'Science Is Served': Small Experiments a la Carte

As is well known, scientific entertainment can be a fruitful way to attract people of any age to science. Depending on the specific purpose, different mixtures of science and amusement can be considered, so emphasizing scientific education with respect to fun aspects or vice versa. Moreover, when proposing "hands-on" activities in such learning contexts, group participation and the development of manual skills are often achieved. Science centres and museums play an important role in this respect. Informal learning is a widely recognized and constantly developing approach to the familiarization of scientific subjects to a large, occasional audience. In this article, the authors propose a new format of scientific entertainment in which customers of a restaurant can order small experiments in place of entrees and drinks. (Contains 3 figures.)