My Food Job Rocks!

I happened to be in San Francisco and met up with Siddharth at the JUST office. After an amazing tour of the place, we sat down in one of their rooms and I busted out my new equipment, a sound box where I could improve the audio quality of mics If you're interested in product development or want some skills to improve, I'd listen to this interview as we pour out our strategies and frustrations on scaling up. You’ll also learn some interesting tips on how to improve your own R and D process. A note, the audio might sound a bit off, and I apologize. New technology is tricky, but we’ll nail it. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. *NEW* Patreon Due to our ad cycle being over, we’re trying a different model for My Food Job Rocks. We have opened up a Patreon page! Now you can support My Food Job Rocks if you want to and the reward tiers go from a complementary career advice book to ad placement and more. We’d love for you to be part of the process. Visit Patreon.com/myfoodjobrocks Shownotes A quick story about my experience with Hampton Creek, or JUST shownotes: http://letters.eatjust.com/dear-23-year-old http://myfoodjobrocks.com/?attachment_id=2529 Shownotes on Siddharth Bhide When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you say?: I differentiate between nutrition and food science and research chefs JUST name change What do you do at JUST?: I do a lot, mainly scale up and commercializing products When did you start working for JUST?: I started in November 2015. What is the most exciting thing about your job?: Learning about all of these plant proteins How do you test all of these plant proteins?: We have a sourcing team, an isolation team, and then it goes to the application team What kind of misconceptions would you like to dispel today?: Asking a food scientist if they’re good at cooking is like asking an electrical engineer to fix your computer How did you find out about food science?: I always learned about food in my family. When it was time to choose my major, food science popped out as an option. I worked in India in the Nespresso line, then got my masters in Rutgers. I worked in General Mills and then the Rutgers Innovation Center How did you get into JUST?: Look for people who care about the mission. It’s also nice to work with very similar products What is the most important skill you need in your job?: Being inquisitive and thinking outside of the box because of this all new development. Critical Thinking is also very important How do you acquire knowledge on plant-based innovation?: I follow the news Good Food Institute Institute of Food Technologist Google Scholar with any keywords based on clean plant-based proteins, etc Saskatoon, Canada My Food Job Rocks: I get to work with a basic necessity that can impact lives Favorite JUST product: Cookie Dough What would be your dream job title?: I actually don’t know. I’m just trying to explore Is it ok to not know where you’re going?: Yes, but you should try different things What do you look for at the job?: I need to be challenged and always learning What department interests you the most?: Scaling up is what I find the most interesting because we don’t learn it in college Lumeng Jin – Sensory Scientist Do you recommend product development competitions?: Yes, you realize you need to solve a problem. You also learn a lot of nuances. It’s better to use this experience for a job interview Siddharth did Developing Solutions for Developing Countries Product Development competitions ask you how to ask for help The biggest issue is learning about scale up, especially from a  copacker What is your favorite trend and technology?: Clean meat and plant-based meat. Also, high-pressure processing Holly Guacamole How do you feel about clean meat?: I think it’s the future. The media is expensive, but we hope our plant based database can help us pinpoint the right nutrient broth Fetal Bovine Serum R and D presentations JUST has 6 divisions and share information all the time The biggest challenge the food industry has to face: The population is rising and we need to feed them. Mea production is detrimental to the environment. Gustav Y-combinator podcast interview Zengineer podcast Who inspired you to get into food?: My parents. Nestle manager. Dr. Don Schaffner was actually my adviser (he was in My Food Job Rocks) Favorite Quote: Mahatma Gandi: be the change you want to see Favorite Foods: A spice, a friend of mine packages it in turmeric foods Turmeric needs to be solubilized in oil for it to take in effect. Any advice for anyone in the food industry?: Go for it, be inquisitive. Anyone can join the food industry What would you tell someone on the first day in their job?: Don’t be too fixated by the problem. You have to think of the bigger picture and some solutions don’t have to be perfect Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melveen and I met on LinkedIn, she actually worked with a classmate of mine, Greg Yasuda,  and I wanted her on the show because she had some really good content on improving the next generation of the workforce, the millennials. Though as a millennial, I prefer the term young professionals. Not only that, but she’s been an HR rep in the food industry for a long time in really big companies. Recently forming her own company, her big focus is coaching millennial or young professionals to excel at our jobs and she strategies with corporations to help them unleash potential in their current workforce. In this episode, I ask a lot of questions a lot of people are scared to talk about when it comes to general career advice. We go into how to ask good questions at work, or how to write an email to your boss, how to dress for an interview, or write a thank you note and a great discussion about improving manufacturing jobs. You’ll also learn a bit about the Land O Lakes pet food and crop input business. Who knew? About Melveen Melveen