Paraethylphenol and paravinyl-phenol are two compounds essential to the flavour of well-aged burgundy. Herve This, the author of this odd but captivating little book and one of the founders—with a Hungarian-born physicist, Nicholas Kurti-of molecular gastronomy or kitchen science, tried "improving" the taste of cheap wine by adding those compounds to it. One person to whom he served it complained of a chemical odour. "An astonishing remark", Mr This huffs, "because isn't everything a chemical? The foods we eat, the tools we cook with, we ourselves?" Perhaps, but is anything more likely to repel a reader than the prospect of having the taste of coq au vin explained through a bunch of letters and superscripted numbers? Fortunately, Mr This keeps his feet in the kitchen: "It is time", he writes, "to discover the very substance of cooking, avoiding remarks like, 'it is methylmercaptan that makes urine smell after eating asparagus.'"
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