Science and Cooking 2016

SCIENCE AND COOKING
LECTURE SERIES 2016

Science and Cooking 2016

Popular series pairs Harvard Professors with Chefs and Food Experts

Now in its sixth year, the Science and Cooking public lecture series pairs Harvard professors with food experts and chefs. (Photo by Eliza Grinnell.)

The popular Science and Cooking lecture series returns this fall. The lecture series pairs Harvard professors with celebrated food experts and renowned chefs to showcase the science behind different culinary techniques.

Now in its sixth year, the series is organized by Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

The public lectures are based on the Harvard course “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” but do not replicate course content

All talks will take place in the Harvard Science Center (1 Oxford St., Cambridge, Mass., Hall C) and begin at 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted
Each presentation will begin with a 15-minute lecture about the scientific topics from that week’s class by a faculty member from the Harvard course
Seating for all lectures is first come, first seated

If you have questions regarding the public lecture series, please contact science_cooking@seas.harvard.edu.

2016 Chef Lecture Dates

Monday, Sept. 5
“Science and Cooking: New Understanding, New Tools, New Foods”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Dave Arnold (@CookingIssues), Booker & Dax, and host of “Cooking Issues”
Harold McGee (@Harold_McGee), writer, “Curious Cook” and “On Food and Cooking”

Monday, Sept. 12
“Energy, Temperature, Heat”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Spike Gjerde, (@spikegjerde), Woodberry Kitchen

Monday, Sept. 19
“The Science of Sugar”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Joanne Chang ’91, (@jbchang), Flour Bakery, author of “Flour” and “Flour Too”

Tuesday, Sept. 27
“Medical Technology Producing Hamburgers”
Science Center Lecture Hall B, 7 p.m.
Mark Post, (@MarkPost6), Professor of Physiology at Maastricht University, co-inventor of cell cultured beef

Monday, Oct. 3
“Diffusion and Gelation in Peruvian Cooking”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Virgilio Martínez, (@VirgilioCentral), Central
Malena Martínez, (@MMVCentral), Central

Monday, Oct. 17
“Confluence”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Margarita Forés, (@MargaritaFores), Cibo Restaurants

Monday, Oct. 24
“Viscosity and Polymers”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Bill Yosses, (@billyosses), former White House executive pastry chef, author of “Desserts for Dummies” and “The Perfect Finish”
Vayu Maini Rekdal, (@youngNYchefs), co-founder of the Young Chefs Program, Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University

Monday, Oct. 31
“Emulsions and Foams”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Ángel León, (@chefdelmar), Restaurant Aponiente

Monday, Nov. 7
“Delicious Decomposition: Tales from the Cheese Caves of France”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Sister Noella Marcellino, Ph.D., Abbey of Regina Laudis, artisanal cheesemaker and microbiologist who studied the biodiversity of cheese-ripening fungi in France; featured in Netflix documentary series “Cooked,” based on Michael Pollan’s book “Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation”
Mateo Kehler, co-founder and manager of Jaseper Hill Farm and Caves, Greensboro, Vt.

Monday, Nov. 28
Science Center Lecture Hall B, 7 p.m.
Mario Batali, (@Mariobatali), Chef, Author, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist

The Harvard College Course

The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Alícia Foundation developed the General Education science course, “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” which debuted in the fall of 2010. The course uses food and cooking to explicate fundamental principles in applied physics and engineering. (Watch a video about the course.)

While limited to currently enrolled Harvard undergraduates, the class, which brings together eminent Harvard researchers and world-class chefs, is available to others on-campus through the Harvard Extension School and online through the HarvardX platform (details below).

Instructors

Michael Brenner, Michael F. Cronin Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics and Professor of Physics; Harvard College Professor
Pia Sörensen, Senior Preceptor in Chemical Engineering and Applied Materials
David Weitz, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics

Lab Design/Implementation

Pere Castells, Unitat UB-Bullipèdia