The new season of Categorically Not! gatherings started last Sunday night. It went very well. You may recall that it is held at the Santa Monica Art Studios. It’s a series – started and run by science writer K. C. Cole – of fun and informative conversations deliberately ignoring the traditional boundaries between art, science, humanities, and other subjects. Here is the website that describes past ones, and upcoming ones.
This one was about food, and had musings on food and bringing people together at New York’s Cornelia Street Cafe, by the founder Robin Hirsch. He talked about the history of the place, read some extract from his writings about it, and also described the beginnings of the “Entertaining Science” series that got going when K C Cole, Roald Hoffman, and Oliver Sacks did a performance there many years ago. The Categorically Not! series, now five years or so in age, was a spiritual outgrowth of that series, and so it was great to see Robin speak at it. He was very pleasant and interesting to talk to before and after the event too. (I did a quick, rough, sketch during his 20 minute segment – with some tidying up later – and have included it for you to see. Click for slightly larger view.)
Robin was followed by Amy Rowat, of UCLA. Amy gave us a nice overview of what’s going on in her lab. She’s a physicist, and spends a lot of her time looking at food through that lens. The concerns she described were largely ones of structural, mechanical, and morphological issues (what forces are involved in key attributes of various food substances such as elasticity, porousness, etc….) and how can one employ physics knowledge in the making of new foods, and so forth. These issues are important from the point of view of someone who is concerned with the matter of making the foods you eat – terms like “mouth feel” arise in such discussions, in addition to issues like flavour, preservation, shape, and all those things we don’t notice so much about our foods until they are not right. She’s launching a new class next year that sounds exciting by the way. It will touch on several aspects of science and food, and will be open to the public. If you attend, you’ll get to know the answer to questions like why carrots are sweeter in the Winter, for example. Have a look at her lab’s site for more.
Next up was a person I am sure you will be hearing a lot more of soon. Adam Fleischman is the founder of Umami Burger, a phenomenon that is already on the lips of many in Los Angeles, and set to launch nationwide in the coming months and years. Umami, he told us, is one of the foundational flavours that our tongues are sensitive to (along with things like sweet, sour, etc). It is a fundamental component of a sort of savouriness that is attributable to none of the other flavours. The various compounds that combine to give that flavour have been studied over the years, and once you know what you’re looking for you can focus your efforts (both culinary and scientific) on combining ingredients and extracting essences in order to make products with enhanced umami-ness. His idea was to found a food business based around that goal – delivering umami-ness to your taste buds in delicious (I am reliably informed) combinations. He actually works a lot with food scientists (Amy, and others) on perfecting food preparation techniques of various kinds, and has a keen interest in the various food movements out there, with all their various philosophies and approaches. You’ve maybe read my writings about these issues before, since it is an interest of mine as well. I’ve mentioned, for example, the wonderful writings of Michael Pollan (see e.g., here…start with the Omnivore’s Dilemma, but don’t forget the Botany of Desire, which along with Second Nature (about gardening) might be his greatest book among many great books…)
About ten of us, including all the speakers, spent quite a bit of the evening hanging out over food and wine at a nearby restaurant. I got to chat a bit more with all three about various things, discussing more about food and restaurants with Amy and Adam, sharing a few favourite restaurants in the LA area, and recalling, by chatting with Robin, some of my favourite days of the early and middle 90s, hanging out in New York where Cornelia Street was one of my dearest haunts – In addition to Cornelia Street Cafe, there was Po (Mario Batali’s first restaurant, which was right next door – I loved it with a passion), Home (across the street and up a door or two – I’m almost in tears recalling all the wonderful meals and friends I’ve spent time with there), and the Pearl Oyster bar, a few doors further up. At times, Cornelia was a launching point for a longer evening of activity, with Bleeker and Christopher streets just around the corner, leading to many of my favourite spots for music, and more conversation. It has been so very long since I’ve been to Cornelia street… Maybe it is time I went back.
-cvj
