Nobel Conference Blog

Year: 2010

  • Jeffrey Friedman-inspired menu in the MarketPlace today!

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    heldke

    Jeffrey Friedman is the man who discovered leptin, the a hormonal signal made by the body’s fat cells that regulates food intake and energy expenditure and has powerful effects on reproduction, metabolism, other endocrine systems, and even immune function. Friedman’s team isolated the gene that, when mutated, caused the rat on the left to, as…

  • Celebrate Cary Fowler Day in the MarketPlace!

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    heldke

    Today, you have an opportunity to taste something quite rare and special, if you venture over to the soup zone in the MarketPlace. In honor of Cary Fowler (who just won a big prize, for his efforts to preserve biodiversity, btw!), we’re serving Grass Pea Soup. Grass Peas, also called Cicerchia (Lathyrus sativus), are similar…

  • Cary Fowler honored with Heinz Family Foundation award

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    jdontje

    The Heinz Family Foundation has honored Cary Fowler, one of this year’s Nobel Speakers, with a Heinz Award. Established by Teresa Heinz to honor her late husband, US Senator John Heinz, the annual awards recognize individuals who have made contributions to areas of importance to John Heinz. This year’s awards, including a cash prize of…

  • It’s Paul Thompson Day in the Marketplace!

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    heldke

    Check out the VariVeggie Zone today, to find the menu inspired by Nobel Conference presenter Paul Thompson. Professor Thompson blogged about one of his favorite summer meals, heirloom tomatoes with cottage cheese and fresh black pepper–and about his dream of opening a restaurant chain called “Fat Elvis.” The Dining Service has recreated that meal here,…

  • Nobel: A weeklong gastronomic preview to be offered in the MarketPlace

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    heldke

    The mission: Create seven menu items, each of which somehow evokes the life or work of one of our seven Nobel Speakers. Offer them to diners in the MarketPlace the week before the Nobel Conference. (Check out the day’s menu offering s at the Dining Service website The creative team: Dining Service director Steve Kjellgren…

  • Nestle with Helga Hellberg and Mark Mulcahy

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    mkoomen

    Listen in on this Organic Conversation where Marion Nestle discusses Food Politics with Helge Helberg and Mark Hellberg on September 7, 2010.

  • Tabasco Sauce: now THAT’S evolved!

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    heldke

    Yet another upside of human evolution: we like to set our mouths on fire. In this Times article, we learn a bit about the psychology of pleasure and pain, as they concern the infernal chili. Linda Bartoshuk, our Wednesday afternoon speaker, explores the terrain of taste, pleasure and health.

  • Friedman Wins Lasker Award

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    mferrag

    Yesterday the  New York Times reported that the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation honored Jeffrey Friedman, Rockefeller University,  and Douglas Coleman, Jackson Laboratory, with the prestigious Lasker Award for their discovery of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells that regulates metabolic rate and food intake.   Please do listen to Dr Friedman discuss “Leptin and…

  • Marion Nestle: Food Politics and Food Safety

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    mkoomen

    In a recent blog post, Nestle responds to the question: A decent food safety system: will we ever get one?

  • “Push-pull” agriculture in Kenya links to Nobel discussions

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    jdontje

    Some news on the international ag production front. As background on the article, stem borer is obviously a kind of pest we are familiar with, but the Striga pest mentioned in the article is a parasitic weed with varied species that use their roots to steal nutrients from corn, sorghum, millet, and cowpeas (aka black-eyed…