Chemistry of Cooking

Reviewed by Zohra Azim, Lecturer, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 11/22/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 1

From the title, I expected that the focus of the book would be looking into the chemistry behind common cooking scenarios. Instead, there is heavy coverage of general chemistry topics, but not much relation to cooking. In my opinion, this book better serves those looking for information on food science, not cooking.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I did not experience any inaccuracies with the concepts discussed.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The information regarding basic chemistry concepts are up-to-date.

Clarity rating: 4

The terminology is clear and the jargon is appropriate for the context.

Consistency rating: 3

I did not experience inconsistencies in terminology, however there are some aspects that make the framework confusing. There are some examples that are unrelated to cooking or food science (ex: discussion of automobile catalytic converters on page 172) which I feel interrupts the flow.

Modularity rating: 4

The texts provides references to many external sources and only few paragraphs are long blocks.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The topics are organized well enough to benefit from the book, however there is some room for improvement. For example, including more relatable cooking examples/recipes and discussing the relevant chemistry concepts underneath.

Interface rating: 4

Some images are blurry and some paragraphs are not aligned in the pdf version I read, but overall there are not too many issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I experienced no grammatical errors throughout the book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book is inclusive and appropriate across different cultures.

I would like to see more of an explanation of the chemistry used in common cooking examples, which is something I believe general chemistry students will be able to relate to and benefit from. Right now, I think this book is good for students studying food chemistry.