If you don't know your flavonoids from your adenoids, aspartames from saccharin - and if you care - this book is for you.

• Published by Taylor and Francis
• Price: R599.95

WITH no pretty pictures or recipes, Modern Gastronomy is described as a landmark in the history of combining cooking and science.

For the novice, the book has all the hallmarks of a high-school science textbook, but, for those in the hospitality industry and sussed diners who want to decode gourmand speak, this is a concise factual handbook that defines the chemical materials and processes that happen in cooking.

Put together by the Alicia Foundation, which was founded by the Ferran Adrià of El Bulli restaurant fame, the book offers a better understanding of the terminology that describes the nature of ingredients and the reasons they produce certain reactions. In plain language, this book will decode molecular gastronomy.

There is plenty of information the layman will find interesting, such as the term "maillard reaction", the browning that takes place when one grills, roasts or bakes. Defined as a complex set of chemical reactions between amino acids and carbohydrates when subjected to a high temperature, it's this process that gives the food the appetising hue and flavour.