This thesis project covers a ten week exploration in Human Food Interaction. Employing a Research through Interaction Design methodology with a focus on Celebratory Technologies, this paper focuses on the research question, “How can celebratory technologies enhance social engagement between diners in commensality and raise awareness of the otherwise hidden process of cooking using auditory cues of food preparation?” A physical computing prototype using a Makey Makey Board with Processing is integrated into three user test sessions during dinner time to assess the effects of auditory cues of food preparation on the diners. The prototype is then evaluated using the qualities of Celebratory Technologies in addition to considerations of technological limitations and potential for future growth.

Tripods constituted a specific group of pottery within the Bronze Age Aegean tradition. The shape was typically associated with ritual and cooking activities. This study presents an examination of Minoan tripod cooking pots from Crete. By tracing the morphological changes that occur from one period to the next, this research seeks to discuss the relationship between the form and function of these vessels. It is hoped that the following analysis may also shed light on the origin and practicality of tripod cooking pots. / Art History

Food media such as cookbooks, magazines, and television programs have become enormously popular in the last 15 to 20 years, but they have remained relatively unexamined in empirical media research. The focus of this project is the audience's perception of visual food media, specifically the capacity for critical evaluation of such media by adult women. `Food-media literacy' is the term coined in this work to describe such critical competence. The first phase of this project began to conceptualize food-media literacy with a pair of focus groups in which participants examined a series of print food advertisements. Discussion in the groups was guided by several of the core questions of media literacy. In the second phase, an experiment was conducted to examine the influence of a slick, professionally styled photo on an adult woman's interpretation of the recipe it illustrated. The primary hypothesis was that such an image would make the subject less likely to respond with confidence that she could follow the recipe and produce a similar result - a self-efficacious response. Other data collected in the experiment were the subjects' food-media literacy, cooking experience, food media use, experience using digital imaging technology, and cognitive style. The primary statistical analysis did not detect a significant relationship between the quality of the photo illustration and the subjects' self-efficacious response. Secondary analysis revealed that cooking experience was the only factor that influenced self-efficacy. Additional analyses confirmed the validity of the food-media literacy scale, and revealed important insights regarding the role of experience with digital imaging technology, and subjects' perception of food media as a genre. / Mass Media and Communication

Canada is a major global producer of pulse products including pulse starch, which notably contributes to a healthy diet. Strategically, Canada is taking steps to research methods of adding greater value to these crop products, and functional foods like resistant starch are particularly interesting. The primary objectives of this study were to develop an effective reactive extrusion process to produce gelatinized lipid complexed pea starches with enhanced enzyme resistance and examine the effects of bulk lipid complexing conditions on physicochemical and functional properties of extruded pea starches. One type of commercially available pea starch, Nutri-Pea, was chosen as the research subject in this study. A number of methods including; Englyst digestion method, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), contact angle, titrations, residence time distribution (RTD) and rapid visco analysis (RVA) were used to characterize the properties of extruded pea starches. The effects of feed formulation and extrusion conditions on lipid complexing and Englyst digestion profiles were systematically examined on two mixing devices. An extensive kinetics study was conducted on a lab scale twin-screw compounder, DSM-Xplore. The process was then scaled up to produce bulk lipid complexed pea starch on a Leistritz twin-screw extruder. The results showed that lipid complexing and digestion profiles were highly dependent on feed moisture and induced screw shear. Reactive extrusion of pea starches under optimized conditions achieved a significant but moderate increase in either resistant starch (RS) content (from 13.3% to 20.2%) or slowly digestible starch (SDS) content (from 7.85% to 23.3%) compared to their native counterparts. However, RS and SDS content could not be improved simultaneously based on the pea starch and extrusion process in this study. Increased degree of substitution (DS) was found for myristic acid complexed pea starches (nominal DS= ~0.8) when compared to palmitic acid complexed pea starch (nominal DS= ~0.5). Contact angle measurements, FTIR and DSC thermograms confirmed the presence of lipids. Lipid complexed starch films showed increasing hydrophobicity with increasing lipid content. As an alternative product compared to functional foods, the modified starch was considered as a biodegradable film for industrial applications. The material was produced at the highest moisture content for extruded native starch and two concentrations of lipid complexed starch using an intensive screw design. Preliminary results show that increasing lipid content and adding 1% glycerol to samples decreases the force per film thickness required to puncture films. However further investigation is required to determine effect of heat and moisture deformation. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / Incorporation of pulses into food products has been a major area of Canadian research for its potential to create new avenues of enzyme resistant food starches. Extrusion cooking is commonly used in industry for producing various food products such as snacks and cereals but little research has been reported on using an extruder to rapidly produce resistant pulse starches as a functional ingredient on a large scale; resistant starch is a functional food beneficial to humans in the same manner as insoluble fiber but exhibits improved textural properties. This study aimed to develop an effective reactive extrusion process to produce lipid complexed pea starches with enhanced enzyme resistance (i.e. increased slowly digestible starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) content) by an examination of the effects of reaction conditions on the properties of extrusion products. The lipid complexed pea starches under optimized conditions achieved a significant but moderate increase in either RS content or SDS content depending on the sample formulation compared to their native counterparts. However, RS and SDS content could not simultaneously be improved in this study.

