Interviews

Professor Charles Spence, PhD, is the head of Oxford University’s Crossmodal Research Laboratory, specializing in the study of how people perceive the world — in particular, how our brains process information from each of our senses to form the extraordinarily rich, multisensory experiences that fill our daily lives. Charles has published over 500 articles in scientific journals and has won many awards for his work.

Dr. Harold McGee is a James Beard award-winning and world-renowned authority on the science of food and cooking. Named one of the 100 most influential people by Time Magazine, McGee earned his PhD at Yale University. He has written prize-winning books, including On Food and Cooking and The Curious Cook, along with many articles and reviews. He was also named food writer of the year by Bon Appétit magazine.

Meathead Goldwyn is an American food writer, chef, and website publisher, whose writing focuses on barbecue, grilling, and smoking. He is the author of the New York Times best-seller Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling. He is also a former columnist for the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and AOL.

Luca Turin is a biophysicist, lecturer, and author of several books on science, perfume, and culture, including The Secret of Scent, the original Parfums: le guide (in French), Perfumes: The A–Z Guide, and others. Luca is the subject of the award-winning BBC documentary “A Code in the Nose” and the book The Emperor of Scent. He is a popular lecturer for TED, TEDx, Futurefest, and Google TechTalks.

Gil Carvalho, MD & PhD, is a physician, research scientist, science communicator, speaker and writer. Dr. Carvalho trained as a medical doctor in the University of Lisbon, in his native Portugal, and later obtained a PhD in Biology from Caltech (California Institute of Technology). He has published peer-reviewed medical research spanning the fields of genetics, molecular biology, nutrition, behavior, aging and neuroscience.

Dave Arnold is the founder and president of the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD), the host of the radio show Cooking Issues, an owner of Booker and Dax (a food and drink research lab in New York), a food science writer and editor, the author of Liquid Intelligence: The Art & Science of the Perfect Cocktail, and an innovator in the field of culinary technology.

George Zaidan is an MIT-trained chemist, writer, science communicator, television and web host, and producer. George co-hosted CNBC’s hit “Make Me a Millionaire Inventor,” made several TED-Ed viral videos, and co-wrote and directed MIT’s web series “Science Out Loud.” He has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, the Boston Globe, National Geographic, and many other publications. He is the executive producer at the American Chemical Society. Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and on Us is his first book.

Michael Arnovitz is a chocolate historian and the founder of Roste Chocolate House, a popular café / bakery in Portland OR that makes their own bean-to-bar chocolate and sells it in many forms, from bars to bakery items to savory items, such as their popular mole. Roste was picked by Yelp as one of the top fifteen places for hot chocolate in the country.