The Prodigy's Cousin (29 page)

“I think it had some value”
:
Feldman, interview, Feb. 21, 2014.

Along the way, she wrote up her work
:
Joanne Ruthsatz and Douglas K. Detterman, “An Extraordinary Memory: The Case Study of a Musical Prodigy,”
Intelligence
31, no. 6 (2003): 509–18.

“rage to master”
:
Ellen Winner, “The Rage to Master: The Decisive Role of Talent in the Visual Arts,” in
The Road to Excellence: The Acquisition of Expert Performance in the Arts and Sciences, Sports, and Games,
ed. K. Anders Ericsson (Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996), 271–301.

Autism, like prodigy
:
The CDC provides an overview of autism screening and diagnosis at http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/screening.html. To read about a recent interesting effort to identify an autism biomarker, see Tiziano Pramparo et al., “Prediction of Autism by Translation and Immune/
Inflammation Coexpressed Genes in Toddlers from Pediatric Community Practices,”
JAMA Psychiatry
72, no. 4 (2015): 386–94.

Kanner was a psychiatrist
:
For information on the history of autism, see Adam Feinstein,
A History of Autism: Conversations with the Pioneers
(Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and Steve Silberman,
Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
(New York: Avery, 2015).

In 1938, Kanner met Donald T.
:
Leo Kanner, “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact,”
Nervous Child
2 (1943): 217–50.

“extreme autistic aloneness”
:
Ibid., 242.

Such children were often labeled
:
For discussion of former labels for autistic children, see ibid.; Gerald D. Fischbach, “Leo Kanner's 1943 Paper on Autism,” Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (2007); Roy Richard Grinker,
Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism
(New York: Basic Books, 2007).

He published a paper
:
Kanner, “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact.” Kanner used the term “early infantile autism” in “Early Infantile Autism,”
Journal of Pediatrics
25, no. 3 (1944): 211–17.

at a children's clinic in Vienna
:
Adam Feinstein,
History of Autism;
Uta Frith, “Asperger and His Syndrome,” in
Autism and Asperger Syndrome,
ed. Uta Frith (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 1–36.

“highly original genius”
:
Hans Asperger, “‘Autistic Psychopathy' in Childhood,” in Frith,
Autism and Asperger Syndrome,
74.

He began using the term
:
Feinstein,
History of Autism
.

He called it autistic psychopathy
:
There is some wiggle room in this translation. As noted in Frith,
Autism and Asperger Syndrome,
it could also have been translated as “autistic personality disorder” or “autism.”

This view is shifting
:
Silberman,
Neurotribes
.

“fundamental disorder”
:
Kanner, “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact,” 242 (italics removed).

“the shutting-off of relations”
:
Asperger, “‘Autistic Psychopathy' in Childhood,” 39.

In the early autism studies
:
For a discussion of the fluctuation in autism criteria in the early studies, see Michael Rutter, “Diagnosis and Definition of Childhood Autism,”
Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia
8, no. 2 (1978): 139–61. Lorna Wing and Judith Gould's classic 1979 paper also has an excellent overview of the difficulty researchers had distinguishing those who had autism from those who did not, as well as trying to sort out whether there are different types of autism. See “Severe Impairments of Social Interaction and Associated Abnormalities in Children: Epidemiology and Classification,”
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
9, no. 1 (1979): 11–29.

“a pseudodiagnostic wastebasket”
:
Leo Kanner, foreword to
Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behaviour,
by Bernard Rimland (London: Methuen, 1965), v.

autism has gone from a symptom
:
Autism (specifically, “infantile autism”) was first listed separately from childhood schizophrenia in the
DSM-III,
published in 1980.

the diagnostic criteria have shifted
:
There's a good overview of research on this issue (and a finding that using the diagnostic criteria in
DSM-IV-TR
instead of the criteria in
DSM-III
increased the number of people who qualified as autistic) in Judith S. Miller et al., “Autism Spectrum Disorder Reclassified: A Second Look at the 1980s Utah/UCLA Autism Epidemiologic Study,”
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
43, no. 1 (2013): 200–210.

When work began on the most recent edition of the
DSM
:
David J. Kupfer, Michael B. First, and Darrell A. Regier, eds.,
A Research Agenda for DSM-V
(Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 2002).

this change was made
:
“Autism Spectrum Disorder,”
DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder Fact Sheet
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

“Behaviour, however reliably”
:
Uta Frith, “Why We Need Cognitive Explanations of Autism,”
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
65, no. 11 (2012): 2073–92.

In 2001, he and his colleagues
:
Simon Baron-Cohen et al., “The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Males and Females, Scientists and Mathematicians,”
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
31, no. 1 (2001): 5–17.

Autists' family members
:
See, for example, Jennifer Gerdts and Raphael Bernier, “The Broader Autism Phenotype and Its Implications on the Etiology and Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders,”
Autism Research and Treatment
17 (2011); and A. Pickles et al., “Variable Expression of the Autism Broader Phenotype: Findings from Extended Pedigrees,”
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
41, no. 4 (2000): 491–502.

AQ results
:
Joanne Ruthsatz, “Preliminary Evidence: Expanding the Autistic Spectrum to Include Child Prodigies,” in “Behavior Genetics Association 37th Annual Meeting Abstracts,”
Behavior Genetics
37, no. 6 (2007): 734–809.

Chapter 3: The Tiniest Chef

Fellow diners around Manhattan
:
The events in this chapter described by Greg Grossman come from a telephone interview conducted on July 12, 2015. The events in this chapter described by Terre Grossman come from telephone interviews conducted on July 19, 2013, May 1 and June 19,
2014, and Sept. 7, 2015; and e-mail. In addition, Terre provided a written summary of Greg's development, a letter she wrote to one of Greg's teachers, essays Greg wrote, menus Greg prepared, documents from Greg's early business ventures, and photographs.

