Interviews

Dr. Marion Nestle is on a very short list of the most respected people in the world of food and nutrition. She is Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University. She is also Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. She holds a PhD in molecular biology as well as an MPH and two honorary degrees. Dr. Nestle is the author, co-author, or co-editor of fifteen books, several of them prize-winning, and her X (Twitter) account has been named among the top 10 in health and science by Time Magazine, Science Magazine, and The Guardian. She has received many, many awards and honors.

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.

Chef Kären Jurgensen is the founder of sustainability curriculum at Seattle Culinary Academy and one of the school’s senior culinary instructors. She is a recognized leader in the local and national food communities, and she spends time supporting many organizations, sitting on the Boards of a few. She spends summers at Quillisascut Cheese Company’s Farm School teaching professional chefs, culinary students, and agricultural professionals farm-to-table immersion courses and philosophy. She is the co-author of Rethinking the Kitchen: the sustainable kitchen handbook and Chefs on the Farm cookbook. She has won many awards and honors for her work in sustainability, including the Chefs Collaborative National “Sustainer” Award and being named “Edible Education Hero” by Chef Alice Waters.

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.

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.