Ole G. Mouritsen – författare

Plant-Forward Cuisine is a beautifully illustrated book that promotes the environmental and health benefits of a plant-forward diet and will inspire readers with a range of exciting recipes.

The book addresses the urgent need to make changes to those culinary cultures where animal-sourced proteins play a central role. To ensure that there is enough food for a growing world population, to lessen the burden on the environment, and to promote healthier, sustainable eating patterns, it is crucial to transition to a diet that focuses primarily on plants as the key ingredients. Yet, many people dislike the taste of plants because of their texture and lack of sweetness and umami. Luckily, the book provides a solution to these challenges. It offers key scientific descriptions of the physical characteristics of plants, mushrooms, algae, and fungi and their nutritional components, along with information about creation of texture and flavour. Armed with this knowledge, the recipes then provide tips and tricks for transforming plants into delicious meals with pleasing textures and flavours. The authors stress that it is not necessary to embrace a fully vegetarian or vegan diet. Rather, they suggest that taking a flexitarian approach, which incorporates small quantities of animal products to elicit umami, may be a more viable and lasting solution for people at large. Throughout the text readers will find interesting narratives about various aspects of green gastronomy around the world. The book concludes with two helpful reference sections: a glossary of main ingredients used in the recipes and a compilation of ingredients that can be used to add taste and aroma.

This book will be of great interest to those concerned with building a sustainable food system, and it will serve as a practical guide for those seeking to transition to plant-rich diets without compromising their taste experience and enjoyment of food.

Plant-Forward Cuisine is a beautifully illustrated book that promotes the environmental and health benefits of a plant-forward diet and will inspire readers with a range of exciting recipes.

The book addresses the urgent need to make changes to those culinary cultures where animal-sourced proteins play a central role. To ensure that there is enough food for a growing world population, to lessen the burden on the environment, and to promote healthier, sustainable eating patterns, it is crucial to transition to a diet that focuses primarily on plants as the key ingredients. Yet, many people dislike the taste of plants because of their texture and lack of sweetness and umami. Luckily, the book provides a solution to these challenges. It offers key scientific descriptions of the physical characteristics of plants, mushrooms, algae, and fungi and their nutritional components, along with information about creation of texture and flavour. Armed with this knowledge, the recipes then provide tips and tricks for transforming plants into delicious meals with pleasing textures and flavours. The authors stress that it is not necessary to embrace a fully vegetarian or vegan diet. Rather, they suggest that taking a flexitarian approach, which incorporates small quantities of animal products to elicit umami, may be a more viable and lasting solution for people at large. Throughout the text readers will find interesting narratives about various aspects of green gastronomy around the world. The book concludes with two helpful reference sections: a glossary of main ingredients used in the recipes and a compilation of ingredients that can be used to add taste and aroma.

This book will be of great interest to those concerned with building a sustainable food system, and it will serve as a practical guide for those seeking to transition to plant-rich diets without compromising their taste experience and enjoyment of food.

"It is clear that serious research, as well as much imagination, went into every page. It has become my new ‘go-to’ bible when I need a shot of inspiration."

Ken Oringer, internationally renowned and award-winning chefClio Restaurant, Uni Sashimi Bar, Boston

"Congratulations on writing such an aesthetically beautiful, informative and inspiring book. ... I shall not hesitate to recommend your book to those colleagues, who like me, are fascinated by Sushi and who will surely be captivated, like me, turning every page."

Dr. Ian C. Forster, April, 2011

• • •

In recent decades, sushi has gone from being a rather exotic dish, eaten by relatively few outside of Japan, to a regular meal for many across the world. It is quickly gathering the attention of chefs and nutritionists everywhere. It has even made its way into numerous home kitchens where people have patiently honed the specialized craft required to prepare it. Few have been more attuned to this remarkable transition than Ole G. Mouritsen, an esteemed Danish scientist and amateur chef who has had a lifelong fascination with sushi’s central role in Japanese culinary culture.

Sushi for the eye, the body, and the soul is a unique melange of a book. In it, Mouritsen discusses the cultural history of sushi then uses his scientific prowess to deconstruct and explain the complex chemistry of its many subtle and sharp taste sensations. He also offers insights from years of honing his own craft as a sushi chef, detailing how to choose and prepare raw ingredients, how to decide which tools and techniques to use, and how to arrange and present various dishes.

Sushi is irresistible for both its simplicity and the hypnotic performance-art aspects that go into its preparation. With clear prose and straightforward instructions, Mouritsen looks at every facet of sushi in a book that is as accessible as it is informative, as useful as it is fun.

