Culinary Chemistry as a Platform for Interfacial Materials Design
ABSTRACT This Review examines culinary systems as experimentally accessible models of interfacial materials design. Culinary operations, including emulsification, foaming, gelation, spherification, controlled heating, smoking, and dehydration, govern gas‐liquid, oil‐water, solid‐liquid, polymer‐nanoparticle, and hydrogel‐analyte interfaces, thereby coupling microstructure to transport, mechanics, optical response, and sensory performance. We then analyze how programmable heated high‐shear mixers, pressure cookers, food‐derived hydrocolloids, protein fibrils, metal‐phenolic networks, anthocyanins, and plasmonic nanostructures can support functional materials, sensing, and potentially more sustainable processing. Original Au/agar‐agar and Ag/agar‐agar experiments are presented as bounded proof‐of‐concept demonstrations of this translation. The Review closes by identifying constraints in safety classification, regulatory acceptance, reproducibility, stability, scale‐up, and end‐of‐life assessment. This interface‐centered framework positions culinary chemistry not merely as applied chemistry, but as a source of processing concepts and structure‐property relationships for advanced materials.
Authors
- Irene Calderón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9717-6859)
- In Yee Phang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3362-2645)
- Jaslyn Ru Ting Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0425-0495)
- Xing Yi Ling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5495-6428)
- I. Brian Becerril‐Castro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9184-8055)
- Alexander O. Govorov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1316-6758)
- Jose Manuel Romo-Herrera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4304-5279)
- Miguel A. Correa‐Duarte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1950-1414)
- Ramón A. Álvarez‐Puebla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4770-5756)
- Wolfgang Johann Parak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1672-6650)
- Zhiming Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2945-4834)
- Neus Feliu
- Josep Moreno
Institutions
- Xihua University (CN)
- Jiangnan University (CN)
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (MX)
- Ohio University (US)
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili (ES)
- Universidade de Vigo (ES)
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials Interfaces
- Published
- 2026-10-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.70705
- Primary Topic
- Proteins in Food Systems
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Commission
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili
- Xunta de Galicia
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- NextGenerationEU