How one Chemistry professor created a science course capable of uniting students across disciplines through a shared love of food.
Why does dough need to rise? What causes Kimchi to ferment? Why do you need salt to make ice cream? The questions are among the many topics that are explored in Dr. Sylvia Daoud Kinzie’s Chemistry of Food and Cooking class.
The University of Portland’s Core Curriculum requires undergraduate students to take two science courses. The course options range from studies in sustainability sciences to biology, physics, and chemistry. Though there are many options, some non-STEM students struggle to find a science course that is accessible to their skill set and relevant to their interests.
I was one of these students, an English major who is fascinated by the sciences but desperate for a class that could relate in some way to my interests. After feverishly of searching, I stumbled across a class that caught my attention: “Chemistry of Food and Cooking.”
The class was first established by Dr. Kinzie in the Summer of 2018. Inspired by her passion for food and the chemistry behind it, she wanted to create a course where she could explore these topics with students. It’s growth has relied upon word-of-mouth communication between friends and classmates, eager to spread the word about the hidden gem of the chemistry department. Because of it’s relative newness, the class size is small; my class consisted of twelve students. In it’s smallness, it attracted an incredibly diverse group of students, ranging from music to business to science majors, freshmen to seniors, athletes, and beyond.
I had never heard of the class before, and the ‘chemistry’ part of the title struck a feeling of hesitation into my gut. But, an amateur chef myself, the description of the course caught my attention. It mentions studying “fermentation of lactose in milk, dough rising, and making Kimchi.” After reading the first sentence, I was sold. This was followed by a description of studying “non-enzymatic browning of food (the Maillard reaction), freezing point depression and making ice-cream.” Making ice cream?! It seemed too good to be true. The class presents itself as devoted to providing students with a deeper understanding of the chemistry behind the food they are making and eating on a daily basis. Each experiment involves something related to cooking, whether it be baking cookies or studying what makes different fruits turn brown. Without a second thought, I registered.
As of next semester, this class will be featured as part of the University of Portland’s Exploration Level Courses, which is a new concept aimed at providing courses that connect the student body with the greater Portland community and beyond. The course will feature the same emphasis on chemistry of food and cooking, but with a global lens. Its goal is to “prioritize students learning to ‘apply a comparative perspective to global issues.’” This means that each experiment will be complimented by a lesson about the history and culture of the food, providing students with a well-rounded perspective on the foods they are are consuming. This will also involve various field-trips to bakeries and restaurants around Portland. This allows students the opportunity to learn chemistry, while also providing them a deeper understanding of the city they have chosen to call home.
So, you might ask, why does dough need to rise? What causes Kimchi to ferment? Why do you need salt to make ice cream? Because of Dr. Kinzie’s class, I know that dough needs to rise because the yeast needs time to react with sugar and carbon dioxide. Kimchi ferments because the bacteria transforms the sugar into lactic acid. You need salt when making ice cream because salt lowers the freezing point of water, which helps the ice cream solidify. Without salt, the ice cream will remain runny. This class has changed the way I see food by providing me with a more well-rounded look at the food I am making and eating. With its continued growth each semester, Dr. Kinzie plans to spread this knowledge with as many students that will listen, in order to further connect food-lovers to the chemistry behind their meals.
Written by Mia Tierney