One of the best-kept secrets of Japanese cuisine is a range of side dishes known as tsukemono (つけもの, 漬物). The word, pronounced ‘tskay-moh-noh,’ means ‘something that has been steeped or marinated’ (tsuke—steeped; mono—things). Although tsukemono are usually made from vegetables, some fruits, flowers, and a few rhizomes are also preserved this way; it is, therefore, more accurate to characterize them as ‘pickled foods.’ Their preparation makes use of one or more conservation techniques, involving ingredients such as salt, sugar, vinegar, alcohol, and herbs, in combination with methods including dehydration, marinating in salt and acidic liquids, fermentation, and curing. The process of making tsukemono amounts to more than just a simple way of preserving otherwise perishable fresh produce. Apart from its nutritional value, the dish stimulates the appetite, provides delicious taste sensations, and improves digestion, all while remaining an elegant study in simplicity and esthetic presentation.

Humans everywhere have always been fascinated by octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish, known biologically as cephalopods. They evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and are related to molluscs such as mussels and snails. They can grow to an enormous size with eyes as big as footballs, but they still live for only a couple of years. They mate once in their lifetime and die shortly after. They have blue blood and three hearts and they can shoot out jet-black ink. They have a brain and have behaviours that could be interpreted as signs of intelligence, even though more than half of their brain is distributed in their arms. They are colour blind, but they can change the colour of their skin in a flash. They are masters of disguise and are able to alter the texture of their skin and the patterns displayed on it at lighting speed. They can also ‘taste’ using the suckers on their arms. They can move extremely fast thanks to a jet-propulsion system built into their body cavity.

Although they are soft-bodied and look vulnerable, cephalopods are formidable predators. Octopuses have arms that are so strong that they can exert a force equal to hundreds of times their own body weight. Squid and cuttlefish can shoot out a tentacle to capture prey at the speed of a javelin thrown by an expert athlete.

Cephalopods are, however, so much more than just fascinating creatures with strange physical characteristics. They are a nutritious, delicious protein source that has found a place for thousands of years in many food cultures around the world. As squid, cuttlefish, and octopuses are native to virtually all parts of the ocean, they are an excellent and available alternative to meat from terrestrial animals.

This book is written to promote the overall place of cephalopods in home kitchens and to inspire the uninitiated to add them to their diet. It describes the many facets of their anatomy that play a central role in their potential use as healthy, diverse,and interesting food sources, with a particular emphasis on their taste and texture. By way of an assortment of recipes, the authors hope to dispel the myth that it is difficult to prepare delicious dishes using squid, cuttlefish, and octopuses. In addition, there are contributions to the on-going discussions about how marine resources can be exploited more responsibly in a sustainable manner.

Ole G. Mouritsen is a professor of gastrophysics and culinary food innovation at the University of Copenhagen,president of the Danish Gastronomical Academy, and director of the Danish national research and communication centre Taste for Life.

Klavs Styrbæk is a chef and leader of the gastronomic enterprise STYRBÆKS, which includes a gourmet restaurant, a cooking school, a catering service, and a product development branch.   

The present book gives a multi-disciplinary perspective on the physics of life and the particular role played by lipids (fats) and the lipid-bilayer component of cell membranes. The emphasis is on the physical properties of lipid membranes seen as soft and molecularly structured interfaces. By combining and synthesizing insights obtained from a variety of recent studies, an attempt is made to clarify what membrane structure is and how it can be quantitatively described. Furthermore, it is shown how biological function mediated by membranes is controlled by lipid membrane structure and organization on length scales ranging from the size of the individual molecule, across molecular assemblies of proteins and lipid domains in the range of nanometers, to the size of whole cells. Applications of lipids in nanotechnology and biomedicine are also described.

The first edition of the present book was published in 2005 when lipidomics was still very much an emerging science and lipids about to be recognized as being as important for life as proteins, sugars, and genes. This significantly expanded and revised edition takes into account the tremendous amount of knowledge gained over the past decade. In addition, the book now includes more tutorial material on the biochemistry of lipids and the principles of lipid self-assembly. 

The book is aimed at undergraduate students and young research workers within physics, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, nutrition, as well as pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences.

From the reviews of the first edition:

"This is a highly interesting book and a pleasure to read. It represents a new and excellent pedagogical introduction to the field of lipids and the biophysics of biological membranes. I reckon that physicists and chemists as well as biologists will benefit from this approach to the field and Mouritsen shows a deep insight into the physical chemistry of lipids." (Göran Lindblom, Chemistry

"The book takes the reader on an exciting journey through the lipid world, and Mouritsen attracts the attention with a lively style of writing … . a comprehensive view of the ‘lipid sea’ can be easily achieved, gaining the right perspectives for envisaging future developments in the nascent field of lipidomics." (Carla Ferreri, ChemBioChem, Vol. 6 (8), 2005)