Readers of this blog will recall my interview with Chef Anjana Shanker, and her work on the team of Nathan Myhrvold’s “Modernist Cuisine”. Following the release of “Modernist Cuisine”, Myhrvold and his team went on to work on “Modernist Cuisine at Home”, which aims to bring some of the marvels of Modernist Cuisine techniques to the home kitchen. It was released in October 2012 and recently won the IACP award in the “Food and Beverage Reference/Technical” category.

In March this year, we were fortunate to be invited by Anjana to a “Family and Friends” open house event at Intellectual Ventures Lab, the research facility that houses Modernist Cuisine’s “Cooking Lab”. 

A Tour of Intellectual Ventures Lab

Driving in to Seattle, it’s hard to miss the Space Needle, the futuristic tower built for the 1962 World’s Fair and the most recognizable symbol of the city ever since. Today, in nearby Bellevue, home to Intellectual Ventures Lab, you might drive right by the discreet building which houses this hub of scientific research without realizing it!

(Picture courtesy Modernist Cuisine)

Intellectual Ventures Lab consists of several scientific laboratories, housed in a large warehouse building. On their website, you’ll learn that these include “dedicated photonics, nanotechnology, biology, culinary and chemistry labs as well as a state-of-the-art machine shop” and also, a “mosquito insectary”.

That’s right, a mosquito insectary! (But more about that later).

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Vancouver is a city of fitness buffs.

Come rain (as it does) or shine (sometimes), or snow (plenty on the ski slopes, and just enough on the streets to make the city’s inexperienced drivers the laughing stock of the rest of the country) you’ll find people out and about. Running, cycling, rollerblading, kayaking, skiing, hiking – and the all weather favourite – “hitting the gym”- a term I have yet to wrap my sweaty towel around!

Where a devotion to fitness and an active lifestyle are, can the health food juggernaut be far behind? Specialist stores abound, bringing you every conceivable combination of the latest wonder foods, energy drinks, protein bars and supplements, and more vitamins than there are letters of the alphabet.

Being a moderately lazy sort, and more inclined to get my nourishment from a well balanced meal, I don’t usually pay too much attention to all of this. One thing, though, that did catch my eye when I first came across it many years ago, was something called “trail mix”. There are versions of it sold everywhere, from supermarket check-out counters, to gas stations, to airport newsagents.

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