One of my favorite pass times is cooking a good meal. I am not sure when it was that I really started to enjoy the physical act of cooking (I have been cooking for a large amount of my life, but as a kid it seemed more like a chore than something fun and entertaining) but I do know that a big part of my love of cooking is being able to make something that is not just going to fill my (and others’) stomachs but will also hopefully produce something that is delicious to eat. Having said this I love the ways in which science is very intimately involved in cooking. The New York Times has an article by Kenneth Chang today titled “At the Stove, A Dash of Science, A Pinch of Folklore” which looks right at the mingling of the culinary process and the science behind some of it. Some of it is very interesting (I personally really liked the explanation for as why alcohol may be used, besides as a flavoring, in many recipes). For those of you who are also into cooking and science I suggest the Food Network show “Good Eats”, as Alton Brown is kind of like Bill Nye for the kitchen (my brother finds Mr. Brown to be very annoying, but my brother is also not really a huge cooking or science fan).
And really why shouldn’t food be paired with science? The whole reason why we need to eat is very scientific (we eat to provide energy to all of our bodily functions by the way). Further, cooking in many ways makes food stuff more digestible and allows us to better access important nutrients, and, in the very least, should, make the stuff on our plate more palatable.
Hi!
I am writing on behalf of Dr. Susan Reslewic, Ph.D. aka Susan the Scientist who is collaborating with famous record producer and songwriter Paul Fox (Sugarcubes (feat Bjork), Phish, Sixpence None the Richer). We found and dig your blog! Susan and Paul are on a mission to teach ‘citizen science’ to kids and curious adults using music and objects in our local households to conduct simple experiments online. The idea is to make science both hip, simple, and most importantly fun. We hope to build this project and message making this available, free online this coming year. We want to make Susan the Scientist just as fun and helpful as Bill Nye “the Science Guy” was almost 10 years ago.
We noticed your blog and appreciate the angle you write about, and wanted to know if you would be interested in helping kick off our campaign beginning next Monday, April 20th. This would involve posting a video on your blog, that we can send to you in advance for preview. The video will simply introduce Susan the Scientist and a fun experiment that kids can try at home.
We know this is a lot to ask, but we can offer you something valuable in return. If you can post the video of Susan the Scientist next week in a blog entry, we will send you direct demographic traffic and unique visitors to your blog – anywhere between 100 to a few thousand unique and organic visitors. We are working with Stumbleupon on this campaign, and we hope to build your network as well as our own. If you help us, we will help you!
Please contact me if you’re interested in participating in making science fun for kids! If you know of anyone else who may be interested, please forward this message on or contact me.
Science rocks!
Jeremy Schwartz