I proposed that we call our field simply molecular gastronomy, but Nicholas thought that “molecular” would too narrowly identify it with chemistry and suggested “molecular and physical gastronomy” instead. We started out calling it by this name, but after a while it seemed too cumbersome. Because the analysis of the structure and behavior of molecules obviously involves a certain amount of physics, after Nicholas’s death in 1998 I decided to revert to the shorter form in announcing our workshops…
Hervé This, Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor