ASK!

There are several stories on how the origins of ’toque’ or the tall white hats worn by chefs came about.  Let’s look at some of them here.

Chefs as Learned Men

Chefs are creative people who have mastered the art of chemistry (mixing the right ingredients together), physics (how to adjust the fire, heat or steaming accordingly when cooking) and even science of  nutrition when churning out the dishes.  Top chefs are celebrities in their own right.  They dish out delicious palatable food for those who appreciate them.

In the 7th century Greece,  chefs were considered learned men but were  often persecuted.  They sought refuge in the local church, where they donned the same costumes that the local clergy were wearing, hats and all, as a disguise. Eventually, not wanting to incur the wrath of God any more than the wrath of the local people, they started wearing white hats instead of the black hats worn by Greek Orthodox priests, and the toque was born.

(Source:  “Some homes win places in movies”.  Rebecca Jones News Staff Writer.  10 December 2000.  Rocky Mountain News.  Last accessed on 2 August 2011)

Chefs as high officials in society

In the times of the ancient Assyrians, personal chefs of royalty were in great regard.  As trusted cooks to the royal household who feared saboutages of poisoned food, the chefs wore a `crown’ of sorts, in the same shape as the king’s, though made out of cloth and without all of those bothersome jewels.

(Source:  The great toque controversy. Caroline E. Mayer, Washington Post Service. 10 May 1991.  Austin American-Statesman.  Last accessed on 2 August 2011).

All articles were extracted from the online database Factiva which is accessible at our eresources link.

Some recommended readings

Some recipes books by top chefs for your gastronomical pleasure.

All Rights Reserved, Didier Millet, c2010

1.  Gourmet chic Asia: hot chefs, hip cuisines, top tables, signature recipes
Authors:  Pauline D. Loh, Sylvia Tan, Amy Van et.al
Publisher:  Singapore : Editions Didier Millet, c2010
Call No.:  SING  English 641.095 LOH

All Rights Reserved, Grand Central Life & Style, c2011

2. Now eat this! diet 
Author:  Rocco DiSpirito
Publisher:  New York : Grand Central Life & Style, c2011
Call No.:  English 641.5635 DIS -[COO]

All Rights Reserved, Michael Joseph, 2010

3.  Jamie’s 30-minute meals
Publisher:  London : Michael Joseph, 2010
Author:  Jamie Oliver
Call No.:  English 641.555 OLI -[COO]

To check the titles’ availability in the libraries, please visit our online catalogue.

Posted by Kweh Soon Huat, Adults & Young People’s Librarian.

Image is retrieved from:

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/superman_movies

According to ‘Eat This Not That!’ by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding: “The food sources that feature calcium most prominently are sesame seeds, plain or vanilla soymilk, low-fat yogurt, cooked spinach, part-skim mozzarella cheese, raw tofu and cream cheese.

Calcium is a mineral found in bones and teeth. Calcium keeps bones strong and healthy, promotes efficient function of the nerves and muscles as well as helps blood clotting.”

Reference:
Zinczenko, David, . Eat this, not that! the best (& worst!) foods in america!. [Emmaus, Pa.] : Rodale, c2009.

If you want to read more on the topic, here are books that you can check out at our libraries.

All Rights Reserved, John Wiley, c2004.

The calcium key : the revolutionary diet discovery that will help you lose weight faster by Michael Zemel, Bill Gottlieb
Publisher: Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley, c2004.
Call No.: English 613.25 ZEM -[HEA]
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, Simon & Schuster Source, 2001.

Eat, drink, and be healthy :by the Harvard Medical School guide to healthy eating by Walter C. Willett
Publisher: New York : Simon & Schuster Source, 2001.
Call No.: English 613.2 WIL -[HEA]
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, Maidstone : Amalgamated Book Services, 1999.

Super calcium counter : the essential guide to building strong bones by Harris McIlwain and Debra Fulghum Bruce
Publisher: New York : Kensington ; Maidstone : Amalgamated Book Services, 1999.
Call No: English 613.285 MAC -[HEA]
Click here to check for item availability

All websites are last accessed on 20 Aug 2010. Please refer to the terms and conditions on the homepages for use.
For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Answered by Ms Lynn Koh, Associate Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Why do some wines taste sweeter than others? What goes into the process of making wines sweet? To know more, read on the fascinating ways how wine producers make their wines sweeter.

