INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

COOKING TALENTS, MASTERY OF MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS, LAND PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR IN PROFESSIONAL COOK BOOK

INDIANAPOLIS - You wouldn't expect to find a psychology professor cited as the consulting author for the instructor's manual to "Professional Baking."

Yet that is just where Drew Appleby takes the cake.

Appleby, professor and director of undergraduate studies in psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), developed the multiple choice test questions included in the manual for the third edition of "Professional Baking," published earlier this year.

"Professional Baking" isn't just any ol' cookbook.

The book - and a companion volume, "Professional Cooking" - are the bibles of the culinary arts, and are used as textbooks at colleges, universities and cooking schools internationally, including Le Cordon Bleu of Paris, considered the Harvard of culinary schools.

Appleby also developed test questions for the edition of "Professional Cooking" published in 1999.

It is not common to find someone from outside the cooking profession to write such questions, said Wayne Gisslen, author of both cooking textbooks. Good multiple-choice questions must first test a person's knowledge of the subject, and second, provide plausible wrong answers among the possible choices, he said.

"I was looking for someone who really understood multiple-choice questions. Drew is just very good at that," Gisslen said.

For Appleby, who began cooking while earning his undergraduate degree in psychology, a kitchen is like a science lab - a place for exploration, discovery and testing.

"Science is not always test tubes. Sometimes it's cookies and spatulas," Appleby said.

"Baking is a science," the IUPUI professor explained. "You have to be a chemist to be a good baker. You have to know how the ingredients will interact. You have to be a biologist. You use living organisms like yeast. You have to be a mathematician because you have to calculate a variety of different measurements. You also have to be psychologist. You have to know how your customers are going to respond to what you are cooking."

The test questions Appleby contributed to "Professional Cooking" were actually among the 400 questions that he developed for a class project while taking a cooking course almost six years ago.

Appleby offered his questions to Gisslen's publisher after learning that the teacher's manual to the book included a limited number of test questions.

The professor calls himself the "unofficial caterer" of the IUPUI psychology department. He caters the meals served at induction ceremonies for Psi Chi, the department's honor society, and also cooks for the department's open house.

Last fall's open house menu was a tasty spread that included such delights as Swedish meatballs, mimosa shrimp, ham and pate roulades, Hawaiian ham, and raspberry mocha mousse cake.

The IUPUI professor's love affair with the culinary arts includes a collection of more than 500 cookbooks.

"I read cookbooks like some people read novels," Appleby said.

As a child, Appleby was always fascinated by his mother's culinary skills; however, he didn't come into his own in a kitchen until he was an undergraduate student at Simpson College. Out of necessity, he assumed the duties of apartment cook while his roommate carried out the cleaning chores.

His first dish?

"Macaroni and cheese in a box," Appleby recalled.

###

Return to IUPUI Home