Hairy Bikers & Science Careers

It’s been my longtime wish to explore the pastures of different careers that a science degree could award; and write them in a series of articles titled, “Alternative Science Careers”. So here I start it (again) with this prologue!

For some people, science is merely a subject that provides a paying job, but for some others like me, it’s life and breath, beyond the bread. I would never think twice to go an extra mile to discover any quirkiness that science could bring me on any topic that I like.

Food is one of those topics. None can ignore the relationship between food and science — physics of food texture or cooking, the chemistry of flavours, the health impact of different foods, medicinal effect of any ingredient, and so on and so forth, to keep appending this list.

I was watching @HairyBikers today on @bbcgoodfood. The episode was all about food preservation. Simon King and Dave Myers went all the way up to the 18th century (metaphorically, of course) to discover the British tradition of food preservation — where had the Brits learned to bottle and can meat and veggies, how different families helped the “evolution” of tastes using a variety of these preserved foods.

King and Myers reminded me of my microbiology books from my bachelor course, only much more interesting and appealing. From people’s experiments of bottling food in champagne bottles to military’s purchase of the pioneer canned foods, they combed through a variety of subjects within minutes — a very interdisciplinary and very tantalising way of catering science. Do I see a career there? Maybe! Who knows someone else — who’s reading this piece — may overtake me!

This is what it’s all about — finding tantalising opportunities to set off your career from being in your comfort zone. This is where alternative careers come into the picture.

A few years ago, I wrote a looonnggg piece for my blog on more than 15 alternative science careers. What I did there was to only list them with my understanding and observation. What I missed there was to find good and inspiring examples. That’s what I’m going to do in this refreshed series of my posts on alternative science careers… One at a time!

I hope to post as frequently as possible. Let’s see how ambitious I am in catering you the list I have. See you soon…