Why am I so passionate about art?
I don't have any exact answer to this question. Just like the comparison between love and like. Some people said that like is because, but love is despite. Love doesn't have the so-called "reasons". Maybe it does, but I believe they can't be explained simply, they are imaginary. That's what I feel about art: love.
How did I jump into the realm of the interconnection between art, science, and food, recently?
Art? That's what I explained to you earlier, everything about it is love. Case's closed.
Science? That's something else I passionate about. I have spent more that two thirds of my life to learn it formally in schools and colleges until Doctoral-level. Well, science and its derivative: engineering.
But, what about food? This is the problem and the turning point. Since a long time ago, I have found that cooking is something pleasurable to me, but not the case for eating. Often, I have to struggle to adjust many things to increase my appetite. My most favorite month is Ramadan, but when I was a kid, the reason was something silly: during the month, I could skip the lunch without being in an argument with my parents.
This problem have driven me to look for the things that can help me find the reasons to eat properly, things like science, art, psychology, environment, sustainability, or anything else behind the food. This quest have led me to the realm of the interconnection between art, science, and food.
Nowadays, the sources of knowledge are abundant, especially online. We can learn many things from many valuable sources and many amazing people out there, way more easily than our previous generations could. Prof. Charles Spence and Charles Michel are currently my two favorite people as the main sources of knowledge to feed my hunger/quest about these fields. With their wonderful and beautiful minds, not to mention their bright personalities, dozen of books and scientific papers they recommend, accompanied by series of talks and lectures, can be digested more easily.
You can check these links to learn more about their works:
Charles Spence:
Charles Michel:
List of books related to the fields recommended by Charles Michel:
1. Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human, by Wrangham.
2. Concerning the Spiritual in Art, by Kandinsky.
3. Gastrophysics, the New Science of Eating, by Charles Spence.
4. Human Evolution, by Dunbar.
5. Hungry City, by Steel.
6. Multisensory Flavor Perception from Fundamental Neuroscience through to the Marketplace, by Piqueras-Fiszman, and Charles Spence.
7. Sensation and Perception, by Goldstein.
8. Silo, the Zero Waste Blueprint a Food System for the Future, by McMaster.
9. Sitopia, by Steel.
10. The Perfect Meal the Multisensory Science of Food and Dining, by Charles Spence, and Piqueras-Fiszman.
11. Umami, Unlocking the Secrets of the Fifth Taste, by Mouritsen, et al.
Something else just popped up in my mind. I dream about what I can do to help solving the problem related to food, its sustainability, and its impact to the environment by applying my knowledge about ultrasound engineering. Some keywords started to fly before my eyes: power ultrasound, high intensity-low frequency ultrasound, cavitation effect, shockwave, food engineering, food preservation, etc. But, I just have to be patient, may Allah gives me sincere intention, ability, and opportunity to realize this dream.
However, above everything else inside the scope of these topics, I must not forget the problem I wanted to solve in the first place: fixing my appetite about food, not my appetite about knowledge that sometimes exceeds a normal rate.
Bandung, 10 March 2021, precisely a year after my last visit to the campus.
*What lessons can the pandemic give you within the period of one year?
