Food, Flow, Photography

Can you picture exactly how cream swirls through your morning coffee? What does steam look like in slow motion? The fluids around us are complex in ways that are easy to miss, but with the right tools, from high-speed cameras to flow visualization techniques, we can capture these fleeting, beautiful motions and start to understand the physics behind them. In this hands-on, cross-disciplinary course, students explore the hidden physics of cooking through the lens of fluid dynamics and photography. They will experiment with core concepts of fluid mechanics as they appear in cooking, liquids and gases, heat transfer, multi-phase flow, mixing, and more. Every other week, students conduct small-scale cooking experiments, work on the presentation, photograph what they observe, and reflect on how science and art shape the way we cook and deliver. They also explore connections between cultural traditions through the lens of science and art and develop skills in visual storytelling and communication. Rather than focusing on meal preparation, the course emphasizes visual storytelling, physics of cooking, and creativity. This course model demonstrates a compelling pathway for interdisciplinary STEM education that is accessible, engaging, and rich with real-world relevance.