Reflections Magazine Issue #81 - Fall 2014 | Page 21

Feature Article

“This class came about because our
director of academic advising (Wiona
Porath) expressed concern that we did
not have enough science courses for nonmajors,” Nagy said. “I’ve always had a
thing for cooking and came up with the
idea of using the ‘Good Eats’ television
show from the Food Network.”
Created and hosted by celebrity chef
Alton Brown, “Good Eats” took a scientific – and innovative – approach to food
and cooking. Nagy said he wanted to
adopt some of those same concepts for
his class.
“Alton Brown does a good job of
bringing science and history and a lot of
elements in,” he said. “We used that as
kind of the cornerstone.”
The five-week summer format meant
that students had a short and intense immersion into the course, which included
preparing different kinds of foods using
various cooking methods, techniques and
chemical reactions.

“We get to make food and understand
the chemical changes it all goes through,”
said SHU student Sydney Gossett, who is
a communications major. “It’s really fun.
And it’s really delicious. We’re making
caramel today.”
“As a biologist, taking a class that is
able to apply some of the chemistry and
some of the biology that I’ve learned to a
specific class and specific skills is amazing,” said SHU biology major Justin Bateson. “I love this class.”
Nagy said students watched “Good
Eats” episodes to help prepare for projects, and part of the chemistry lab was
converted into a makeshift kitchen.
“Typically, when we do general chemistry, non-science majors are scared off
by the numbers and the technical stuff,”
he said. “It’s a different language. This is
kind of a way that we can ease into some
of the scientific language, but we can use
things that they’re used to seeing, like
eggs and pancakes and syrup.

Above: SHU Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Julius Nagy (left) assists students during a culinary
chemistry classroom cooking project.

So it’s not jumping in with both feet
in a world they don’t know a whole lot
about. We can go through a world that
they know to get to them to some things
they haven’t seen before.”
And not only see, but eat. Before the
last class last summer, the class prepared
food for faculty and staff to taste in an
impromptu “potluck” on campus. Some
of the prepared items included pickled
vegetables, marinated mushrooms and
unique condiments and salsas.
“It’s really nice to see the chemistry
side of things,” Bateson said. “It’s easier
to relate to the food in a way that I understand. … Before this class, I didn’t
cook at all. I can now cook a little bit
easier.”
“They’ve been willing to put their
feet in the pool and learn,” said Nagy.
“They can feed back some scientific
things, and that’s what really I’m looking
for. That’s part of the liberal arts experience, is that we can talk about these
different fields. I think they are going
to be able to talk some science more
than they did five weeks ago.”
To see the culinary chemistry class in
action, visit https://www.youtube.com/
user/sienaheights19. u

Reflections Fall ’14 | 21