When superstar Irish chef Darina Allen gives people Mertensia maritima for the first time, she likes it to be simple. Sometimes even just a leaf on its own, a little garnish. That’s the best way to taste it, after all — and to marvel at it. Anytime a food can fool us, it feels like magic. That’s the trick behind molecular gastronomy, constructing what looks like a poached egg from a yolk, parmesan cheese, water and chemicals.