{"id":1119,"date":"2016-03-29T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.porticomagazine.ca\/?p=1119"},"modified":"2020-10-28T14:40:32","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T18:40:32","slug":"food-science-building-130-p-m-on-feb-2-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/porticomagazine.ca\/2016\/03\/food-science-building-130-p-m-on-feb-2-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Science Building, 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 2, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Renaissance collectors accumulated their treasures in rooms called cabinets of curiosities. Today, Prof. Massimo Marcone\u2019s office in U of G\u2019s Food Science Building is a wunderkammer<\/em> whose collections reflect his world travels in search of exotic edibles \u2014 and light bulbs.<\/p>\n

Arrayed on glass shelves, dozens of bell jars display unusual delicacies and associated paraphernalia collected by the U of G researcher from five continents over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

On his office shelves are Kopi Luwak coffee beans harvested from an Indonesian civet cat\u2019s feces to make the world\u2019s most expensive java, selling for $600 a pound. He also has argan nuts excreted by tree-climbing goats in Morocco and pressed to yield salad dressing oil. Elsewhere are ant eggs, putrefied shark meat, Italian cheese made using maggots and morel mushrooms hunted in North American forests.<\/p>\n

Marcone, a three-time Guelph grad, has used his biochemistry background to probe these foods\u2019 contents, including how coffee beans change inside the civet\u2019s digestive tract. He wrote about the allure and science of world delicacies in his books In Bad Taste?<\/em> (2007) and Acquired Tastes<\/em> (2010).<\/p>\n

$3,600: Highest price Marcone has paid for a single antique light bulb \u2014 it\u2019s the bulb used as an exhibit in a court case won by Thomas Edison over patent infringement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also in Marcone\u2019s cabinet of curiosities are hundreds of antique light bulbs, including a collection of carbon-filament lamps made between 1885 and 1910. One private collector says Marcone\u2019s bulb collection might be worth up to $50,000.<\/p>\n

Flicking a switch, he turns a wall cabinet of bulbs aglow. \u201cI\u2019m working in light that goes back 130 years,\u201d says Marcone, who started his collection about 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

The collection is partly a nod to the perseverance of Thomas Edison, inventor of the first long-lasting light bulb in 1879. \u201cWithout his invention, I would be working in the office with a candle or lantern. It\u2019s pushed us forward by light years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 ANDREW VOWLES<\/p>\n

View more images from this story<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renaissance collectors accumulated their treasures in rooms called cabinets of curiosities. Today, Prof. Massimo Marcone\u2019s office in U of G\u2019s Food Science Building is a wunderkammer whose collections reflect his world travels in search of exotic edibles \u2014 and light bulbs. Arrayed on glass shelves, dozens of bell jars display unusual delicacies and associated paraphernalia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":null,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":null},"categories":[15],"tags":[123,62,122],"yoast_head":"\nFood Science Building, 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 2, 2016 -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/porticomagazine.ca\/2016\/03\/food-science-building-130-p-m-on-feb-2-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food Science Building, 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 2, 2016 -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Renaissance collectors accumulated their treasures in rooms called cabinets of curiosities. 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