Mousse is a soft, light, airy food with a smooth, creamy texture full of tiny bubbles. The word comes from French, where it means “foam” or “froth,” which perfectly describes how mousse feels: delicate and almost cloud-like on your tongue.

Chocolate mousse is probably the most famous type. Chefs make it by whipping air into cream and folding it together with melted chocolate, creating something that's rich but somehow feels weightless. Other dessert mousses use fruit flavors like strawberry or lemon. Savory mousses exist too, like salmon mousse or liver mousse, served as appetizers at fancy dinners.

The secret to mousse is all those tiny air bubbles trapped inside. When you whip cream or egg whites, you're beating air into them, and they expand into a foam. Mix that foam carefully with your other ingredients, and you get that characteristic light, fluffy texture.

People also use mousse to mean hair styling products that come out of a can as foam. Hair mousse adds volume and hold without making your hair feel stiff or crunchy.