Darwin Day 2010: Cooking the Tree of Life

The ingredients in the food we eat every day are some of the most extreme examples of evolution, from ridiculously hot peppers, to super sweet grasses, to flightless birds. In celebration of the 201st anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, the State Museum presents three cooking demonstrations that highlight the extreme evolution of domestic food. Each demonstration teams a local chef with a biologist sous chef, and the two prepare the meal together, giving both a culinary and scientific perspective on the main ingredients.

• Some Like it Hot: Peppers
  February, 3 — 7PM
  Chili Peppers tell two amazing stories. The first, tracking back over millions of years, involves the evolution of capsaicin to prevent mammals from eating pepper seeds. The second, dating back hundreds of years, records the dramatic spread of this spice into cuisines around the world. Dr. Roland Kays, Curator of Mammals at the NY State Museum, will lay out the evolutionary history of peppers as Chef Stephen Topper, chef for the Copperfield Inn in North Creek whips up related dishes in the on-stage kitchen. The menu will highlight the diversity of peppers created by humans selecting for extreme traits, and show why some of the most bizarre evolution has actually caused the mildest peppers.
  
  
• Some Like it Sweet: Sugars
  February, 10 — 7PM
  Why have we evolved a ‘sweet tooth’? Studies show that a positive response to sugars has very ancient evolutionary beginnings, and could have come about as a way for our ancient primate ancestors to seek out high-energy food resources. Dr. Jason Cryan, an Evolutionary Biologist at the NY State Museum, will discuss natural sources of sugars and the ways that humans (and other animals) actively seek sweets, while Chef Timothy Warnock, corporate chef for U.S. Foods, prepares a variety of delectable, sugar-inspired dishes in the on-stage kitchen. Save room for dessert!
  
  
• Tastes Like Chicken: Birds
  February, 17 — 7PM
  As birds evolved from their dinosaur ancestors, they became supremely adapted for powered flight, developing an amazing (and delicious) system of flight muscles. When humans domesticated various bird species they selected for birds with even bigger flight muscles, resulting in a funny paradox of extreme evolution: commercial varieties of chickens, ducks, and turkeys that have breasts that are so big the birds can no longer fly. Dr. Jeremy Kirchman, Curator of Birds at NY State Museum, will team up with Chef Tony Destratis of Lake George Club to give you an avian evolution lesson and to prepare savory dishes featuring our flavorful feathered friends.