Laboratory Development and Lecture Renovation for a Science of Food and Cooking Course

Several years ago, a new nonscience majors course, The Science of Food and Cooking, was developed at our institution. The course covered basic scientific concepts that would normally be discussed in a typical introductory chemistry course, in the context of food and food preparation. Recently, the course has been revamped in three major ways: (1) the incorporation of a laboratory component, (2) the reorganization of the lecture topics, and (3) the inclusion of a field trip. A week-by-week explanation of the course curriculum is provided, as is the description of the laboratory experiments conducted during the course. A brief description of the group excursion to a local distillery is given.