How do wines become sweet?

Wines are sweet due to two basic methods: the natural method and the interventionist method. The natural method allows the grapes to overripe naturally as this increases the sugar level of the wine. The interventionist method is to use man-made techniques to make the wine sweeter.

The natural method ensures that during fermentation where most of the grape juice will turn into alcohol, a sufficient residual sugar is left unconverted to give sweet luscious wine. Another natural method is botrytis-affected wines. This variety of mould called Botrytis Cinerea grow on overripe grapes. Botrytis punctures the grape skin which allows water content to evaporate. The concentrated grape pulp makes rich, thick and sweet wines.

The interventionist method involves adding unfermented grape juice into the wine fermentation process thereby making it sweeter. Another way is to dry ripe grapes on mats for many months until they become raisins. They are then pressed for their juice and fermented to make sweet wines.
(Source: www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk/?PAGEID=010227
Last accessed on 2 April 2010)

The excerpts below are extracted from the online database Factiva from the article “Sugar high Forget cheese; have fun pairing wine with desserts” by Elizabeth Downer:

“ … What makes the wine sweet varies with the individual wine, but it never is a matter of adding sugar to the grape must. The most common ways of producing a sweet wine are by late harvest or by fortification. Late-harvest wines mean that the grapes stay on the vine beyond the normal harvest season. They lose much of their juice and become raisin-like as the grapes dry out. This loss of liquid concentrates the sugars and results in a sweet must. Leaving grapes to freeze on the vine, as for ice wine, also concentrates the juice, making it sweeter. Another way of getting the grapes to raisin is called passato. The grapes are harvested at the normal time but are kept on mats for several months after picking to dry and become raisins.

Fortified wine begins life as a normal table wine would, but before all the sugar in the must is turned into alcohol by the yeast action, grape brandy is added to the partially fermented must, raising the alcohol level and thereby stopping further yeast action on the sugar in the juice. The wine is then sweet from the natural sugars left in the must. Both of these methods produce wines with deep flavor profiles and sensuous textures that invite contemplation.”

.”

All Rights Reserved, Monsoon, 2009.

1. Pairing wine with Asian food by Edwin Soon
Publisher: Singapore : Monsoon, 2009.
Call No.: SING 641.22 SOO

All Rights Reserved, Plume, c2008.

2. The geography of wine : how landscapes, cultures, terroir, and the weather make a good drop by Brian J. Sommers
Publisher: New York : Plume, c2008.
Call No.: 641.22 SOM

All Rights Reserved, Harvard Common Press, c2008.

3. Wine Mondays : simple wine pairings with seasonal menus by Frank McClelland and Christie Matheson
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : Harvard Common Press, c2008.
Call No.: 641.5 MAC -[COO]

Image taken from: http://epicute.com

February is a month of clelebrations with sweets and all things nice. But after feasting on candy on New Year’s and Valentine’s, have you ever wondered what goes into the yummy delicious candy?

Well, candy is made of supersaturated sugar or sucrose.

When you cook up a batch of candy, you cook sugar, water, and various other ingredients, (depending on the flavour of the candy) to extremely high temperatures. At these high temperatures, the sugar remains in solution, even though much of the water has boiled away. But when the candy has been cooked and begins to cool, there is more sugar in solution than is normally possible. The solution is said to be supersaturated with sugar.

Supersaturation is an unstable state. The sugar molecules will begin to crystallize to solid . Stirring or jostling of any kind can cause the sugar to begin crystallizing.

The fact that sugar solidifies into crystals is extremely important in candy making. There are basically two categories of candies – crystalline candies (candies which contain crystals in their finished form, such as fudge and fondant and noncrystalline candies (candies which do not contain crystals, such as lollipops, taffy, and caramels).

The ingredients and procedures for noncrystalline candies are specifically designed to prevent the formation of sugar crystals, because they give the resulting candy a grainy texture.

Here are more books about candy that you can check out!