Greg soon began experimenting
:
Greg Grossman, “Cooking Autobiography” (writing lab assignment), 2007.

Around the time Greg was nine
:
Ibid.

That year, he prepared the meal
:
There is some disagreement over whether this first meal was pan-seared scallops or salmon with cucumbers and turnips. The pan-seared scallops descriptions can be found in ibid., and Michelle Trauring, “Greg Grossman: Chef Prodigy,”
East Hampton Press and Southampton Press,
Jan. 22, 2013.

Around the time he was twelve
:
Greg Grossman, “Introductory Essay” (prepared for Literature and the Law course), 2012; Annie Karni, “A Touch of Classes,”
New York Post,
Dec. 19, 2010; Trauring, “Greg Grossman: Chef Prodigy.” Some news stories have reported that Greg was even younger than twelve when he began working at the East Hampton restaurant.

The Ross School Café
:
Ross School Café menu, http://www.ross.org/menu?rc=0.

When Greg was in fifth grade
:
Greg Grossman, telephone interview, July 12, 2015; Greg Grossman, “Introductory Essay.”

One day in June
:
Information relating to Greg's first catering job comes from a menu he prepared for the event; Barbara Hoffman, “Small Fry,”
New York Post,
Aug. 27, 2008; and Greg Grossman, “Introductory Essay.”

For the rest of the summer
:
Hoffman, “Small Fry”; Barry Gordin, “Gordin's View,”
Dan's Papers,
Aug. 29, 2008.

At the James Beard Foundation's
:
“Teen Chef Greg Grossman, 13, Demo's Paco Jet at Javit's International Restaurant Show,” YouTube video, 1:19, posted by “acookstale,” Nov. 3, 2012; “Aspiring Young Chef, a Ross Student, Caters NYC Gala,” Hamptons.com, May 8, 2009; “Greg Grossman, Alinea's 13-Year-Old Sous Chef,”
Grub Street,
May 18, 2009; “Culinaria Group,”
Modern Arts of the Culinary World,
March 11, 2009.

“coming out party”
:
Andrew Greiner, “Culinary Superstar at Age 13,” NBCNewYork.com, May 18, 2009.

Greg demonstrated how to whip up
:
Christopher Borrelli, “Greg Grossman: Celebrity Chef Is Just 13,”
Chicago Tribune,
May 18, 2009; lobster recipe, 2009 National Restaurant Association demo, May 2009; “Culinaria Group”; “East End's Kiddie Chef Signs Reality-TV Deal,”
Grub Street,
June 8, 2009; Maxine Shen, “Lil' Food Dude,”
New York Post,
June 9, 2009.

The newspapers ribbed him
:
Borrelli, “Greg Grossman: Celebrity Chef Is Just 13”; Shen, “Lil' Food Dude.”

When TV came calling
:
Borrelli, “Greg Grossman: Celebrity Chef Is Just 13”; “Kid Chef Greg Grossman Failed to Wow VIP Guests with Five-Course Meal,”
New York Daily News,
March 15, 2011.

Just one summer after
:
“Greg Grossman Thanks Martha Stewart for Ross School Scholarship and Makes Dessert for 450,” YouTube video, 17:51, posted by “acookstale,” Nov. 3, 2012; Greg Grossman, Twitter entries, July and Aug. 2009.

The conference's host
:
Harold McGee, “Modern Cooking & the Erice Workshops on Molecular & Physical Gastronomy,”
Curious Cook,
last modified 2011; David Arnold, “What About This?,”
Food Arts,
June 2006.

Hervé This
:
Patric Kuh, “Proving It,”
Gourmet,
Jan. 2005; Sally McGrane, “The Father of Molecular Gastronomy Whips Up a New Formula,”
Wired,
July 24, 2007; “The Man Who Unboiled an Egg,”
Observer,
Feb. 2008.

Greg hated the term
:
Greg was not alone in this sentiment. Others closely associated with molecular gastronomy also clarified their feelings about the term. As Heston Blumenthal explained, “Molecular makes it sound complicated . . . and gastronomy makes it sound elitist.” “‘Molecular Gastronomy Is Dead.' Heston Speaks Out,”
Observer,
Dec. 2006. See also Ferran Adrià et al., “Statement on the ‘New Cookery,'”
Observer,
Dec. 9, 2006.

But
from Greg's youngest days
:
Greg Grossman, “Komputer Kid” (business card); Greg Grossman, “Naturefaces” (overview of Naturefaces idea).

But his need to cook
:
Greg Grossman, “Independent Study Proposal: Culinary Technology Lab @Ross,” ca. 2009; Greg Grossman, “Culinary Technology Analysis Report (T1),” ca. 2009; Greg, Twitter entries, fall 2009–spring 2010.

Greg and his team prepared
:
Vicki Jenkins, e-mail.

It's a score meant to reflect
:
“Frequently Asked Questions About the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition,” Thomson Nelson. The memory section of the Stanford-Binet was changed from the fourth edition of the test (which Garrett took) to the fifth edition (which Greg took) so that it focused more on working memory as opposed to short-term memory. The fourth edition also included some working memory components, and all of the other prodigies that Joanne IQ tested were given the fifth edition of the test.

Greg had plenty of amazing-memory anecdotes
:
Terre and Ed Grossman to Greg Grossman's teacher, ca. 2003; Greg Grossman, telephone interview, July 12, 2015.