: What It Is, How We’re Fighting It

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Lee-Ann Jaykus, a professor in NC State’s Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, and lead investigator of a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to study human noroviruses. If you have spent a day or two… 

Nov 21, 2011

How To Spend Thanksgiving Not Barfing

Editor’s Note: This is a guest piece written by Dr. Ben Chapman, an assistant professor and food safety expert at NC State. My parents are coming to visit Raleigh this week – their first trek to the U.S. for Thanksgiving. I’m Canadian and, while Canada has its own festivities in October, there’s something different about the… 

Nov 18, 2011

Why Thanksgiving Might Make You Sleepy

Well folks, it’s almost Turkey Day again. Last year I tackled some questions about tryptophan, and why Thanksgiving dinner can make you pass out on the floor in front of the football game. Super-short version: tryptophan isn’t the culprit, gluttony is. When you gorge yourself, your body diverts blood away from your brain to help… 

Oct 12, 2011

Here come the judges

NC State faculty members help find the best North Carolina has to offer in culinary competitions at the North Carolina State Fair. 

Jul 11, 2011

Why Does Water Freeze Before Alcohol Does?

We recently explained that one reason wine’s freezing point is much lower than water’s is because of its alcohol content. But we didn’t explain why alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water. Let’s explain that now (hint: water molecules are “stickier.”) A substance freezes when its molecules become “stuck” in a fixed array… 

Jul 6, 2011

Why Doesn’t Wine Freeze? And Do Vacuum-Sealing Stoppers Keep Wine ‘Fresh’?

I set out to learn why wine doesn’t freeze. But while I was questioning a wine researcher, I thought I’d also find out whether those vacuum-sealing wine stoppers are worth it. Here’s what I found out. Question 1: Why Doesn’t Wine Freeze? Wine will freeze, it just has a much lower freezing point than water… 

May 16, 2011

Opening Markets: Initial Data Collection Docs

Editor’s Note: This post is the second in a series authored by Dr. Ben Chapman, an assistant professor and food safety researcher at NC State. The series is part of his research team’s efforts to run a fully open-source research project. You can track relevant posts by clicking on the “Open Source Research” tag. Growing season… 

Apr 25, 2011

Opening Markets: Exploring And Communicating Food Safety Barriers

Editor’s Note: This post is the first in a series that will be authored by Dr. Ben Chapman, an assistant professor and food safety researcher at NC State. Chapman’s posts on The Abstract are part of his team’s efforts to run a fully open-source research project. You’ll know what’s going on from beginning to end. You… 

Mar 2, 2011

Food Safety: The Disconnect Between What’s Yucky And What’s Dangerous

Note: This is a guest piece written by Dr. Ben Chapman, an assistant professor and food safety expert at NC State. Among other things, Chapman is a regular contributor to the food safety blog Barfblog, where a version of this post originally ran. While it might be nice to know whether there has been an insect… 

Dec 21, 2010

Trivial Pursuits: The Abstract’s 2010 Quiz

The Abstract staff will be taking off for a couple of weeks to prepare for 2011. In an attempt to amuse and entertain ourselves you, we’ve pulled together a quick quiz on some of the research we’ve written about in 2010. See how you do! Answers are below the photo, and include links to the… 

Nov 29, 2010

Food Fables: Learning Food Safety From Unhappy Endings

Stories have long been used to teach people about the consequences of their actions – just ask Aesop. A new study finds that storytelling is also a critical component when it comes to teaching kitchen workers the importance of food-safety practices – and hopefully saving lives. But the researchers behind this study are telling stories… 

Nov 17, 2010

Thanksgiving Science: Tryptophacts and Tryptophantasies

I was looking for an excuse to write about Thanksgiving science when a friend posed this question: “Can tryptophan be extracted from a turkey and then be injected directly into a human vein via syringe?” Answer: no. But that raised some other interesting questions, like, what is tryptophan? And if tryptophan doesn’t make us sleepy…