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Students learnthe science behindthe art of cooking.andne Tuesday afternoon in theCastle kitchen, students assessdifferent rising agents by bakinga variety of breads. Although all groupsare referring to recipes, one questionsthe ratio of flour to water. “The idea is tobe creative, right?” co-teacher Erika Guyadvises them while circulating the room.The kitchen is the perfect place toexperiment. “For safety reasons, it’s difficultto truly experiment in lab, especiallyin a high school setting. The kitchenremoves those safety constraints, andthat’s when creativity can come in,” saysscience teacher Jen Craft. Craft teachesthe newest science elective, Chemistryand Cuisine, with Guy, who is dean ofstudents.Together, Craft and Guy make a powerfulteam. Craft was a chemist for manyyears, earning a doctorate in physicalchemistry before becoming a teacher.Guy has always been passionate aboutfood. “I was raised at the elbow of mymother, who went to cooking school inEurope,” she says. During her sabbaticalin the late ’90s, Guy pursued her hobby atCambridge School of Culinary Arts.The expertise of the two teachersis on opposite sides of the spectrum,making for a unique class and learningexperience. “The science fuels the art,and art fuels the science. Erika’s got theart, and I’ve got the science, and somewherein the middle there lies good cooking,”Craft says. Sarah Puccio ’13 sharesa similar sentiment. “Separately theycan help us understand chemistry andcooking, but together we get a whole newunderstanding,” she says.Both teachers believe that experimentationand hands-on learning is ofthe utmost importance in their respectivefields. During class time and whencompleting the week’s homework,students learn the chemistry behindthe foods they eat. The labs are meantto reinforce understanding of thesechemical reactions. “The underpinningof everything in class is the chemistryof it. In the process, they learn technicalskills, such as how to use a knife properly.It’s practical as well as academic,”says Guy. In addition to the rising agentslab, the class traveled to make cheese atEastleigh Farms in Framingham, Mass.Most recently, the class made pizza fromscratch, building on their knowledge ofbread and leavening substances.The students aren’t the only oneslearning through experience. “Witha brand-new class, the labs are reallyan experiment for us too,” says Craft.Both Craft and Guy point to the first lab,during which students were asked totaste-test food and describe flavors, asa good example of what they are tryingto teach. “It’s so easy for a student totaste something and say, ‘Yuck!’ I wantto teach them to analyze the flavor andexpand their vocabulary so that they candescribe it no matter what their preference,”Guy says.“We fed one student anchovies, andhe thought it was cat food,” Craft addswith a laugh. “I guess that’s a risk ofexperimenting in the kitchen!”—Melissa McClung42 Nobles spring 2013