This document introduces a course on food science basics offered on FoodCrumbles.com. The course will cover the fundamentals of food chemistry, physics, and microbiology through 6 sessions. It is intended for food professionals without a science background, food bloggers, chefs, and students who want to better understand how and why foods behave as they do. The first assignment is to read about what food science is and how it studies foods through these three disciplines. The second assignment is to read introductions to food chemistry, physics, and microbiology. A test is available to check understanding of the introductory material.

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Food Science Basics
Session 1: Introduction

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Ready, to immerse yourself in the world of
food science?
• Ever wondered why bananas turn brown?
• Never sure which microorganisms in food can be harmful?
• Ever wondered why your chocolate mousse stays light and
fluffy?
• Ever wondered why your pancake batter rises and forms
air bubbles when baked?
• Never understood why your newly developed product
changes color?
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You’re at the right place
• Food Science Basics will:
• Cover the very basics of food science
• Give an introduction on food chemistry, food physics and food microbiology
• Get your interest for a better understanding of food rolling!
• For whom you ask?
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For who has this course been developed?
• Food Professionals without a background in food science – who want
to learn more about the chemistry, physics and microbiology of food.
• Food Bloggers – who want to improve their understanding in food in
order to develop better recipes and help their readers
• Chefs – who want to step up their game and understand why certain
recipes work whereas others don’t
• (High school) students – who want to see what their science
knowledge can be used for
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Content
• Session 1: Introduction
• Session 2: Food Chemistry Basics
• Atoms & molecules
• Session 3: Food Chemistry Chemical reactions
• Transformations of molecules, pH
• Session 4: Food Physics
• Water activity, foams, emulsions
• Session 5: Food Microbiology
• Pathogenic microorganisms, fermentation basics
• Session 6: Close-out, applying our knowledge
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Let’s get going!
Assignment 1 – Read: What is Food Science?
Food is so complex, there are a lot of things to study. Just think about
broccoli:
• Why is it green?
• How come the color changes during cooking and storage?
• Why does broccoli taste like broccoli? Which molecules make up the taste?
• What happens when you freeze broccoli?
• What happens when broccoli starts to rot?
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Food Science disciplines
Therefore, we will split the science in
3 different disciplines in this course:
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Food Science
Study the science of
food.
Food
Chemistry
e.g. color of
oranges,
browning of
bananas and
bread
Food
Microbiology
yeasts &
fermentation,
Salmonella &
chicken, moulds
on tomatoes
Food Physics
Water activity of
food, phase
transformations (gas
to liquid to sold),
foams (chocolate
mousse)

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Food Science disciplines
Assignment 2 - Read: The introduction of the three disciplines:
• Food Chemistry (if you want, have a look here as well!)
• Food Physics
• Food Microbiology
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Test your knowledge
• This very brief introduction should give you a feel for the food science
basics.
• In the next 5 sessions we will dive into the details of the identified
disciplines.
Be sure to take the test to determine whether you’ve understand
everything correctly on the official course page:
foodcrumbles.teachable.com.
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