Instructions:
Submit a recipe for a dish from one branch of the tree of life that highlights an interesting aspect of the biology of the featured ingredients. Recipes should focus on ingredients from one of these four branches of the tree of life: vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, or fungi and yeast. Recipes should also include a description about why this dish is biologically interesting. For example, the ingredients might be good examples of artificial selection, illustrate a great amount of biodiversity, or highlight some adaptation that allows a particular species to survive and thrive (e.g. why do some animals have white meat vs. dark meat).

Judging:
Submissions will be judged by the team of chefs and biologists from the NY State Museum’s Cooking the Tree of Life program, based on a combination of the creativeness of the recipe and the biological story it tells.

Prize:
The top submission will be featured in a live cooking demonstration at the New York State Museum in February 2009 as part of a celebration of Darwin’s 200th Birthday. In addition, the winning applicant will invited to film a video at the US Foods Test kitchen while preparing the featured dish. This video will be viewable through the NYS Museum website after the event.

Format:
Submissions should be 2 pages total. Page one should include the applicants name and contact information as well as the recipe. Page two should include a description about why this dish is biologically interesting (minimum 1 paragraph, max 1 page). Anyone may submit recipes.

Deadline:
Submissions should be sent to rkays@mail.nysed.gov by February 2, 2009