The student portal of Université Grenoble Alpes

In the fall, it's time for the Alpine Pasture Descent! But for the 2026 Science Festival, it takes on a scientific flavor this year: several workshops will be offered on Saturday, October 10th, on Rue de Strasbourg in Grenoble. Coordinated by Émilie Cousin, CNRS research engineer at the Laboratory of Psychology and NeuroCognition (LPNC – CNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes), this event brings together scientists from various disciplines to explore the connections between the mountains, our food, and our perception of taste.

Station No. 1: From Stones to Flavors: When the Mountain Feeds Our Plates
With Julia de Sigoyer, professor at Université Grenoble Alpes and researcher at ISTerre (CNRS/IRD/Université Grenoble Alpes/Université Savoie Mont Blanc), to discover the links between rocks, soils and mountain territories.

Station No. 2: From Milk to Cheese: The Science of Transformation
With Pascal Barbet, technical manager of the INRAE ​​experimental Mini-cheese factory in Poligny, to understand and observe the phenomena that allow milk to be transformed into cheese.

Station No. 3: Taste, smell, and brain
With Émilie Cousin and the Laboratory of Psychology and NeuroCognition (LPNC – CNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes). Experiments will allow us to discover how our different senses and our brain construct what we call taste.

Station No. 4: Dare to taste differently: entomophagy
With Aurélie Campagne, Yentl Gautier and Elisa Rivière (LPNC – CNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes) and Agnès Helme-Guizon (CERAG – Université Grenoble Alpes). A station to discover what science tells us about insect consumption and to question our perceptions and eating habits.

Station No. 5: Taste, culture and sharing
With Emma Orsolini, doctoral student at GRESEC – Research Group on Communication Issues (University of Grenoble Alpes). A humanities and social sciences approach to explore how context, representations and social practices contribute to our experience of food.