Science and Culinary Arts Meet at 'The Great Biology Bake-off'

Culinary arts and molecular biology—two seemingly disparate fields that, at first blush, share little in common. Seeking to bridge that perceived divide, East High School recently partnered with UW-Madison’s Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program to host ‘The Great Biology Bake-off.’ The event expertly combined cooking and science from one part alternative educational delivery vehicle, one part mentorship opportunity, and two parts fun. 

After school on Friday, December 16, in food and consumer science teacher Emily Sonnemann’s classroom, five East scholars competed in the inaugural event. Ahead of the competition, the scholars partnered with a UW graduate student-mentor to conceive, produce, and develop a presentation around a baked item that visually represented an idea or topic related to cell biology. 

“I saw the poster in the halls and thought, ‘Hmm, that’s interesting,’” said sophomore LaMya Foy. “My grandma has her own catering business—I’ve been cooking with her since I was nine years old—and science is one of my favorite subjects, so I thought this would be fun. The first day I met my mentor, we started planning what to do, and the further along we got, the more I felt like, ‘Yeah, this is definitely for me.’”

Following each scholars’ presentation, the audience was invited to visually inspect and taste-test each baked item, which ran the gamut from cakes, to cake pops, to cupcakes. Judges from the University’s Biology Outreach Club, who helped to organize and stage the evening’s event, selected winners in the categories of Best Biological Illustration and Best Baking Project. About 30 guests and attendees scanned a QR code to place anonymous votes for the Audience Favorites. The results were as follows: 

• First Place, Best Biological Illustration/Best Baking Project: Dante Alvarado (junior), Habitat of Marzipan Mushroom
• Second Place, Best Biological Illustration/Best Baking Project: Megan Carpenter (freshman), The Shroom Log 
• Audience Favorite: TJ Tjardes (junior), Mitosis 
• Audience Favorite Runner-up: LaMya Foy (sophomore), Rhinoceros
• Audience Favorite Runner-up: Miriam Santos (sophomore), flour-essence

Songeun Kim, the UW student-leader who spearheaded the Bake-off’s organization, worked with East’s Sonnemann to make the evening a reality. To fund the event, Kim applied for a grant with the American Society for Cell Biology, and then set about matching the East scholars with student-mentors. The entire production came together in a very short amount of time. 

“I met Emily in mid-September, and we received the grant on October 11, with the stipulation that we use the funds by the end of the year,” explained Kim. “By the first week of November, we had all of our high school participants lined up, and shortly before Thanksgiving we paired them with their mentors. Last Monday, they started baking during the lunch hour, and by Friday, they were ready to present their creations.”

Despite the accelerated timeline, Kim hopes the event will serve as a precedent for future collaboration between her club and the district. She sees opportunities like this one as mutually beneficial, with participants from both institutions all the better for having taken part.

“For the graduate student-mentors, it was good for them to sharpen their public-speaking abilities and practice explaining their research topic and ideas using language that everyone could understand,” she said. “For the high-schoolers, they got to learn more about science, while also expressing themselves creatively. I’m really happy with how everything turned out, and the feedback I got from everyone—mentors, competitors, and judges alike—was all extremely positive.”

East freshman Megan Carpenter agreed. “I’ve been baking for four years now, so I was very interested in being involved in this,” she said. “I was happy to be able to take part and learn more about mushrooms. We worked really hard, and I’m very proud of what we created.”