All Rights Reserved, Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley Pub., c2005
Candy making for dummies by David Jones
Publisher: Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley Pub., c2005
Call No.: English 641.853 JON -[COO]
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, Portland, Or. : Collectors Press, c2003
Candy : the sweet history by Beth Kimmerle.
Publisher: Portland, Or. : Collectors Press, c2003
Call No.:English q641.853 KIM -[COO]
Click here to check for item availiability

All Rights Reserved, New York, NY : Assouline, c2005
Candy by Delphine Moreau
Publisher: New York, NY : Assouline, c2005 Call No.: English 641.85309 MOR -[COO]
Click here to check for item availability

Posted by:

Ms Chen Wanying
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services

[Editor: This post reminds me of the weight loss tip an art therapy undergraduate once shared - eat your food on blue coloured bowls & plates to shed the pounds. Blue is believed to be a colour that suppresses appetite, therefore making you eat less and feel full faster. Have you tried this weight loss advise before? Did it work for you?]

There are no vegetables that are blue.

According to Color Professor J.L. Morton :
“Blue food is a rare occurrence in nature. There are no leafy blue vegetables, no blue meats and aside from blueberries and a few blue-purple potatoes from remote spots on the globe; blue just doesn’t exist in any significant quantity as a natural food color.

Consequently, we don’t have an automatic appetite response to blue. Furthermore, our primal nature avoids foods that are poisonous. A million years ago, when our earliest ancestors were foraging for food, blue, purple and black were “color warning signs” of potentially lethal food.”

Dr Gary Blumenthal, president of International Food Strategies, further explains that “…color and the appeal of various foods is also closely related. Just the sight of food fires neurons in the hypothalamus. Subjects presented food to eat in the dark reported a critically missing element for enjoying any cuisine: the appearance of food. For the sighted, the eyes are the first place that must be convinced before a food is even tried. This means that some food products fail in the marketplace not because of bad taste, texture, or smell but because the consumer never got that far. Colors are significant and almost universally it is difficult to get a consumer to try a blue-colored food — though more are being marketed for children these days. Greens, browns, reds, and several other colors are more generally acceptable, though they can vary by culture. The Japanese are renowned for their elaborate use of food colorings, some that would have difficulty getting approval by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.”

Reference:
Morton, J.L (n.d.). Color Matters: Color and Food Matters. Retrieved from http://www.colormatters.com/appmatters.html

If you want to read more on the topic, here are books that you can check out at our library.

All Rights Reserved, Aspen Publishers 1999

Food color and appearance by John B. Hutchings
Publisher: Gaithersburg, Md. : Aspen Publishers 1999.
Call No.: R 664.062 HUT

All Rights Reserved, Capital Books, c2003.

The 7 Day Color Diet: the new way to health & beauty by Mindy Weisel
Publisher: Sterling, Va. : Capital Books, c2003.
Call No.: 615.89 WEI -[HEA]

All Rights Reserved, Bounty Books, 2008.

The Hamlyn Vegetable Book by Clare Connery.
Publisher: London : Bounty Books, 2008.
Call No.: 641.65 CON -[COO]

All websites are last accessed on Sep 2009. Please refer to the terms and conditions on the homepages for use.
For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Originally Answered by Ms Yasmin Ally
Librarian, Adult & Young People’s Services

Nothing beats having a huge salad bowl of colourfully arranged yellow peppers, luscuious green lettuce topped off with slices of deep red tomatoes for a hearty meal! The myraid of colours present in a normal salad is enough to whet the appetite of anybody!

Some believe that fruits and vegetables are colourful so as to entice children to eat more of these healthy food——but contrary to this popular belief, vegetables and fruits look colourful because of the natural plant pigments found in them (and that is how the ancient cavemen got their paints to draw with!).

For instance, red fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and strawberries are coloured by pigments known as “lycophene” or “anthocyanin”. These pigments also act as powerful antioxidents that protect our body cells from damage. Similarly, dark fruits like grapes and raisins also have “anthicyanin” present in them.

On the other hand, orange fruits like pumplins and carrots are filled with “carotenoids” which are then converted to Vitamin A in our bodies.

 ”Lutein”, another important pigment that helps keep our eyes healthy  is present in green vegetables like celery, cucumber and spinach.

That is why scientists, dieticians and your mother keep reminding you that eating more vegetables and fruits is good for you!

