You Are Here
 |
|
Professor Brian Moores, Ph.D., taught What's Cookin'? in January 2008. |
Professor Emeritus Brian Moores, Ph.D. (chemistry) will lead a discussion on the content and origins of food on Saturday, August 1, 2009. What’s in our Food and Where Does it Come From? will begin at 11:00 a.m. at the Edible Garden Restaurant at 12506 River Road in Richmond, Virginia. The event will be hosted by the Virginia Section of the American Chemical Society and is part of their Science Café series.
Several interrelated issues in food and agricultural science have recently been debated in regional and national contexts: organic farming, the production and consumption of local foods, “food miles”—the distance food is transported from the time of its production until it reaches the consumer—soil conservation, the fate of the family farm and our national food safety policy. Interest in this topic has been high recently because of the recall of peanut products and the ever-growing interest in organic foods.
Moores, along with Bruce Dubee, soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will lead a discussion as they address what scientists are doing to protect our food supply and encourage healthy and sustainable eating habits.
The discussion will be accompanied by a delicious, complimentary lunch at the Edible Garden, which serves hearty soups, seasonal salads and fresh sandwiches. You must RSVP by Tuesday, July 28. Contact Trey Gregory at TreyGregory03@gmail.com or 804-873-2307. “I have been enthusiastic about the chemistry of food for quite a while and have taught a course on the subject at R-MC several times,” says Moores. “I even came back from retirement to do it!” In addition to teaching physical, analytical and general chemistry, Moores has taught several First-Year Experience (
FYE) courses and in January 2008 he taught
What’s Cookin?, which explored the molecular changes that food undergoes through the cooking process.
Moores joined the faculty at R-MC in 1980. He received his B.S. from Bates College and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and former officer in the ACS Virginia Section. “When the Section got a grant to support a Science Café in Virginia, I was asked to help organize one around the theme of how chemists and other scientists are involved in the movement toward ensuring the safety and sustainability of our food supply,” explains Moores. “The goal of the ACS Science Café program is to bring chemists together with non-chemists in an informal setting to explore issues that engage scientists and also are of interest to the general public. The subject of sustainable and local foods is even more attractive to me because I am also interested in the environmental implications of organic and industrial agriculture.”