Cooking could be considered one of the oldest forms of chemistry. However, beyond agricultural programs at large state institutions and training at culinary institutes, formal curricular offerings related to cooking or food science are relatively rare. At Georgia Tech, students interested in cooking, molecular gastronomy, or food-related industries will generally not find these topics in the standard science or engineering curricula. It is equally if not more difficult to find coursework on the culture of food, which has in some cases informed or directed the science. To engage students interested in the intersection of food, science, and culture in a context that can provide both academic and practically useful information, we created the Molecular Gastronomists Club (“MoGa”) at Georgia Tech. MoGa members meet on a biweekly basis to discuss food-related topics, taste something unique, and develop food-related experiments aimed at the broader student population. Experiments are universally hands-on affairs and have ranged from <i>sous vide</i> tacos to the production of homemade gummy bears using gelatin and agar. MoGa meetings and experiments have helped participants better understand how cooking and food science relate to their specific disciplines and how knowledge of the science behind food and cooking can be applied to their daily lives.

Molecular gastronomists at Georgia Tech: A student club at the intersection of science, culture, and food

256th National Meeting (2018)

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