Alex Feldmeyer

Science Meets Food • 27th May 2020

The Science Behind Dalgona Coffee

Dalgona coffee first gathered attention in South Korea among social media platforms, namely Tiktok. Eventually it made its way to other countries and assumed the same popularity. At this point, many of you have either tried this whipped coffee drink...

Medium • 22nd April 2020

Global Pandemic Grocery Trends

Few, myself included, have ever witnessed a global shutdown as extensive as the current COVID-19 situation, which continues to take its course across the world. The virus has affected so many different sectors and industry, and touched our lives in...

Medium • 26th February 2020

& In the Morning, I’m Making Waffles!

My significant other, Jake, once asked me what the difference between Belgian waffles and waffles we have in America. Being a doctor of food science, I was peeved that I did not know the answer right away. I urgently started researching Belgian...

Science Meets Food • 15th January 2020

By Day – A Sensory Scientist; By Night – An Entrepreneur: An Interview with Jhaelynn Elam

Recently, Mackenzie and I were able to sit down and interview Jhaelynn Elam, not only a Sensory Scientist at a global consumer products company but also the CEO and founder of Sizije, a company that sets out to empower modern day travelers through...

Science Meets Food • 8th January 2020

Coffee Talk with Austin Childress

Last year, I attended the annual Cincinnati, OH coffee festival. In attendance were local coffee vendors and speakers, Austin Childress being one of them. Speakers touched on everything from how to brew at home to the science of flavor perception....

Science Meets Food • 23rd October 2019

The Language of Food

Kitchen Theory (KT) is a lot like a world-class athlete: extremely talented, detail-oriented, awe-inspiring and eager to learn. Kitchen Theory is a design studio with a chef’s table and a research laboratory. Kitchen Theory also serves as an advocate...

Science Meets Food • 24th July 2019

A Conversation with Dr. Kara Hoover On Uncovering the Evolution of Our Sense of Smell

“I have a lot of happy smell memories. I suppose an abiding one is pipe smoke… I associate that to summers in West Virginia, my grandfather taking me on long walks along the railway. Sometimes my father would come along and we’d hunt among the rocks...

Science Meets Food • 8th May 2019

One Hand-Packed Pint at a Time: An Interview with Bob Graeter, Vice President and Owner, Graeter’s Manufacturing Co.

Many of us have a memory of convincing our parents to take us out for ice cream. We would stand with our face and hands on the glass window case, admiring all the colors and flavors, eventually settling on the bluest ice cream. The ice cream attendant...

Science Meets Food • 3rd April 2019

An Interview with Kieran Westlake, President of Australia’s Specialty Coffee Association

Being from the United States, I felt that the voice of Science Meets Food needed to explore more global regions and their eating and drinking culture…even if we can’t physically travel around the world…YET. Enter, Australian coffee culture and all of...

Science Meets Food • 9th January 2019

Turkish Coffee: A tradition steeped in history

“Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love.1” -Turkish proverb Turkish coffee is not just a drink, it is an experience. It is one of the most ancient traditions and therefore Turkey may be the first to collectively...

Science Meets Food • 24th October 2018

An Interview with Mona Wolf, President and CEO of Wolf Group, and a founding member of the Society of Sensory Professionals (SSP).

How one woman started a sensory consulting business when there was no place for a woman in Corporate America. Where it all started… Mona Wolf grew up in Southern Indiana. She was a part of 4-H, loved food, cooking, baking and had a strong instinct...

Science Meets Food • 23rd August 2018

What is Kopi Luwak and Why is it so Expensive?

Kopi is the word for coffee in the Bahasa Indonesian language. Luwak is an Indonesian name of the Asian palm civet native to Southeast Asia shown in the picture below.1 The Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) is from the Viverridae family....

Science Meets Food • 4th July 2018

Stroopwafel

What are Stroopwafels? Why do I care? And how do I say it? My obsession with the mysterious origin of the Stroopwafel started when I was at a triathlon race expo. For those of you who may not be familiar, these expos are always advertising the latest...

Science Meets Food • 2nd May 2018

Lose your sense of smell, & lose yourself: the impact of anosmia on quality of life

As a child on Saturday mornings I often awoke to the smell of bacon and pancakes on a griddle. The second level of my house was rich with breakfast aromas and suggested that something delicious might be waiting for me downstairs if I could just get...

Science Meets Food • 21st March 2018

In Defense of Refined Sugar

Let me tell you a story. Mid triathlon I was pregnant.  Okay, I wasn’t really but I felt like what I imagine a pregnant woman would feel like. I was bloated, wobbly and overall extremely tired. My gut felt protruded (because it was). I couldn’t run...

Science Meets Food • 14th February 2018

Flavor and music: A sense of kinship?

Do you ever feel that two superficially unrelated disciplines actually share commonalities once you dig a little deeper? Take science and art for example. They seem like totally different ends of a spectrum, but to a degree they often overlap making...

Science Meets Food • 19th December 2017

Proust* nose all: exploring the connection of food aroma and human nostalgia

Do you ever experience a massive dose of kindergarten-ish nostalgia brought on by koala cookies? I know I do. If you don’t find yourself hoping for a future full of authentic koala cookies, it might be because you didn’t grow up eating them every day...

Science Meets Food • 18th October 2017

How Current Food Trends Rescued the Snack Bar

In recent years, it seems the stars have aligned for food bars. And when I say bars I am not referring to bars people frequent to imbibe adult beverages. I am talking about the compressed, (usually) grain-based, bars that are easy to grab and eat on...

Science Meets Food • 10th August 2017

A behind the scenes depiction of popular meal subscriptions

Let us all rejoice! Why? Meal subscription plans. Now that meals can be shipped to our doorstep, those of us with busy schedules (or who choose not to or cannot cook) can breathe a sigh of relief. These meals take convenience to a new level by...

Science Meets Food • 26th April 2017

Chew On This!

When you really think about it, chewing gum is a very odd invention. We voluntarily and consistently chews to chew on a flavored gum with no intention of swallowing or gaining any nutritive value. Why do we partake in such behavior? When did it start?...