Chow Down On Our Book Club Pick—Before It’s Extinct

This April and May, The SciFri Book Club team is cooking up all kinds of festivities to celebrate this spring’s Book Club pick, ‘Lost Feast.’

illustrated stack of books with text "scifri book club"

This story is a part of our fall Book Club conversation about ‘Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food.’ Want to participate? Join our new online community space or record a voice message on the Science Friday VoxPop app.


a book cover reads "Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food" by Lenore Newman, with an image of a passenger pigeon laying as if on the book cover with a large x behind it, taking up the entire cover

Mark your calendars, because the Spring 2021 season of the SciFri Book Club kicks off on April 16, 2021. We have sorts of events on the menu—dig in!

Hosting A Lost Feast: How To Protect Flavors And Food Traditions With Author Lenore Newman

  • When: Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. ET
  • Where: Science Friday’s Zoom webinar
  • Tickets: Free with RSVP

Join us for a SciFri Zoom Call-in, where attendees can join Science Friday producers to hear the interview before it is broadcast on our radio show, as well as chat with fellow listeners, ask questions to our guests via chat, and could be selected to ask their question live. 

This time, for the SciFri Book Club, we’re welcoming Lenore Newman, author of this season’s pick, Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food, and Mimi Edelman, I&Me farm operator, food biodiversity advocate, and co-chair of Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste committee. We’ll talk biodiversity, flavor, and how our own choices have impacted both. Bring your burning cultivar and cuisine questions with a side of science!

Rewatch The Event


SciFri Book Club Meeting: The Rise Of Extinction And Fall Of Megafauna

  • When: Monday, April 26, 2021 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. ET
  • Where: Science Friday’s Zoom meeting
  • Tickets: Free with RSVP

We invite all members of the SciFri Book Club community to come together every other week for a Zoom meeting, where you can meet other readers from across the world, talk about the book and the most recent discussion questions, and find out more resources for further reading—all without leaving your home.

This discussion meeting will focus on Section 1 of Lost Feast—you’re welcome to join us if you haven’t completed these chapters, but know there will be mention of specific topics and ideas in the reading.

Rewatch is not available for this event


The Future Of Food: Science, Culinary History And More From ‘Lost Feast’

  • When: Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. ET
  • Where: Science Friday’s Zoom webinar
  • Tickets: Free with RSVP

Join us for a SciFri Zoom Call-in, where attendees can join Science Friday producers to hear the interview before it is broadcast on our radio show, as well as chat with fellow listeners, ask questions to our guests via chat, and could be selected to ask their question live. 

This time, for the SciFri Book Club, join producer Christie Taylor in conversation with Noa Lincoln, Katie Kamelamela, and Melissa K. Nelson. We’ll talk Indigenous food systems, the impact of colonization, and the movement to restore them.

Rewatch The Event


SciFri Book Club Meeting: Cultivars, Cows And Culinary Conservation

  • When: Monday, May 10, 2021 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. ET
  • Where: Science Friday’s Zoom meeting
  • Tickets: Free with RSVP

We invite all members of the SciFri Book Club community to come together every other week for a Zoom meeting, where you can meet other readers from across the world, talk about the book and the most recent discussion questions, and find out more resources for further reading—all without leaving your home.

This discussion meeting will focus on Sections 2 and 3 of Lost Feast—you’re welcome to join us if you haven’t completed these chapters, but know there will be mention of specific topics and ideas in the reading.

This week’s special guest: Beth Shapiro is an evolutionary paleobiologist based at UC Santa Cruz and author How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction. She studies extinct and endangered species, and uses her work to explore the potential of genomic technologies for conservation and medicine.

Rewatch is not available for this event


Lost Feast Online Cooking Class with Science Friday and The League of Kitchens

  • When: Sunday, May 16, 2021 from 4:00 – 6:30 p.m. ET
  • Where: Science Friday’s Zoom meeting
  • Tickets: $75 per device

Want to make a lost feast with other SciFri Book Clubbers, celebrating some of the flavors featured in this season’s pick? We’ve teamed up with The League of Kitchens, a culinary dream-team of women from around the world who create in-person and online cooking classes with instructors who teach you their family recipes and inspire you with their personal stories.

Click here to learn more about this event!

Rewatch is not available for this event


SciFri Trivia Night: Book Club Edition

  • When: Wednesday, May 19, 2020 at 8:30 p.m. ET
  • Where: Science Friday’s YouTube livestream
  • Tickets: Free with RSVP

SciFri Trivia is a weekly gathering that’s part science-y facts, part dance party, and part pop culture romp, and it’s for anyone looking to bring together teams (or bravely play solo) to win ultimate bragging rights. It’s not all science trivia—but this time, we’ve diving into the topics and ideas explored in this Spring’s Book Club pick, Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food.

If you haven’t read the book, you might be at a slight disadvantage to our Book Clubbers but  we still think you should come (and we do suggest you should pick it up from your local library or bookstore)! The trivia will cover topics including but not limited to: pollinators like bees, megafauna like mastodons, island ecosystems, sandy pears, and lots more.

Rewatch is not available for this event


SciFri Book Club Meeting: Protecting Pollinators And The (Possible) Future Of Food

  • When: Monday, May 24, 2021 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. ET
  • Where: Science Friday’s Zoom meeting
  • Tickets: Free with RSVP

We invite all members of the SciFri Book Club community to come together every other week for a Zoom meeting, where you can meet other readers from across the world, talk about the book and the most recent discussion questions, and find out more resources for further reading—all without leaving your home.

This discussion meeting will focus on Section 4 of Lost Feast—you’re welcome to join us if you haven’t completed these chapters, but know there will be mention of specific topics and ideas in the reading.

This week’s special guest: Tom Baumann is an Associate Professor of Agriculture at UFV. He has specialized in growing berries and has a particular interest in greenhouse design and function, greenhouse crop development, specialty crops, and plant growth regulators, and fertility management. Many describe Tom as a fruit hunter.

Rewatch is not available for this event



Meet the Writer

About Diana Plasker

Diana Plasker is the Senior Manager of Experiences at Science Friday, where she creates live events and partnerships to delight and engage audiences in the world of science.

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