José Andrés at Harvard



 

All photos ©The Boston Foodie 2017

 

Fresh off his powerful segment on 60 Minutes (you can watch the video here) and speaking to a packed lecture hall at Harvard last week, philanthropist and award-winning Chef José Andrés shared his personal pics of the plight in Puerto Rico and his passion for cooking.  

We try never to miss his lecture as part of the Fall semester course Science And Cooking in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  Informative, entertaining and always full of laughter Chef José did not disappoint despite the heart-wrenching photographs of flooded roads and collapsed bridges - just frightening devastation.  It was also very interesting to hear of the bureaucratic red tape that holds up disaster relief.  One would think that, by now, after all the natural disasters over the past two years, the international organizations that typically rush in to help would have their act together, especially the Red Cross.  According to Chef they are all run by committee which, of course, means there is no real leader to take direction from.  Sad.

In any case, it was an eye-opening evening where we also discussed food.  If you missed it you can watch the video at the above link.  As one of the Professors stated, Chef José is one of the greatest teachers he has ever met.  Congratulations!

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Cooking + Science = Harvard

Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences kicks off it's third season of their trailblazing and highly popular public lecture series on Cooking and Science this Tuesday, September 4 at 7:00 p.m.  The course, pairing Harvard researchers and world-class Chefs, is offered during the Fall Semester and fills up quickly with a long waiting list for interested students. 

There is a students-only lab matched with a public lecture featuring someone well-known, often internationally-recognized, in the world of cooking.  For anyone interested in food it is an absolutely fascinating series, often focusing on cutting-edge technologies.  For those who have attended in the past, you will recognize the format.  The first 15 minutes of the lecture recaps the lab study and features the equation of the week.  After the equation is presented it has become a tradition to applaud loudly.  I try to make every lecture.  I say trailblazing as other universities have approached Harvard to emulate their first-of-it's-kind model of bringing food and cooking into the halls of academia.  All lectures are free and open to the public.  For more information visit here: 2012 Lecture Series Schedule

The Lampoon

The front of The Lampoon building at Harvard was intentionally designed to resemble the face of an astonished Prussian soldier.  The roof is, obviously, the helmet and the front entrance his open mouth.  Harvard claims that The Lampoon is the nation's oldest humor magazine.  Yale's The Record is actually older.  The Lampoon's explanation:  "Yeah ... but they're not funny.  So we win."

Using that logic we are proudly announcing that we are the oldest food blog in Boston.