In the Alchemist's Kitchen - Vol 1: Introducing the Alchemist, Pat O'Hara

What gives me claim to a title of Alchemist?  There are several other more professional titles I have come by more traditional means: Professor of Chemistry, Dean of First Year Students, Chair of Biochemistry and Biophysics, and recently in my class on Molecular Gastronomy, Chef Pat. But, to be a kitchen alchemist, you need to be curious about the transformative powers of cooking..... changing raw ingredients into tasty and nutritious meals ..... and to seek to understand the fundamental physical and chemical changes that worked together to bring about this transformation. I hope to convince you in these pages that I deserve the title of Alchemist.   

Chemistry is my first disciplinary love, though my family… my husband, two daughters, ten brothers, and four sisters will always lay claim to my unqualified love.  My leanings toward science manifested themselves in my first decade of life - as I coveted my brothers' How and Why books.  In high school and college, I loved the logical beauty of the scientific relationships and this inclination led to my part time jobs as bartender (master mixologist), amateur magician (chemical displays were the best), and clerk at my local Poison Control Center. 

Cooking also comes naturally to me.  I love cooking for hungry crowds, starting with my own family and extending to church suppers, mission trips, and survival centers.  Whenever there was a meal to be had for a crowd, you could find me in the kitchen. It wasn't until I took a faculty sabbatical with my family in France that I learned the difference between eating to live and living to eat.  There my taste buds had a re-birth and life has not been the same.  Today, my husband and I love to entertain.  Whether it is a "make your own pizza party" with students, our annual St Patrick's Day Party, or an auctioned off dinner for six that typically raises $400-$600 as a fund raiser for our local church. 

Teaching is the third leg of my alchemical tripod.  In my four decades in the classroom, I have yet to tire of the thrill of exciting people about science, especially chemistry and biochemistry.  Students have shown me that abstract concepts are best understood when there is a familiar context for understanding - like cooking! I could see the power of this when I ran liquid nitrogen ice cream events for all of the first year residence halls when I was Dean of New Students at Amherst College.  In fact in my next post, I will give you the Origin Story for my general science course in Molecular Gastronomy: From Test tubes to taste buds.