The Role of Mathematics in Cooking

Imagine someone cooking for a group of hungry guests hoping for a good meal. Unfortunately, that person suffers from weak math skills and is unable to alter the quantities of ingredients and the preparation and cooking times in the original recipe to produce enough food to accommodate more people. Without math, these guests are left starved and disappointed. 

The fact is that math plays a very big role in cooking. Among other things, it is used to determine how much of each ingredient is needed in a recipe. It also guides the timing of various preparation processes. And it allows recipes to be used internationally across various systems of measurement.

While it may not always be evident, every recipe involves some form of math. Let’s say, for example, that someone is interested in making brownies from scratch. Almost every step of the process involves math—from setting the oven temperature to measuring out each ingredient, knowing how long to mix the batter for it to reach an ideal consistency, to understanding how long to bake the prepared mixture.

It may not seem obvious, but the secret to mastering the art of cooking isn’t just memorizing recipes or knowing how to mix ingredients well; expert chefs know how to use math to manipulate or even create recipes. They know the fundamentals of math and how to carry them over into the kitchen, and this enables them to create some of the best recipes.

One chef, Allison Robicelli, developed a number of simple exercises to help her own kids understand the critical role math plays in cooking. These include, for example, measuring out ingredients twice — first by weight, and then by volume—to determine if one method is more accurate and works better than the other. Or asking them to determine how much it costs to make a cake so they can set prices for an online bake sale.

Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt also has created a series of lessons for young students aimed at demonstrating and cultivating the connection between math and cooking.

Math also plays a big role in the chemistry of cooking, particularly in terms of nutrition. Measurable factors in ingredients—things like calories, protein, sugar, vitamins, and fats—are all essential to the human body.

Therefore, it is important to calculate the right amount of each to put into a recipe in order to maximize its nutritional value. Too much fat can result in obesity, too little protein can halt muscle growth, too much sugar can result in heart problems, and too much salt can result in a stroke. Nutrition is one of the fundamental aspects of a person’s life, and the best cooks use math to assess the amounts of beneficial ingredients in a recipe to get the most nutrition out of each meal they make, as well as to minimize the potential harm that can result from too much salt, fat or sugar.

We also use math outside the kitchen as we prepare to cook when we figure out how much of an ingredient to buy, study which items are the best value, and determine the best purchase price for each ingredient.

Some may consider cooking just a chore to stay alive, but it can be much more than that. When we educate others about the fact that the fundamentals of math can help them improve their cooking skills, enhance the taste of their food, and strengthen its nutritional value, we can begin to inspire millions to start preparing tasty meals and revolutionize the world of cooking.

Sources:

Robicelli, Allison. "Voraciously". Washington Post, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/.

Staff, Shaped. "Math Meets Culinary Arts: How Do Chefs Use Math In Their Job?". Hmhco.Com, 2022, https://www.hmhco.com/blog/math-meets-culinary-arts-math-in-cooking.