For most people in today's world, the concept of a scientist is depicted either by white lab coats, absent mindedness, and anti-social brilliance or, contrastly, as an eloquent genius devoutly solving the world's problems. Chefs, especially on television, are well spoken, efficient, and skilled. Views of both of these practitioners are abstract.
Many scientists are indeed absent-minded with complex theorems, tangled equations, and quagmiric experiments. Many also are down-to-earth, amiable, and expressive - with no loss to their intelligence. The majority of scientists are everyday people going about their careers to investigate new information and application to the ever-expanding knowledge of mankind.
Chefs, cooks, and cuisiniers also go about everyday lives though with more time spent in the kitchen than most. The chef is not easily stereotyped either. As with every other profession in life, each person is reflective of his own personality and interests.
Nonetheless, scientists and chefs are very like each other in their techniques and habits. The scientist works long hours that must be flexible if the experiment is done at a certain time. If something needs to boil at 182° C for three hours, he must be ready to proceed to the next step in the experiment at that time or risk ruining all and repeating his procedure. Likewise, chefs shouldn't mix the sauce with the meat before the appropriate step. The similarities between these two professions is actually remarkable. With closer examination, the parallels seem very exact and much of the instrumentation can be shared between the two with special adaptations for unique purposes.
Shefs and Cientists . . .
The differences between them are obvious enough. The first thing that comes to mind is that scientists generally don't get to eat the results of their experiments. But what if we combined these two fields? What would that look like? It is already a viable profession with a substantial income and embraced by large corporations. Food chemistry is a highly competitive field used to flavor and preserve much of today's processed foods.
The kitchen is a lab. So, make sure that the next time you go to make dinner, wear your lab coat, goggles, pants, closed-toe shoes, and to keep your arms out of the mixtures. Remember to follow the procedure and make articulate notes during the process -but don't forget to enjoy!
Many scientists are indeed absent-minded with complex theorems, tangled equations, and quagmiric experiments. Many also are down-to-earth, amiable, and expressive - with no loss to their intelligence. The majority of scientists are everyday people going about their careers to investigate new information and application to the ever-expanding knowledge of mankind.
Chefs, cooks, and cuisiniers also go about everyday lives though with more time spent in the kitchen than most. The chef is not easily stereotyped either. As with every other profession in life, each person is reflective of his own personality and interests.
Nonetheless, scientists and chefs are very like each other in their techniques and habits. The scientist works long hours that must be flexible if the experiment is done at a certain time. If something needs to boil at 182° C for three hours, he must be ready to proceed to the next step in the experiment at that time or risk ruining all and repeating his procedure. Likewise, chefs shouldn't mix the sauce with the meat before the appropriate step. The similarities between these two professions is actually remarkable. With closer examination, the parallels seem very exact and much of the instrumentation can be shared between the two with special adaptations for unique purposes.
Shefs and Cientists . . .
- Find new "recipes" and clarify, critique, and perfect older ones
- Record findings to share with others
- Perform reliable and repeatable procedures
- Replace expensive ingredients with cheaper variants if the quality of the product is not too adversely affected
- Tweak the recipe which can both vastly improve and disastrously destroy the quality
- Culinary recipes = scientific protocols
The differences between them are obvious enough. The first thing that comes to mind is that scientists generally don't get to eat the results of their experiments. But what if we combined these two fields? What would that look like? It is already a viable profession with a substantial income and embraced by large corporations. Food chemistry is a highly competitive field used to flavor and preserve much of today's processed foods.
The kitchen is a lab. So, make sure that the next time you go to make dinner, wear your lab coat, goggles, pants, closed-toe shoes, and to keep your arms out of the mixtures. Remember to follow the procedure and make articulate notes during the process -but don't forget to enjoy!
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Agatha Tyche
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