What does math have to do with food? Plenty if you are a chef or cook, you know about measurements and such but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about last night’s Taste of Math event at the Orange County Fair and Event Center. The Taste of Math is the fundraising event supporting the MIND Research Institute‘s Math Fair. The event featured local restaurants Villa Roma, Tacos & Co, Fuddruckers, The Dirty Cookie, Cielito Lindo, Le Petite Spoon, Crazy Rock’n Sushi, Mother’s Market & Kitchen,Zapien’s Salsa Grill & Taqueria, Spectra, Citizen Kitchen, SubZero, Cress Restaurant, High School Inc. and Pizzeria Mozza and the Campbell Soup Company. Attendees got a preview of the Math Fair, which opened to the public the next day.
One of the highlights of the evening was Dr. Eugenia Cheng‘s Mobius strip demonstration. Dr Cheng is the best-selling author of ” How to Bake Pi.” We did a hands-on activity creating mobius strips first out of paper then later dough for mobius strip pizzas! (Thanks Pizzeria Mozza!)
Here are some of the dishes that were served.
From left: Crazy Rockin Sushi, Villa Roma’s Empanada and the Dirty Cookie
Community leaders who have made a significant impact in math education were also honored at the Taste of Math Event, including: Lisa Gonzales-Solomon, Principal of Madison Elementary in Santa Ana, and 2015 National Distinguished Principal; Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America; and Marian Bergeson, the late former California Secretary of Education and MIND Research board member.
The next day, I took my son to attend the Math Fair, just like we did two years ago at UC Irvine. He has grown up with Jiji the Pegnuin and ST Math and that’s exactly what he told Dr. Matthew Peterson, co-founder of the MIND Research Institute, when they met. We enjoyed learning about the origin of math and spent most of our time there. Thousands of children attended the free event.
From left to right: My son met Matthew Peterson, PhD, founder of MIND, playing games, Jiji the Penguin at the Step and Repeat.
For more information on the MIND Research Insitute and Jiji Math, visit mindresearch.org
