Murray spoke briefly about Harvard’s history of involvement in the food science research, a topic explored more fully in McGee’s lecture, which centered on worldwide developments in food science since the end of the 17th century.
In his later speech, Adrià again articulated the need for creativity, innovation and scientific rigor in the cooking industry.
“Today we are not really studying cooking and the meaning of cooking in our society,” Adrià said, adding that it is “unbelievably important that cooking got into the most important university in the world.”
The chef went on to describe his plans for transforming his primary eatery, El Bulli, from a restaurant into a “center for creativity” in order to help advance the field of cooking science.
—Staff writer Gautam S. Kumar can be reached at gkumar@college.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Evan T.R. Rosenman can be reached erosenm@fas.harvard.edu.