Soft Matter Science revealed through Cooking @ Harvard University

Acclaimed chef Jose Andres visited the Harvard MRSEC to collaborate with Center researchers and speak to students in the ES139. Innovations in Science and Engineering class; the laboratory and classroom discussions were filmed for a feature on 60 Minutes through a special agreement with the University. Andres and his mentor, Ferran Adrià, a pioneer in molecular gastronomy from Barcelona, Spain, have been working with Dave Weitz and Michael Brenner on a new course Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter that will be part of the new program in General Education at Harvard College in 2010. Twelve world-class chefs and food experts, noted for both their culinary and communication abilities, will also participate in the course along with Center faculty. “Cooking provides an ideal framework to study a variety of complex phenomena–from basic chemistry to materials science to applied physics–through something familiar to everyone: food,” says Weitz.

For more details, see:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6453958n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

and article here:

http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news-events/press-releases/harvard-general-education-course-brings-together-world-famous-chefs-and-eminent-academics-to-explore-science-and-cooking