Methods for modelling food cellular structures and the relationship between microstructure and mechanical and rheological properties

Foams are found in many food-stuffs, for example as a means to make a product larger, to insulate it, or to change its taste and feel without any increase in weight. Understanding the local structure of a foam and the ways in which it evolves in time offer possibilities to control these functions. This chapter describes the mesoscopic structure of a foam at the level of films, Plateau borders and bubbles, and relates it to the many useful properties that a foam exhibits. Relevant dynamical properties include changes in bubble size due to inter-bubble gas diffusion (coarsening), film rupture, the re-distribution of liquid through the foam under gravity, and the effect of disorder and liquid content on a foam’s solid and liquid-like rheology.