Celebrating the Science of Eating, New Jersey College, Ewing

Chefs in lab coats? As part of the Week of Science at the College of New Jersey, in Ewing, Sodexo-managed dining services and the chemistry department joined forces to create the Compounds & Cuisine event. According to Patrice Mendes, general manager of dining services for Sodexo, and Karen Roth, director of dining services for the university, the event allowed chefs to showcase their knowledge of molecular gastronomy, which includes using food foams, gelification (liquids into gels), liquid nitrogen (flash freezing foods), liquid powder (liquids into powder) and spherification (shaping liquids into spheres).

Chefs Erik Zwillinger and Harry A. Honer use liquid nitrogen to whip up buttered popcorn-flavored ice cream.

The finished display of the buttered popcorn-flavored ice cream.

Classic Buffalo sauce gets gelified during the event.

The event included a hands-on demonstration of a deconstructed Buffalo chicken wrap, where the Buffalo sauce and blue cheese were made into gels.

For dessert, periodic table cookies.

Beakers and other science-related items were used for decorations. 

Chefs were on hand to answer questions about any of the unconventional items.