Viking Magazine - June 2018 - 17

serves as chairman). " We've known for
decades now that our existing energy
system, which still relies on fossil
fuels for about 80 percent of energy
production, is pumping greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere that will
inevitably cause the planet to warm in
coming generations. Renewable sources
like wind and solar have been gaining
ground, but not quickly enough, " he
says. " We should be doing more to
make nuclear power, which does scale
to the large sizes we need without eating
up the entire landscape. " To that end,
TerraPower has designed a prototype
nuclear reactor (with a startup goal by
the mid-2020s) that Myhrvold says will
be safer, cleaner and cheaper than the
reactors of old.
For a man who made his career
inventing and strategizing, these are
not entirely surprising evolutions. The
more unexpected plot twist, perhaps,
is Myhrvold's post-Microsoft forays
into his " life of fascinations, " as he
puts it. Those fascinations have been
far-reaching - from scuba diving to
dinosaurs (he has a full T. rex skeleton
in his living room), Formula One
car-racing to award-winning wildlife
photography, extraterrestrial life to
the science of cooking. That last one
has helped Myhrvold make a name for
himself in a completely different sphere:
that of molecular gastronomy, or what
he calls modernist cooking. Myhrvold
started to dive into culinary arts during
his Microsoft days, moonlighting at a
Seattle restaurant toward the end of his
time there and taking a leave of absence
to get his culinary diploma at École
de Cuisine La Varenne. But in recent
years he's brought the fuller force of
his scientific mind and experimental
approach to his culinary endeavors.
Like the gifted scientist he is, Myhrvold
created a cooking lab in Bellevue full of
research chefs, scientists and state-ofthe-art
equipment (think centrifuges,
not just sauté pans) to write a 2011
book that made waves in the molecular
gastronomy world - the five-part,
2,438-page " Modernist Cuisine:
The Art and Science of Cooking, " a
veritable encyclopedia of high-tech
cooking.
His most recent book, " Modernist
Bread, " is another behemoth, at five
volumes and 2,642 pages. It features
more than 1,500 recipes fine-tuned
from 1,600-plus experiments, not just
accepting but testing and expanding
upon the long history of bread
techniques and ingredients from around
the world - including Norway, which
Myhrvold visited during his research. " I
ate at some of the excellent restaurants
like Maaemo, a two-Michelin-star
place in Oslo that is one of the few in
the world that offers a high-end wheat
(hvete) course as part of its 10-course
tasting menu. It's inspiring to see
Norwegian chefs giving breads the
attention and creativity they deserve as
a true component of a meal, " he says.
So, with such an illustrious and
varied first 58 years behind him, what
does this forward-looking strategist see
next for his own future? " Asteroids
and pizza, " he quips. " Those may
not have much in common, but both
have certainly had a big impact on the
world! " That includes working with
a group of astronomers at UCLA to
analyze asteroid observations, as well
as traveling to Italy to study pizza for
his next book. " We are doing more
research and experimentation on pizza
with the goal of producing a new book
focused on this novel food that took
the world by storm and has spawned
endless arguments and myths but also
enormous culinary creativity, " he says.
It's safe to assume that Myhrvold's
sharp mind and penchant for adventure
will keep leading him to new frontiers.
And we'll be excited to see (and taste)
what he finds.
From modernist cooking to hunting for
asteroids, Myhrvold's inventive spirit and
curious mind push new frontiers.
sonsofnorway.com VIKING JUNE 2018 17
PHOTOS (TOP TO BOTTOM): COURTESY THE COOKING LAB, LLC, COURTESY OF MODERNIST CUISINE, BY EVAN MCGLINN

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Viking Magazine - June 2018

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