In fact, nutritionists also explain that the more brightly coloured the fruit or vegetable, the more vitamins it has!

For more information, read these wonderful books on fruits and vegetables!

1)  Fruits by Ann Thomas
Call Number: English 641.3 THO

2) Growing Colours by Bruce McMilan
Call Number:English 535.6 MAC

3) Salad On Your Plate by Honor Head
Call Number: English 641.3 HEA

Originally answerd by Mr Kweh Soon Huat
Librarian
Adult & Young People’s Services

Kids ASK! about Anything & Everything

Cereal is cooked at a high temperature, and this creates extremely strong bonds which hold the rice’s starch molecules together. These strong bonds make the rice act like glass.

During the cooking process, each piece of rice expands, causing a network of air-filled caves and tunnels to form within.

When milk is poured into your breakfast bowl, the cereal absorbs the milk. The milk flows into the crispy kernel, putting pressure on the air inside and pushes it around. The air knocks against each pocket’s walls until they shatter, causing a snap, or a crackle, or, sometimes a pop. Tiny air bubbles trapped inside the kernels also escape to the surface.

Source: (2006, April 24). Why Rice Krispies go Snap, Crackle, Pop! Retrieved February 10, 2009, from Live Science website: http://www.livescience.com/environment
060424_MM_rice_krispies.html

Does cereal tickle your taste buds? You may be interested in these books:

From corn to cereal by Roberta Basel
Mankato, MI : Capstone Press, c2006
Call No.: J P 664 BAS

The life of W.K. Kellogg by Tiffany Peterson
Publisher: Oxford : Heinemann Library, 2003.
Call No.: J P 338.7 PET

Eureka! Great inventions and how they happened by Richard Platt
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : Kingfisher, c2003.
Call No.: J 608 PLA

Glorious grasses : the grains by Meredith Sayles Hughes
Publisher: Minneapolis : Lerner Publicatons Co., c1999.
Call No.: J 641.3 HUG

For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Originally answered by Hussain Bachek
Librarian
Children’s Services

Posted by Galvin Soh
Librarian
Children’s Services

Found this post interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email it to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.

One of the earliest news reports on the melamine scare was by the New York Times in March 2007:

“The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it had not found rat poison in pet food that has been killing animals, but that it had found melamine, a chemical commonly used to make plastic cutlery that is also used in fertilizer.Hours after the announcement, the nationwide pet food recall, which had involved only so-called wet foods — all manufactured by Menu Foods and sold under a variety of brand names — was expanded to include one brand of dry cat food, Prescription Diet m/d Feline, made by Hills Pet Nutrition.The brand was found to have been made with a batch of wheat gluten shipped to the United States from China that the F.D.A. said was laced with melamine. Scientists found melamine, which is used as a slow-release fertilizer in Asia, in the urine of cats sickened by the recalled pet foods made by Menu Foods, officials said at a news conference. The recalled pet food has been blamed for at least 16 deaths of pets.”
(Source:  “Pet Food Contained Chemical Found in Plastic, F.D.A. Says”  by Brenda Goodman.  31 March 2007.  The New York Times)

WHAT IS MELAMINE?
Melamine is a white powder used in plastic-making. It was first synthesised by a German scientist in the 1830s. Its most common form, melamine resin, a mix of melamine and formaldehyde, is used in the manufacture of formica, floor tiles, whiteboards and kitchenware.

WHY ADD MELAMINE TO MILK POWDER?
Melamine is rich in nitrogen, and relatively cheap. Adding it to sub-standard or watered-down milk makes the milk’s protein level appear higher. Standard quality tests estimate protein levels by measuring nitrogen content.

IS THIS WHY IT WAS ADDED TO PET FOOD?
Yes. Melamine was linked to the deaths of cats and dogs in the United States last year after it was added to wheat gluten and other pet food ingredients exported from China, in another attempt to boost the products’ apparent protein content.

WHO HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY THE TOXIC MILK?
So far four infants have died in China, and about 13,000 more have been hospitalised after drinking the contaminated milk. Four Hong Kong children have also become sick after consuming toxic Chinese milk powder. More than 80 percent of the sick are under two years old. Young babies that depend solely on milk are most vulnerable.