Numerous food-borne illnesses are associated with fish and shellfish annually due to consumers choosing to eat seafood raw or undercooked and consumers not properly handling and preparing seafood. The 2009 FDA Food Code suggests intact fish and shellfish should be cooked to an internal temperature of 63°C to target Salmonella spp. Selected fish and shellfish were cooked to 64°C ± 1 and 74°C ± 1 and evaluated for consumer acceptability, characteristics of doneness at temperature endpoints, and physical changes of texture (TPA, KSC, and WB), color, and cook loss. Temperature endpoints represented the recommended internal temperature and ten degrees higher to increase lethality of Salmonella spp. Differences (p < 0.05) in texture were determined among the methods and products tested. However, consumer acceptability (n = 50) for fish and shellfish products (salmon: baked, poached; tilapia: baked, pan-fried; and shrimp: boiled) cooked to 64°C ± 1 and 74°C ± 1 were liked equally (p > 0.05), with mean hedonic scores falling between 6 (like slightly) and 7 (like moderately). A trained descriptive panel (n = 7) reviewed visual and non-oral texture indicators of doneness to distinguish 64°C ± 1 and 74°C ± 1. Firmness and shape of shrimp, separation between muscle flakes and fillet edge color of baked tilapia, and firmness and edge color of the fillet for baked salmon were identified as indicators to determine doneness. Overall, 74°C could be recommended as the internal temperature for cooking fish/shellfish such as salmon, tilapia, and shrimp without diminishing eating quality or acceptability. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

Consumers regularly decide to consume fish and shellfish raw or undercooked, which can cause foodborne illness due to product contamination or unsafe handling by the consumer.  In order to be considered safe for consumption, intact fish and shellfish should be prepared to an internal temperature of 63"C, according to the 2009 FDA Food Code, with Salmonella spp. as the target organism.  Focus groups (5 groups, 32 participants) were conducted to determine consumer beliefs and concerns regarding fish and shellfish safety and preparation.  Transcripts of focus groups where coded for themes, which were then grouped into categories.  Nine categories emerged including:  experience, trust, confidence, quality of product, motivation, concerns, cooking procedures, cooking instructions, and knowledge.  Emerging themes were used to help develop educational materials to increase consumer ability to properly prepare fish and shellfish.  In a separate experiment, participants (n=6) cooked salmon (baked, broiled), tilapia (baked, broiled), and shrimp (broiled, boiled) according to cookbook-based directions.    Internal temperatures of products were recorded, with 33.3% of products cooked to a temperature less than 63"C.  A group training session was held, during which participants received additional visual and non-oral cues to determine when products were prepared to 63"C and safe food handling practices.  After training, participants prepared the same products.  Participants demonstrated improved food safety behaviors and were more successful at cooking products to temperatures "63"C (94.4% of products).  Improved cooking instruction and educational materials may reduce the risk of foodborne illness from undercooked fish and shellfish. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

