Culinology Club Wageningen is a student-led community of the RCA Europe region located in Wageningen, right next to Wageningen University & Research and the Food Valley.

In the US the organization is well established with many professionals actively involved in the creation of new events and gatherings in which they share new information about the food industry. RCA is also well established in universities in the US with many of them serving as regional hubs with many student members.

Our goal is to do the same for Europe, and see Wageningen as a great place to start due to its great food technology programs but also its positioning in the food valley. This gives us a lot of opportunities for collaboration with companies around the region.

Our main aim is to build a community of students who are passionate about culinology and food as a whole and will seek out opportunities to expand their network and knowledge in the field.

Culinology is in its simplicity a field focused on the blending of culinary arts and the science of food.

For starters, culinology is a term whose integrity is protected by RCA having registered it as a trademark. Culinology is a young and fast-growing discipline that connects everyone working at the intersection of food science and culinary arts. While culinology strictly speaking focuses on the improvement of product development via the combined knowledge and skills obtained from food science and culinary arts, what is relevant for us as a student society is to learn how the culinary world and the science of food can be linked together, and experience food from a perspective that is unique.

The field of culinology is relevant and necessary in the food industry as it brings together two key aspects required to make product development as successful as possible; one – the scientific understanding necessary to create food items that can be mass produced and sold in stores, and two - the creative, culinary insight needed to make products taste as good as possible and as close to the “from scratch” versions of foods made at home or in a restaurant. This approach brings a new angle towards food research and product development, aiming to improve the taste, quality, and consistency of new food products.

In practice, the essence of culinology is internalized in the role of a research chef, who specializes in making new products for food companies; they combine those creative culinary skills with scientific expertise, to develop or improve recipes. A culinologist will have an excellent grasp of various topics, such as cooking principles and culinary fundamentals, formula and recipe development, food safety, flavour building, and many, many more. The skills and knowledge that are obtained from the study of culinology are relevant for any food scientist though – the more approaches taken to investigate food and cooking the clearer the understanding one gains, regardless of their main focus in the food world.