WHAT ARE THE LONG-TERM HEALTH EFFECTS?
Little scientific information exists about the compound’s effects on humans. However, even if victims who have developed have kidney stones due to tainted milk consumption have these removed, the melamine could crystallise in small kidney tubes and block connecting ducts, resulting in kidney damage or even renal failure, health experts fear.More than 20 mostly Asian and African countries — Bangladesh, Bhutan, Britain, Brunei, Burundi, Canada, China, France, Gabon, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Tanzania, Togo, Vietnam, and Yemen — have all either pulled products off shelves, banned China dairy imports, or stepped up their tests.

WHICH CHINESE COMPANIES ARE IMPLICATED?
22 Chinese companies have been listed as producing the tainted milk powder.

WHICH JOINT VENTURES ARE INVOLVED?
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, the business partner of Sanlu Group, China’s top seller of infant milk powder and the first to go public with melamine contamination, has cut the value of its 43 percent stake in Sanlu to about $42 million. It said the writedown reflected the damage done to Sanlu by the scandal. Danish-Swedish dairy cooperative Arla’s Chinese joint venture Mengniu Arla’s baby formula is also implicated.
(Source:  Reuters, last accessed 9 December 2008)

Melamine situation in Singapore
The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) is the local gate-keeper in ensuring the safety of food imports coming into Singapore.  With regards to the products which are contaminated with melamine, AVA gives updates in its website.  The last media update on this matter was the Media Release dated 27 November 2008 which states:

“The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) has completed batch-testing of the products in the remaining categories – biscuits and crackers, liquid milk, ice-cream, and milk and whey protein products, under the planned phased release of recalled China milk products. With the exception of six (6) biscuit products that tested positive for melamine, products in these categories have cleared the pre-release testing and will be released for sale with immediate effect…”
(Source: Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, last accessed 9 December 2008)

Contributed by Kweh Soon Huat, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

ASK! about Health and Fitness

Garlic is known to have health properties like lowering blood cholesterol.  It also has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. These are attributable to a compound called allicin in it.

Thing is, how do we ingest garlic to receive all these wonderful benefits? Raw, or cooked? According to a recent experiment by some scientists, whether baked or boiled, garlic will retain the same health benefits as if its raw. And if you crush it, its even better. 

Now if you embrace quick fix methods like the microwave, its time perhaps to re-think your cooking methods. Microwaving actually destroys the health benefits of garlic.

Reference:
- Cousin, Pierre Jean, Food is medicine:  the practical guide to healing foods, London :  Duncan Baird,  2006.
-”Garlic: The raw truth”, Reader’s Digest Interactive, Oct 2008, 7 Nov 08, http://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-and-recipes/
garlic-the-raw-truth/article101577.html

Posted by Ang Mei Jun,

Librarian, Adult & Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.

ASK! about Health & Fitness

Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C. They also contain vitamin A and B, potassium, iron and phosphorus, as well as antioxidants. A medium-sized tomato also contains the same amount of fibre as a slice of wholemeal bread, with less the calories!

To enjoy their antioxidant value, cooked tomatoes are actually better, as cooking breaks down the tough cellular walls, releasing the lycopene (antioxidant in tomato) for the body’s use.

Reference:
- Herbst, Sharon Tyler, The new food lover`s companion: more than 6,700 A-to-Z entries describe foods, cooking techniques, herbs, spices, desserts, wines, and the ingredients for pleasurable dining, Hauppage, N.Y.: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., c2007.
- Graimes, Nicola, Brain foods for kids : over 100 recipes to boost your child`s intelligence, New York : Delta Trade Paperbacks, 2005.
- “Serve those greens right”, Straits Times: Mind You Body supplement, 6 Aug 08, Factiva.com, 08 Aug 08, www.factiva.com
- Encyclopedia of foods : a guide to healthy nutrition / prepared by medical and nutrition experts from Mayo Clinic, University of California Los Angeles, and Dole Food Company, San Diego, Calif. ; $aLondon : Academic, c2002.
- McGee, Harold, On food and cooking : the science and lore of the kitchen, New York : Scribner, 2004.

Posted by Ang Mei Jun,

Librarian, Adult & Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.