Cooking Open Science: A Sensory Learning Experience for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers
"We know that gastronomy has learned a lot from science, but if we deconstruct this idea from a philosophical point of view, what can science learn from the gastronomy field?" says Rub茅n Vicente S谩ez, a post-doctoral researcher and research manager at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management. Drawing inspiration from his experiences in Spain, France, Canada, and Belgium, Vicente has brought forth a fresh perspective on science education.
Spanning from March 6 to April 10, 2025, the course blended online cooking experiences with open science education through modules such as Open Gastronomy for Science, How AI is Disrupting Openness in Science, and The "Secret" Recipe. The final module, Co-cooking Open Science!, brought participants together at the Donors' Lounge on Aalto campus to share recipes, ingredients, and cooking methods, bringing open science practices to life.
Addressing global challenges requires changing mindsets
In his keynote at the final gala, Counselor of Education Sami Niinim盲ki from the Finnish Ministry of Education called open science "responsible science." According to UNESCO, open science has the potential to make the scientific process more transparent, inclusive, and democratic. Sami emphasized that a responsible researcher requires an open mind to boldly experiment and share findings.
Rector Nicola Perullo of the Italian University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, founded by the non-profit Slow Food Association, enriched the final gala with insights on the interdisciplinarity of gastronomic sciences. The course demonstrated that open science transcends disciplinary borders, promoting collaboration across various fields. Rector Nicola Perullo called the Cooking Open Science course an "unconventional and creative project."
The course successfully broadened collaboration across research disciplines and instilled an open science leadership mindset and ethics crucial for addressing future global challenges.
What can the world of gastronomy teach us about conducting better science?
Yucai Lin鈥檚 biggest takeaway from the course was discovering how similar cooking is to conducting research. 鈥淚n cooking, we learn the basic properties of each ingredient, combine them to create delicious dishes, and then share these creations with others. Similarly, in research, we gather fundamental knowledge, combine different methods and ideas, and create innovative tools that can improve people's lives!鈥, explains Yucai Lin, Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering.
鈥淭his was an amazing course. Before joining, my focus was mainly on cooking itself. But after this course, my perspective shifted, I began to see cooking through the lens of open science. It encouraged me to connect science with everyday life. It was not just about food anymore, but also about cultivating a new way of thinking鈥, says Zixuan Ning, Doctoral Researcer at the Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering. 鈥淣ow, every time I cook, I bring in a scientific mindset. I try to challenge conventional methods and experiment with new ideas. It has become a way for me to train myself in scientific thinking. I believe this habit not only enriches my personal life but also strengthens my research mindset and creativity as a doctoral researcher鈥.
Tommi Vasko, Doctoral researcher at the Department of Design in the School of Arts, was surprised how much fun it was to cook with other people online on a video call. 鈥淚t was really lovely to both cook and discuss the topic of open science together. I was surprised how well this worked out!鈥. Tommi realized that cooking as a shared social event is something that, at least for them, supports an experimental mindset and creativity in cooking. 鈥淚 really like to try out new things when I cook for other people. Secondly, I realized how difficult it is to be open and diverge from an idea or vision or process I鈥檝e had myself. Asking for help is important. Also, I noticed that if a recipe is not very detailed and does not have background information about why things are done in a specific way, it鈥檚 easy to cut corners and make things the way I鈥檓 used to. And lastly, it鈥檚 super inspiring to learn from other disciplines' ways and methods of preparing food and approaching cooking鈥, Tommi continues.
Sharing recipes
Hemp tofu on an acorn coffee
At the final gala Tommi prepared Hefu (hemp tofu) on an acorn coffee as an experimental version of the Finnish leip盲juusto served in coffee. The ingredients are very simple, peeled hemp seeds, acorns and a little bit of salt and sugar. It鈥檚 possible to buy acorn coffee, but Tommi also included a recipe starting from the beginning.
Pick acorns in the autumn just when they start to fall from the tree. Let them dry for a couple of days and take off the peels. Soak the peeled acorns in water for about two weeks, changing the water once or twice a day to remove the bitter tannins. You will notice when the water does not taste bitter anymore and the colour does not get so yellow. Roast the acorns using pan or oven and grind using coffee grinder. It鈥檚 better to grind the acorn when they are still a little bit moist. When completely dry, they are very hard to grind. The acorn coffee can be made using aeropress for example. Or also using any other method. The roasted acorns can be eaten like that or added to bread or porridge for example.
To prepare the Hefu, make hemp milk using 5 dl crushed seeds and 1.5 liters of water, then heat it in a double boiler for 25-30 minutes or microwave it on high for about 15 minutes until a thick curd forms and the whey separates. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth, add spices (sugar salt), and let the curds firm under a weight for a little bit. Fry the hefu on a pan and add to the acorn coffee.
"Crunchy" dumplings with water chestnuts
Zixuan and her colleaguesmade dumplings鈥攐ne of the most iconic Chinese dishes. Zixuan tells that the idea was to combine cooking with her cultural background. Collaboration was an essential part of this process, just like in research. 鈥淲e worked together because the preparation was complex and required joint effort.We wanted to explore and combine our ideas creatively. We thought we were the first to use the secret ingredient of water chestnut in dumplings but later, after the gala we found a few similar recipes online鈥, explains Zixuan.
- After some discussion, we decided to add a 鈥渟ecret ingredient鈥 to the filling鈥攁n idea inspired by a type of soup. This ingredient had never been used in dumplings before (creativity) 鈥 this is what we thought at the time!
- However, we soon faced a challenge: the secret ingredient wasn鈥檛 available in the local stores. After discussing alternatives, we finally found it at a shop further away (problem-solving).
- While cooking, we realized the amount of filling didn鈥檛 match the number of wrappers. So, we adapted by turning the extra wrappers into handmade noodles (flexibility).
- For the final dish, we used two cooking techniques: boiling and frying (variety).
- Finally, we presented the dumplings and shared them with others (communication and celebration).
Recipe: The filling included ground beef, water chestnut, pepper, salt, oyster sauce, and soy sauce, and a pinch of Chinese mixed spice.
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