Harvard Kicks Off Fourth Annual Science and Cooking Series

Chef Ferran Adria at the Museum of Science’s Innovation in the Art of Food. Adria will host a talk at Harvard’s annual Science & Cooking series. Photo by Leah Mennies

Harvard begins its fourth annual Science & Cooking series today with guest lecturers Dave Arnold from Booker & Dax and Harold McGee from Lucky Peach. The series, inspired by the Harvard College General Education course “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,”  explores fundamental principles in applied physics and engineering through the medium of cooking and food. Past lecturers have included Momofuku’s David Chang, WD-50’s Wylie Dufresne, and D.C.-based chef Jose Andres.

This year’s docket, which ends on December 1, is as impressive as ever with chefs such as Del Posto’s Mark Ladner, Flour’s Joanne Chang, Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi, and the legendary Ferran Adrià. Each talk is free to the public and will begin with a 15-minute lecture by a faculty member from the Harvard College course. Seating for all lectures (except the ticketed lecture with Ferran Adrià on October 20) is first come, first seated. Below is a look at the full lineup:
2014 Chef Lecture Dates

Monday, September 8: “Science and Cooking: A Look at the Last Twenty Years”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Dave Arnold, Booker & Dax, and host of “Cooking Issues”
Harold McGee, writer, Curious Cook

Monday, September 15: “The Science of Sugar”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Joanne Chang, Flour Bakery, author of Flour and Flour Too

Monday, September 22: “Al Dente: When Plastic Meets Elastic”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Mark Ladner, Del Posto

Monday, September 29: “gAstronomy”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Bill Yosses, former White House Pastry Chef, author of The Perfect Finish
Steve Howell, project scientist, NASA Kepler & K2 missions

Monday, October 6: “Heat Transfer and Chocolate”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Enric Rovira, master chocolatier

Monday, October 13: “Metamorphosis of Taste”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Dominique Crenn, Atelier Crenn

Monday, October 20: “Decoding the Creative Process”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Ferran Adrià, elBulli Foundation

TICKETED EVENTS
Tickets will be made available at the Harvard Box Office beginning at noon on Tuesday, October 14. The tickets are free—but first come, first served.

Monday, October 27: “The History of Culinary Thickeners”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Martin Breslin, Harvard University Dining Services

Monday, November 3: Emulsions and Foams
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Christina Tosi, Milk Bar

Monday, November 10: “Where is the Acid?”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Daniel Humm, Eleven Madison Park

Monday, November 17: “Fermentation, an Ancient Trend”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Jody Adams, Rialto

Tuesday, November 25: “Modernist Cuisine”
Science Center Lecture Hall D, 7 p.m.
Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft, cofounder of Intellectual Ventures, author of Modernist Cuisine

Monday, December 1: “El Celler de Can Roca: Roots, Innovation, and Creation”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Joan Roca, El Celler de Can Roca

7 p.m., 1 Oxford St., Cambridge.