Does a culinary background complement a science degree?

I am definitely an Alton Brown fan, especially for his show "Good Eats." I love how he talks about the "why" in cooking and making food. I find it so interesting. I researched his background and he went to NECI to get his culinary education. On the NECI website, there is an article about Alton Brown and he made a flash video as a talk to future students. Here's the link: http://www.necialumni.com/profile_altonbrown.html?q=alton_brown.html# In his video (if you click on the link), he talks about the culinary industry. He says that a culinary background really complements a degree in one of the sciences in the industries. I trust AB with almost everything he says, but he only has a degree in drama to go with his culinary education. I'm going into mechanical engineering (aka science degree) and I love to cook and find the science of cooking very fascinating. So, my question is: Would a culinary background complement a science degree, such as engineering? Thanks everyone.

Public Comments

1. I suppose that if you went to work for a company which designed kitchen equipment it could have some use, but otherwise, I don't see it. There are some people with science (mostly chemistry) degrees who have gone into the culinary industry later on and whose chemistry background has helped them to understand food chemistry - and there is that whole molecular gastronomy movement where doing weird things with the food seems to matter more than it tasting good - but I can't see how culinary knowledge could possibly enhance knowledge of science or, especially, engineering. It does make a good hobby, though!
2. Well, "complement" can mean a lot of things. It might mean that he thinks it makes one well-rounded, and on that point I'd agree. There are some chemical and biological processes that are involved in cookery, and it's always enlightening to hear Alton Brown explain how, for example, the proteins in egg whites change to make a meringue or how the micro-organisms create yogurt. But as previous responder said, that's more a case of science enlightening cuisine than of the two complementing one another in any technical sense.