Reddit reviews Fennema's Food Chemistry, Fourth Edition (Food Science And Technology)

Fennema's Food Chemistry

The best food chem book I have come across. Also connects every chemical reaction and theory with food. Easy to read if you have basic chem knowledge. It is a textbook though, so it reads like a textbook. If the fourth edition seems too expensive, you can the third, but I think the third has less about sat fat reactions.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0849392721

I'm a food scientist currently working for a company in the Midwest. I'll be headed back to grad school in the fall. Have worked/interned for a few food companies and also did research in academia that's published.

I think the best avenue to apply food science in a home setting (coined cooking science) is with molecular gastronomy. Some common ingredients in MG kits are used very heavily in the food industry. As far as resources for the home food scientist, I think the Serious Eats: Food Lab is really good, and books by Harold McGee or Herv­é This are usually great resources for cooking science.

For those interested in food science (the academic subject), Fennema's Food Chemistry is considered the Bible of food science. Fellow's Food Processing Technology is an AMAZING resource for the physics and engineering behind food products. Here's a bunch of other books: http://1drv.ms/1rV9j1m.

I absolutely love this field and consider it the best way to apply knowledge from the pure sciences. If you can work out the buffering potential of a tomato sauce, then run-of-the-mill acid/base chemistry is child's play.

My biggest fear is how much trepidation/malice people have towards many of the big food manufacturers and the outcomes because of that. You can find bottled water labeled "gluten-free" and popcorn labeled "whole grain". It never used to be this way. I think people are really starting to pay attention to what they eat, which is fantastic! The only problem I see is people are getting their information from inflammatory sources, like blogs and sketchy websites. I really hope consumers take the time to gather credible facts before making up their minds. The food industry could definitely do a better job of educating consumers, but alas it's cheaper to just print a new label than launch a marketing campaign explaining what gluten is or what GMOs are.

I also love comparing our food infrastructure to that of other countries. We have, hands-down, the most well-developed food infrastructure on the planet. I'm so glad I got the chance to be a food scientist here, where resources and knowledgeable folks are plentiful. We can eat whatever we want, whenever we want and have virtually no worry over the wholesomeness or safety of the product.

I could go on for days about how great food science is.

http://www.amazon.com/Fennemas-Chemistry-Edition-Science-Technology/dp/0849392721
Fennema is a really good technical resource about food chemistry.