Stevenson is the CEO and founder of M.S.Elemental, LLC, a human resources and business advisory firm based in Los Angeles, California. As a certified HR professional with a background in accounting and finance, she helps companies to navigate the human resources “jungle” of compliance, human capital, and leadership challenges. By using an encompassing business approach, she helps to strengthen the infrastructure of organizations from the inside out, specifically through leadership development, operations, training, employee engagement, and career coaching. Over the last 17 years, Melveen has held leadership positions in human resources operations, supply chain, and talent management at international companies in food manufacturing, medical products, and consumer products. She has also worked internationally. Melveen began her career in accounting and international banking. With an inspired desire to support and drive organizational success through human capital, she redirected her career and obtained her MBA at Michigan State University’s Eli Broad Graduate School of Management. Melveen is certified through the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM-SCP) and the Human Resources Certification Institute (SPHR).  In addition, she is certified in Extended DiSC® and is a Certified Holistic Health Practitioner. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melveenstevenson/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/m.s.elemental/ Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. *NEW* Patreon Due to our ad cycle being over, we’re trying a different model for My Food Job Rocks. We have opened up a Patreon page! Now you can support My Food Job Rocks if you want to and the reward tiers go from a complementary career advice book, to ad placement and more. We’d love for you to be part of the process. Visit Patreon.com/myfoodjobrocks Show Notes What is a common characteristic of food employees?: A common curiosity. They want to know the whole industry. What do you do in a sentence or less?: I coach millennials and I am in HR consulting About Millennials: Myth about millennials about being lazy and don’t work hard. The best performing person on my team is a millennial. They were hungry and willing to do anything to help an organization Millennials can speak up to the older generation, but you have to speak up How can you speak up to upper management?:To put yourself out there is to ask questions. The best way to ask questions is to ask for feedback on how someone would approach the problem. How should young people write an email?: Condense and concise. Know the language like FYI. Sometimes, you might need to ask your boss about answering your emails after hours Can you describe the steps it took to get to where you are today?: I used to be in accounting. You have to make judgements even though it is a black and white situation. I worked as an accountant in two companies and I learned that I loved working with people, MBA: I went to Michigan State university for a human resources and strategy. MBA allowed me to get a clean slate in HR. Look for a university with high placement rate. Then got a job with General Mills Career Tip: Keep in touch with your old employers. They might hire you back Land O Lakes: They do animal feed? The non dog and cat animal feed Land O Lakes also does butter and crop input You jumped ship to start your own consulting firm, why?: I wanted to go into coaching millennials and my focus turned from a corporate HR leader to a HR consultant who can utilize the people in their workforce more effectively Tips companies can use to make the current workforce happy Flexibility: To have the ability to work at home Overall, you have to look into each individual and see what would make them happy. My Food Job Rocks: I can see the turnaround and shift from people from being stuck to being successful. For companies, I love seeing companies supercharge their workers Do you have any advice for manufacturing plants to improve production?: Observe the processing cycle and pick up the skills and knowledge. You can understand the nuances of manufacturing and improve efficiencies. You’ll get more leverage too. You also have to focus on yourself. You, Inc or Adam Inc. Pick up all of the skills you need and in 15 months, leave graciously. What are people looking for today to get a job?: Application Do your research. Glassdoor, LinkedIn, etc. the 2nd level connections are much more receptive on LinkedIn actually. Your resume or LinkedIn profile must be professionally professional. They also have to sync up correctly. Interviews Research the place you will be interviewing. It leaves a bad impression if you can’t complete the tour. Thank You Notes Handwritten: Thank you for talking to me, I really enjoyed talking about xyz. Send it ASAP. General Advice for anyone who wants to go into the food industry: Be absolutely curious. To land a job, you should keep up with the trends to show you’re up to date. Bring in your experience or education. For example, if you’re interested in sustainability, you have to show that you’ve done sustainability projects in the past. If they see that they need your project, they will probably hire you. We are in a time where the employee can choose the job. Where can we find you for advice?: On linkedin Melveen Stevenson Generation Z Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Foodgrads Ambassadors program is an opportunity for students in Canada to explore the food industry by getting involved and educating college students about the food industry. Veronica and Yenci have benefitted well with the program as both now have jobs in the food science area. Veronica just recently got a job in Quality Assurance and Yenci is a product developer at Campbell’s Soup. Today we learn about how and why they became foodgrads ambassadors. The most important thing is that we see a fresh perspective of the newest people who have entered the food industry and we talk a lot about the pain points that a lot of students struggle with when it comes to finding a food job. We hope that if you are a student or new professional, that this episode motivates you to contact Nicole Gallace at Foodgrads, and to get involved *NEW* Patreon Due to our ad cycle being over, we’re trying a different model for My Food Job Rocks. We have opened up a Patreon page! Now you can support My Food Job Rocks if you want to and the reward tiers go from a complementary career advice book, to ad placement and more. We’d love for you to be part of the process. Visit Patreon.com/myfoodjobrocks Show Notes Foodgrads Ambassador Program: A system set up by Foodgrads. Youtube: Foodgrads youtube channel The Foodgrads Ambassadors program has about 10 people. 