ACS hosts bake-off March 24th honoring professor

Truman State’s American Chemical Society Club is hosting a bake-off March 24. The event is dedicated to Chemistry Professor Anne Moody who teaches a course on food chemistry.

One of the social chairs for ACS, junior Ella Smith, said the chemistry department is influenced by Moody’s course. “People talk about baking more, I think, in Magruder and in clubs because she’s a baker,” said Smith.

“Food is an important thing and I feel like particularly students short change their nutrition because they just want something fast,” said Moody. “If you know how to cook, there are a lot of really fast things you could do, but if you don’t know you can do that then you just pick up a box from the store which is not as healthy.”

The president of ACS senior Chris Beersman said the event didn’t start as dedicated to Moody but is influenced by her class, which he is enrolled in. Beersman said contestants should “try to make everything themselves but can purchase anything they need.”

Smith said she and the other social chairs are reaching out to ACS members, members of the chemistry fraternity, and other friends of club members who are known to bake. “We trust that there’s a lot of bakers and people who cook on campus because I think [Moody’s] class brings that out of you,” said Smith. 

Smith said the club is planning to enforce teams of two for the competition. She plans to compete and emcee the event.

Beersman said he would be judging the bake off along with Moody and another chemistry professor, Barbara Kramer. Smith said the judging categories would include taste, appearance and an extra point system for competitors who can explain the chemistry behind their recipes.

Beersman said the bake off requires more planning than the ACS club’s usual events. During the fall semester, the advisor for ACS told Beersman the club hosted regular bake offs and other large events before the pandemic in 2020. 

“I like this step we’re taking,” said Smith. “I think one of the main things is Moody’s the food chem teacher and we definitely wanted her to be the judge and she’s a big baker, but she’s not gonna be here next year.”

This is the fifth spring where Moody has taught her food chemistry course, but the concept started in 2013. Moody said the class started as a one-on-one reading workshop with a student, then in 2015 she and another student incorporated the part of the course where they would make food every other week, originally at Moody’s house.

The course now meets on Mondays and Wednesdays. They are assigned readings from a chemistry textbook or cookbook for Wednesdays and have until Mondays to make their own meals related to class lessons.

“They take videos of themselves cooking,” said Moody, “and then they have to taste it and evaluate what they would do differently, if they liked it and if they would ever make this recipe again.”