Lumen Summer 2013 - Flipbook - Page 19
story by Ben Osborne
Bourne’s
food identity
When you stop and think about it,
why do you eat certain foods?
F
lavour is obviously important, as is
colour – and you’d think nutritional
value is a factor too.
But what about how it feels?
For Professor Malcolm Bourne (BSc
1949), the question of food’s feel, or
texture, has become his life’s work.
And perhaps surprisingly, he ranks a
food’s nutritional value as the last of its
four quality attributes.
“The four quality attributes of food are
colour, flavour, texture and nutrition,”
he said.
“And I put nutrition last in this list
because if the colour, flavour and texture
do not meet a person’s expectation, the
food is not eaten and there is no nutrition.”
Professor Bourne has been based
at prestigious US Ivy League university
Cornell since 1962, becoming a world
authority on food texture.
“During my 50 years at Cornell, we have
developed a good understanding of what
texture is, why it is important, and how to
measure it,” he said.
“We didn’t start with much. When I
came to Cornell I was asked to research
texture of food – a new area for me.
After reading the literature I found the
food industry did not have a clear
understanding of what is meant by
‘texture’.
“There was no science – there were few
instruments to measure it, and these were
simple, empirical gadgets.
“So I purchased a state-of-the-art
strength of materials testing machine to
study the physical properties of food in
a rigorous, scientific manner based on
physics and materials science.
“The food industry found this work
useful, and now thousands of strength
of materials testing machines modified
for use on foods are used throughout
the world.”
Professor Bourne says texture provides
an answer to an even more basic question
of why we eat at all.
“It may seem mundane, because we
all do it all of the time, but chewing is a
gratifying sensation,” he said.
“From a nutritional standpoint, we
could have a completely adequate diet
in the form of fluids that can be simply
swallowed with no chewing – but it seems
very few of us want to be deprived of that
gratifying sensation of chewing our food.
“You only have to look at the size of
the dental industry to see how important
chewing is to us.
“As our tooth function deteriorates with
age, we undergo the inconvenience and
cost of dental care that restores tooth
function and enables us to continue to
enjoy the textural sensations that arise
from chewing our food.”
Professor Bourne’s interest in science
– and in particular, chemistry – started
at high school and continued through
to an Industrial Chemistry diploma
with the South Australian School of
Mines and Industries (now University of
South Australia).
Due to a new agreement with the
University of Adelaide, he was able to
articulate the diploma into a full Bachelor
of Science, which included attending
classes by renowned professors MacBeth,
Mawson and Kerr Grant.
Remarkably, Professor Bourne’s interest
in the chemistry of food began simply
because of his commute.
“My first job out of uni was at a food
company called Mumzone – it was only
10 minutes away from my house, whereas
the heavy chemical companies in fields
like paint or fertilisers were much further
away,” he said.
“I was the first ‘food chemist’, or
scientist, they’d employed.
“Because the Australian food industry
wasn’t up to the task of feeding the entire
Pacific Basin armed forces in World War
II, companies like Mumzone realised that
science could help them do a better job in
areas like canning and dehydration.
“It was an act of faith on Mumzone’s
part; they did not know what I should do
and neither did I. I had to walk around
the factory, translate what I saw into
scientific terms and then figure out how
to make things better and how to control
problems that arose.”
After 10 years in industry, Professor
Bourne headed to the US to further his
academic qualifications (with a MSc and
PhD at the University of California-Davis)
before joining Cornell and embarking on
research which has made an impact on
the lives of millions.
“The University of Adelaide and
South Australian School of Mines and
Industries gave me an excellent education
in chemistry that served me well as I
developed my career,” he said.
“I will always be thankful for that solid
grounding that started me on my career
path and served me well along the way.”
Above: Professor Bourne
on his graduation day in
1949 with his twin sister
Margaret (now Ewins), who
graduated from Adelaide
Teachers College at the
same time.
Left: Emeritus Professor
of Food Science Malcolm
Bourne.
Photo by Calum Robertson
courtesy of AdelaideNow
The University of Adelaide | Alumni Magazine 17