7 are interested in the states. All you have to do is contact Nicole@foodgrads.com What are the general questions you guys get as Foodgrads Ambassadors: They either wanted to know more about the food industry or more about Foodgrads. Why did you decide to join the campus ambassadors program?: Veronica: I worked at a career fair first and found that there were no food jobs. Eventually, I did blogs and videos. Yenci: I followed Nicole on LinkedIn for some time and Nicole gave a talk in our university so I wanted to help out. Why do you think people are going to the Foodgrads Ambassador program?: Students not in food science can meet people in the food industry and ask questions. Veronica Hislop’s 7 facts series. There are no websites for these food jobs. Students can have a voice in the industry. The blog is an outlet to have students to write. What got you guys interested in food science?: Both didn’t know food science was a career until someone told them about it Taste Your Future: Food and Beverage Ontario which is funded by the government. It’s an initiative from Food and Beverage Ontario For every one graduate, there are 4 jobs in the industry What type of food trends really: Sustainability and Culture, and what we eat What’s one thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: A lot of the food jobs aren’t known and I want to find them out because I might be interested in them. I would also ask, what makes a good food scientist and what would make me a good food product developer. How would you solve the problem of showing food blogs?: All we really need is someone to go and tell us about their job. There should be both an online presence and in person. For example, there are too many names for job titles like product development What’s your favorite quote, book or kitchen item?: Veronica:Become who you are. One of my favorite books is “the earth of ides”. Yenci: Kindness is key and all will happen when it should. University of Guelph motto: "Rerum cognoscere causas," a quote from Virgil meaning "To learn the meaning of reality." Favorite Food: In Colombia, a really good Potato soup. Ajiaco Soup The advice in the Food Industry: Veronica: It doesn’t matter what your background is, just go out and talk. People are generally friendly Yenci: Ask questions. Asking questions is a craft. Where can we find you?: Veronica on Linkedin, send a message! Yenci Gomez, message on LinkedIn. Contact Nicole with Foodgrads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out our slides here This episode is a bonus episode where I rehearse the two little presentations I did in the past two weeks. I was wondering how I was going to practice them, so I thought...well, I have the mic and the script, why not practice through a podcast! Unfortunately, these rehearsals are not the final product, but they might be more informative than the final product because it has me flesh out my thoughts a bit more. The timeframe I had to complete these presentations is much shorter than what you will be hearing today, but perhaps that's a good thing. Here is a little background of the two presentations: On July 10th, Berkeley for the Developing Future Foods Seminar was an event hosted by Alex Shirazi, who does the Cultured Meat Symposium and a killer podcast.  I found his podcast really cool and we actually met at Food Funded in San Francisco. I was helping another person podcasting at the time so I helped him improve his podcast in terms of strategy and audio improvements.  Alex asked me to be a speaker at this one and with some encouragement from my co-founder, I did so and rocked it. This was the first time in a while I did a live presentation but after I was done, people kept on coming and talking to me, which is probably a good sign. This was the same result with IFT. On July 16th, I joined the first ever IGNITE Session, which takes 6 passionate young professionals and they build a presentation to inspire others by discussing a pivotal point in their career.  The people they choose relate to IFT award winners, young board members, people who create communities, and me. Debra Zabloudil did a great job facilitating this, and I've worked with her before at the Emerging Leader Network last year. I was chosen to do my presentation twice. One in the middle of the expo hall and another at a New Professionals Networking event. It was really fun and a lot of people came and talked to me. Every discussion I had was fruitful and inspiring. On Friday, expect an article about public speaking tips. I think that's what I'll be calling the article. It gives you my philosophy on public speaking as long as some tangible tips I use, such as cutting your hair last minute, to rock your speech. You can also find the slides on the top of the shownotes at myfoodjobrocks.com/131presentation Overall, the experience of public speaking was really energizing. If you want me to speak anywhere, let me know. Email me at podcast@myfoodjobrocks.com and we can set something up. No ads this time, this one is a freebie. Note: These are very rigid scripts and most were made to flesh out