With ‘Special’ Ice Cream, Gastronomy Alum Blazes Trail in Frozen Edibles
The Massachusetts cannabis industry is about to get sweeter. David Yusefzadeh (MET’18), a graduate of BU MET’s MLA in Gastronomy program, is the force behind Cloud Creamery, a newly licensed, Framingham-based business specializing in high-end, cannabis-infused, frozen delights. When Yusefzadeh, an experienced chef, initially surveyed the budding cannabis industry, he noticed a shortcoming—most of the […]
Follow the Bread Crumbs: How an 1800s Black Inventor Kickstarted the Industrial Kitchen
A recent Forbes article delved into the life of trailblazing 19th century Black inventor Joseph Lee, who was born enslaved in South Carolina and served as a Civil War blacksmith before finding entrepreneurial success in and around Boston as a baker, caterer, and hotelier around the turn of the century. After the war, Lee traveled […]
Gastronomy Alum Unpacks Masculinity, Marketing, and the Secret Origin of ‘Dude Food’
In her new book, Diners, Dudes and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture, MLA in Gastronomy alum Emily Contois (MET’13) explores the concept of “dude food”—a powerful cultural construct developed in recent decades by marketers aiming to encourage male-identifying audiences to spend more on food. “I was interested in how […]
Gastronomy Alum Uses Ice Cream to Dish History’s Inside Scoop
Where we see a serving of ice cream, Hannah Spiegelman (MET’20) sees a story. A recent Master of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy graduate, Spiegelman publishes A Sweet History, a blog dedicated to using historical figures as a creative springboard for ice cream flavors—varieties she concocts herself, and showcases with the expert presentation you’d expect from […]
How Noodles, Pomegranates Feed Culinary New Year Traditions
A recent USA Today story investigating foods traditionally eaten to celebrate the New Year sought the expertise of MET Director of Gastronomy Megan Elias. As Elias explained, in Japanese and Chinese cultures, noodles, given their length, can symbolize long life and good luck. Because of this, noodles are often enjoyed as the calendar turns to […]
Pandemic’s Most Impacted Meal? Lunch, Says MET Food Historian
As a historian, MET Director of Gastronomy Megan Elias takes the long view of the way society interacts with food. The author and associate professor of the practice put the midday meal in focus with her 2014 tome, Lunch: A History, and was recently interviewed by Quartz to shed light on how she thinks the […]
Chef Pépin Shares His Favorite Poem in BU Today
In a BU Today video, renowned chef and television personality Jacques Pépin (Hon.’11) recites his favorite poem, Rimbaud’s “Le Dormeur du Val” (“The Sleeper of the Valley”). The reading is part of the Favorite Poem Project, which was launched in 1997 by former poet laureate Robert Pinsky, a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor and a […]
Triple Helping of Culinary Classes Bring Pépin Lecture Series Online
With his pivotal role in the launch and development of BU MET’s MLA in Gastronomy and Certificate in the Culinary Arts programs, legendary chef Jacques Pépin helped Boston University pioneer scholarly pursuits of the human science of food in the United States. Through the Pépin Lecture Series in Food Studies & Gastronomy, BU MET provides […]
Long, Hard Times Ahead for Restaurants, Says Gastronomy, Culinary Arts & Wine Studies Alum
Fernanda Tapia (MET’09), a Gastronomy alum who also holds certificates from the Culinary Arts and Wine Studies programs, is former co-owner and executive chef at Comedor, a Chilean-American bistro in the heart of Newton, MA. As an experienced industry hand and executive, she knows well the challenges restaurants are facing during the ongoing pandemic, and […]
Gastronomes Offer Quarantine “Stress Baking” Lessons
As the world sheltered in place the past few months, BU Today reporter Mara Sassoon felt herself drawn to what she called “stress baking,” and decided to investigate. “As a BU staff member enrolled in Metropolitan College’s Gastronomy Program, I had a feeling that fellow students, as well as faculty and alumni, were also giving […]