Microbial ecology, fermentation, and flavour

Pathogenic microbes are attention whores. It is only now, with the advent and popularisation of sophisticated molecular methods, that benevolent microorganisms are beginning to get some of the attention they so richly deserve. From the advances of the human microbiome project (http://www.hmpdacc.org/ ) through to the resurgence of interest in naturally fermented pickles, bacteria, yeasts, and moulds lie at the cutting edge—and direct intersection—of gastronomy and science.

For this reason, we are delighted that our London Gastronomy Seminars 2013 keynote address gathers together some of the leading exponents of the fields of microbiology and culinary invention.

Drs Rachel Dutton and Ben Wolfe of Harvard University have come to prominence for their unique and original combination of research into the dynamics of microbial communities with diverse culinary applications, working with institutions including David Chang’s Momofuku, Noma, and our own Neal’s Yard Dairy.

As Harold McGee told the New York Times, “There really is no one else doing what [Rachel] is doing. Academic microbiologists have not taken an interest in small-scale fermentation, focusing on food safety rather than food quality. There is really only one person at the moment.” In keeping with our seminars’ tradition of tasting the technical, Rachel and Ben will be joined by Dan Felder, head of Research & Development for Momofuku in Manhattan’s East Village, who will speak about the novel fermentations crafted in the restaurant kitchen and about the dynamics of collaboration between chefs and academic researchers.

About the speakers:

Rachel Dutton received her PhD in Microbiology from Harvard Medical School and is currently a Bauer fellow at the Harvard FAS Center for Systems Biology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her lab studies the microbial communities that make up the rind of cheese, with the goal of understanding the biodiversity of cheese communities, the interactions between cheese microbes, and on developing experimental model ecosystems. Research from the Dutton lab has been featured in Culture Magazine, the Boston Globe, and the New York Times.

Benjamin Wolfe is a microbiologist/mycologist at Harvard University, specializing in the microbiology of fermented foods. He earned his PhD from Harvard studying the evolutionary origins of deadly mushrooms, but has recently shifted to studying more edible fungi: the molds and yeasts that make delicious cheese. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow with Rachel Dutton at Harvard’s FAS Center for Systems Biology. He is working on several cheese microbiology projects including the ecology and genomics of staphylococci isolated from cheese rinds, high-throughput DNA sequencing methods for measuring fungal biodiversity in cheese rinds, and comparative genomics of Geotrichum candidum. He’s also working on a project to characterize the microbial diversity of American artisan salami.

Originally from Roxbury, Connecticut, Dan Felder has worked in restaurants since he was eighteen. He continued working in the kitchen while earning his degree in Anthropology from Union College before starting at Momofuku in 2008. He cooked at Momofuku Noodle Bar and Ko before taking over as Head of Research & Development in 2011. At the lab, Dan focuses on the intersection of microbiology, food science, and flavor, in collaboration with scientists at Harvard University, UCLA, MIT, Yale, and New York University. In January of 2012, Dan co-published his first article “Defining Microbial Terroir: the use of native fungi for the study of traditional fermentative processes” in the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science. He has presented this research with David Chang at MAD Foodcamp in Copenhagen, the Crave Sydney Food Festival in Australia, and at Harvard University and UCLA in the United States.