content than to be conveyed, but this is the raw version of the content. The cooked version is volatile and colorful, which is only beneficial when seen live. Berkeley Event Hi everyone, I’m Adam Yee. Let’s ask a few diagnostics questions before going with this. Raise your hand if you know what food science is. Raise your hand if you have a science degree Raise your hand if you have a business degree Ok thanks! One more question: What does innovation mean to you? What I’m going to teach you today is the foundation to innovate in food. We’re all here today to see the forefront of food technology. It’s actually quite an exciting time to be in the food industry and I’m loving what Alex is trying to put together. I believe that there are so many different ways to innovate, there’s really no wrong answer, but I do think there are a lot of fundamentals that you need to hammer down to truly make something special. So a little bit about me, I have my bachelors of Food Science about 4 hours down south in Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Back in high school, I wanted to be a chef, but being a food scientist was a safer path. During my time in Cal Poly, I took charge of my creativity when it came to cooking to making food products. This includes entering and winning a lot of national competitions in the food science space. I’ve worked in the industry for about 4 years. Mainly in the protein bar field. And now recently, I’ve been recruited by some really cool people to be in a stealth mode plant based meat startup. If you’d like to know more about it, come see me after the show. Within industry, I made about $15 million in new product sales, maintained and innovated production lines and current categories in the bar space. And today I want to share with you what I’ve learned that helped me create good products. I’ve developed this sort of pyramid of innovation, what I thinka re truly the fundamentals of innovating in this particular field. On the bottom, you have Theory, or what a lot of thought leaders are saying, “mindset”. This mindset is super important because it basically allows you to not take no for an answer. I’m sure you’ve heard of the fixed versus growth mindset, and that’s one of the things we’ll be talking about. Next is knowledge of process, the technical nuances in creating products. I’ll tell you how my first job at a factory really amplified my ability to create really cool products. I think this is really important especially in the technical side of things to take away from. And the tip of the pyramid is hot trends. How can we recognize hot trends and how can we get them acceptable to the public? Theory of innovation Everyone has a different focus when it comes to innovation and a growth mindset. I think in general, there’s too many experts about it. That’s why it’s really important to carve your own path but do so by reading an accumulation of experts. Luckily, this field will always recommend excellent people. But books, podcasts, online courses, these were all fundamental to my growth mindset. I’ve listened to everyone from bad marketers to grand innovators and eventually, the people I liked, were starting to say the same thing. Small note: I recommend paying for the books and courses you plan on reading unless you are a huge passion for learning, buying things will force you to be more invested in the material and it’ll stick better. Eventually, you can build your own theory of innovation. For a small example, these are the books I’ve listened to that I’ve distilled have the most value for me. There are plenty of other podcasts and media that have helped me build my own theory, but let’s just focus on books. As you amass all of this knowledge, start to break them down into simple mantras that can guide you whenever you’re put upon a difficult situation. This will help you guide your thought process and come up with a solution based off of your personal beliefs and the experts you follow. So for me, a lot of the media I read is about asking great questions. This is amplified by my experience podcasting. The better questions you ask, the easier you can solve the problem. Taste is King is all about how products must taste good to be the best. There are plenty of products that taste terrible but sell a lot, but the best products taste good. And Spray and Pray is probably more counterintuitive than what you think of. In most circles, focus is a huge buzzword. I think focusing is very important, but if you can’t litmus test all potential avenues, you are missing out on potential opportunities. Here’s a list of other mantras based off of other people I’v emet. Maybe you recognize some of them. For example, the hustler. The guy in the suit who will grind it out to success. Or the visionary, who believes that they need to take action now. Or the life style designer, who really wants an easy life and that’s ok too. The best part is that these different mantras all work and all lead to innovation. Knowledge of Process So my first job was at a granola bar factory. It was actually a startup plant. Nothing was done, everyoen was new, and I had to be the expert. I got my hands dirty, sometimes doing the line worker’s job even though it was under my paygrade. It didn’t matter, I enjoyed the process and I learned a lot. Basically, it’s really tough! So within a year and a half, I learned how to make granola bars, dog buiscuits, crackers, and knew the machines, how to process them and the efficiency needed to make life easier for the workers. This was hugely valuable when I moved to corporate. The pain of create the products at the granola bar factory instilled the technical knowledge I needed to formulate protein bars to make the company millions. Most formulators don’t even think of commercializing, or the process of taking an idea to profit, until way later. But if you think of a way to commercialize first, then you eliminate a lot