While at Boston University, Sydney focused her research on food history and gender. She presented a paper on the topic of gender dynamics in professional and domestic kitchens at the 2009\u00a0Association for the Study of Food and Society<\/a>\u00a0(ASFS) conference at Penn State. Her program thesis chronicled the once controversial but now forgotten oyster wars of the eastern United States that occurred between mid-19th<\/sup>\u00a0to mid-20th<\/sup>\u00a0century. \u201cThese wars were all over the newspapers for over 100 years! There were pirates and gunfights\u2026really exciting stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n After graduating in 2009, Sydney satiated her craving to learn more about food by working as a cheesemonger for\u00a0Formaggio Kitchen<\/a>\u00a0<\/cite>in Cambridge, MA, and free-lancing as a food writer. She passed down her practical food knowledge to others as an instructor at\u00a0Create A Cook<\/a>\u00a0in Newton, MA. She then moved on to work as a Product Development Chef for\u00a0Nestle<\/a>\u00a0in Haverhill, MA. Sydney has since plunged into the sweet world of chocolate as a Chocolate Maker for\u00a0Taza Chocolate<\/a>, Somerville MA. She also has two reoccurring columns with\u00a0\u201cSerious Eats,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0testing and writing delectable brunch and supper recipes, from scotch eggs to beer braised pork shanks. Follow Sydney on \u201cSerious Eats\u201d or her personal blog,\u00a0\u201cEating Nose to Tail.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Sydney](\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/files\/2012\/03\/sydneyoland.jpg?w=221\" "\\"Sydney")
<\/a>Before enrolling in the Gastronomy program at BU, Sydney took classes at\u00a0The Cambridge Culinary School of Arts<\/a>\u00a0where she cultivated her interest in cooking. \u201cI was looking to get more involved in food, to study food on a physical, interactive level.\u201d Sydney then worked as an intern for the renowned recipe magazine,\u00a0America\u2019s Test Kitchen<\/a>\u00a0based in Brookline, MA. There, Sydney honed her recipe development and writing skills.<\/p>\n