Kenji Lopez-Alt: Food-Science Whiz

These 40 up-and-comers—all 40 years old or younger—are changing the way Americans eat and drink, from a vodka distiller who rewrote Nebraska's Prohibition-era laws to a White House chef who's fiercely fighting to improve school-lunch programs.

Kenji Lopez-Alt: Food-Science Whiz

Photo courtesy of Kenji Alt.

An MIT grad and chef, Kenji Lopez-Alt, 31, has earned a fanatical following for his blog, the Food Lab, by demystifying cooking techniques like sous vide (his version involves a plastic cooler) and cheerfully creating a homemade In-N-Out burger. "Understanding what goes on behind a recipe is the best way to become a better cook," he says. "If you get why something works one time, you can do it again." His first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, comes out next fall.

Plus Go to the Food Lab website