What They Didn't Teach Me in Food Science

This is a series of posts in which I share snippets of what it's like to be a food scientist. As a product developer for dry powder shakes, there are some lessons I never learned in school and some challenges I never saw coming.  

 

Unexpected Challenge: You must play a game (AND WIN) before you can start your work. The name of that game is "Level the Scale".

Let's say your work involves weighing out fruit, vegetable and protein powders. This work involves a scale. You can't use that scale until the little bubble is in the circle. Getting the bubble in the circle is harder than it seems, and when you finally get it in the circle, the victory does not last but one day. Since the counter-tops are covered in a thin layer of dust by the end of the day, you must move the scale (thus resetting the bubble) to properly clean your workspace before you go home.

 
I never had to play this game as an undergrad or in grad school because there was always a group of people using the scale after me. I wasn't permitted to move the scale so I never had to readjust it. Every new lab session, the bubble would already be in its proper place.




Rest assured, this is a game anyone can master after awhile, but it's always fun to watch the newbies struggle with adjusting the height of the scale's four legs. Before I had developed my winning strategy, it once took me 25 minutes to level the scale. Lets just say it seems the person who built that table must've had a hard time with the bubble in their level too.

Now it only takes me one minute or two to level the scale, and it's a challenge I've come to enjoy. Nonetheless, this is one of the many lessons I never learned in school. 


 Next Lesson - The Trouble with Xanthan
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Stay tuned for more lessons from the lab. 
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