A heady fusion of food, cooking and physics education provides some hearty fare for our latest video report from the US – and proof-positive that scientists, science educators and students can benefit from exposure to creative types and innovators working outside their own specialisms.
The creative types in question are 12 of the world’s leading chefs and food experts – among them Ferran Adrià (of El Bulli fame), Wylie Dufresne and Dan Barber – who teamed up with senior faculty at Harvard University on a pioneering undergraduate course called “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter”.
In this exclusive interview with physicsworld.com, one of the course organizers, David Weitz, professor of physics and applied physics in Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, explains how cooking and food provide neat reference points for studying a variety of complex phenomena – from foams and emulsions to supercooling and complex phase changes.
“It’s been beneficial and enjoyable for all of us,” he says of the course, which completed its first run at the end of last year. “I’m pretty sure the students really enjoy it [and] it’s certainly a wonderful way to teach freshman physics.”
As for the chefs, “they are very honoured to come to Harvard to give lectures, just as we’re honoured to have them,” Weitz adds. “They enjoy seeing the enthusiasm of the students and interacting with them directly in the lab. They all come back and say they’ve learned as much as we’ve learned.”
Just press “play” for the main course.