The use of herbs, spices, and other ingredients in the culinary recipes of late-medieval and Tudor England reflects the influence of ancient and medieval medical philosophy on the practices of the upper-class cook. Much of the literature treating the subject of diet in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century England has concentrated upon the role that Church doctrine and seasonality played in determining food habits. Historians tend to ignore the very real influence that humoral doctrine and Galen’s theories of digestion had in determining what people ate. This work makes use of medical treatises, health manuals, culinary manuscripts, and printed cookbooks from the period to prove that cooks for the upper levels of English society were concerned about the effects that different foods had on health and that they prepared their meals with this information in mind. / Master of Arts

The vitamin B-6 content of three foods, roast top round of beef in au jus, canned green beans in pot liquor, and whole baked potatoes was measured. These foods are typically served together as choices on the six week cycle menu at three dining halls on the University campus. Random samples were taken when the foods were raw, just cooked, and held for one, two, and three hours. Two additional samples of roast beef were selected as the beef received more cooking and holding treatments. Saccharomyces uvarum was the test organism used in the A.O.A.C. microbiological analyses for vitamin B-6 quantitation. Total vitamin B-6 was measured, not the individual vitamers. Roast beef lost total vitamin B-6, sometimes in significant quantities at every sample time. Green beans followed the same pattern of loss with cooking and increased holding times. Some of the vitamin was leached into the au jus and pot liquor as they were held with the beef and beans, respectively. Whole baked potatoes also lost in vitamin B-6 content with each sample time; however, this loss was not always significant. Institutional cooking and holding procedures utilized for these selected foods had adverse effects on their vitamin B-6 content. / M.S.

Effects of container geometry and material on microwave cooking performance, as measured by evenness of cooking, firmness, and moisture content were compared. Three food items were heated in round, tube, loaf, and square containers made of clear glass, amber glass, thermoset polyester, and polysulfone. Unflavored gelatin, custard, and cakes were prepared three times in each of the 13 microwave containers. Evenness of cooking was determined by comparing meltdown and temperature in gelatin, temperature and separation/uncooked portions in custard, and index to volume in cakes. Firmness was measured in custard while moisture content was determined in cakes. In analysis of the data, ANOVA and Duncan's multiple range test were performed. Significant differences were found between shapes as food items heated more evenly in tube and round containers than in square containers. Food quality was affected more by shape than by material. Foods prepared in the, plastic materials were more evenly heated than in the glass materials. Statistically, shape and material interacted with each other for three measures of microwave appliance performance temperatures and separation/uncooked portions of custards, and index to volume in cakes. The interaction of shape and material was greater as the heating time increased. / Master of Science

This research was designed to set up standard procedures for cooking battered fish portions for fast food restaurants and to study the quality of the frying fat under various conditions. Cooking time and temperature are two important factors to determine the quality of battered fish portions. Fat absorption depends on cooking time, surface area of the food, the quality of frying fats and oils and holding times. The amount of fish portions fried in a frying kettle affects the oil temperature. The addition of 0.02% ascorbyl palmitate (AP) unexpectedly reduces color development of the frying oils in simulated studies. It also reduces peroxide and conjugated diene hydroperoxide (CDHP) values and the volatile compounds, such as decanal, 2, 4-decadienal, which indicate that AP has the ability to inhibit thermal oxidation of frying fats/oils. French fries fat has lower CDHP values compared to animal fat-vegetable oils (A-V fat) in simulated studies and fried chicken oil has lower CDHP values compared to vegetable oil partially hydrogenated soybean oil (V-S oil). Peanut oil has higher thermal stability compared to the other frying fats/oils used. According to sensory evaluation, battered fish portions fried in A-V fat with no holding time are the most preferred products, while those fried in V-S oil with no holding time are the least preferred. / M.S.