of wasted effort because the problem is scalable. And remember, every single product must be commercilizable to succeed. This is one of the hurdles with Clean Meat but luckily, there is already huge amounts of data that say it’s feasible to commercialize clean meat based off of the tissue replication industry. Clever Crossovers Once you get enough knowledge of the process, you can be creative and start applying processes towards new concepts. Here I have three examples. One project was when I first started my job at Isagenix. There was this 6 year long vegan bar in limbo and I took one look at it and recalled form my chocolate experience, that you can mask plant proteins with chocolate! Another was the template forms we used for granola bars. As long as we could templatize our bar formulas in Isagenix, we could create so many different types of flavors. By learning how to template my formulas, you can create a lot of products fast. Another example is what I’m currently working on. At my time in Isagenix, I learned how to make protein chips and we use a similar method to make this new product I’m working on with great success. So now let’s talk about Hot Trends. Everyone what’s a current trend everyone’s talking about right now? Ok, so another question I’ve always asked myself is that if you know the trend, how many other people know? Unfortnately, finding a trend that will explode is like finding the next bitcoin, it might be already happening. However, there are tons of opportunities where you can get ahead of the competition. Expos and Conferences, like IFT which this next week in Chicago, Expo West, Fancy Food Show, all really important places to find new trends and viable ingredients to make these trends happen. And a good piece of advice is that if you’re small, focus on the innovative ingredients because the big players will be too slow to apply these ingredients. It’ll take then 2 years for them to apply an ingredient. For you, it should take months. Seminars, like the protein Technology Seminar I went to last month was extremely useful. But it was really expensive. At about $1000 dollars, this price barrier filters out a lot of small players. However, I find seminars much useful than a 5 figure white paper and most startups don’t go to seminars because of the pricing barrier. But that’s a pretty big mistake. Newsletters like Food Dive and Food Navigator, I would even say following the Good Food Institute is beneficial as well. These will give you small tidbits of information that might be useful. Places like this, and create a network of cutting edge innovators is probably the best method. For me, the podcast I do has created a network that is so close to the cutting edge, I know all of the latest plant proteins, and clean technology. Networking with he right people is probably the best way to get info. So now we transform this foundational pyramid, and break it down into lego pieces. You’re free to build your own structure, integrating parts and pieces to create the newest innovation. Yet there is a way to do it. The difference between a Segway and the iphone has been written in many books but the most important takeaway is that it must be familiar and the marketing must be good. The better your marketing is, the more hands will try your product, but what will make the product stick is a good product. Then that creates kind of an infinite loop which kind of is this formula for virality. So an example is Taco Bell’s naked chicken chalupa, which is now being reintroduced. I could also say the taco fries are a hit too. It’s familiar, but slightly different. This is important for innovation. Beyond Meat has an incredibly powerful brand. I love them because every employee I met there is awesome. They are honest, Ethan Brown goes on viral podcasts, I honestly think this is why they sell at first. However, because their product is so good, people keep on coming back and they will keep on talking about this wow factor. A plant based burger than actually tastes like meat. Another probably older example is 5 hour energy. It was positioned really well in super markets and gass stations, advertising was spot on. So people will buy it. In most situations, the product works really well. It’s fast, convenient, and it works unbelievably well. SO as much as I would love to give you the secret formula to innovate, nothing beats trial and error. You have to actually do it to become innovative, but what I’m giving you is a foundation to innovate and keep on innovating. The more experiences you have, the more you can cross pollinate and create something cool. Jump into many things and eventually, they’ll connect together as long as you have the right mindset. If you can’t think of a way to innovate now, probably the best way to innovate is to try and gain traction from blogging or podcasting, or whatever. Take two of your favorite hobbies, combine them and talk about it. My Food Job Rocks was basically this. I enjoyed career advice podcasts and I thought it would be cool to interview people in the food industry. But the reward is getting people to actually listen to your stuff! But it’s a start to get the gears going. It’s the easiest way to get started. Anyways, that’s all, are there any questions. IFT IGNITE Event Introduction: Adam Yee is a food scientist and product developer. His experience ranges from granola bars, protein bars, protein chips, jams, chocolates, deli meats, and now plant-based meats. In his spare time, he hosts the podcast My Food Job Rocks! where he interviews an expert in the food industry weekly. My Food Job Rocks is a fully sponsored podcast that boats 45,000 downloads and has guests from the Nutritionist of Taco Bell to the CFO of Tyson ventures. My Food Job Rocks ‘ main goal is to showcase cool people in the food industry and inspire its listeners that they can have a  cool job like this too. [Adam enters stage] Hey everyone, how’s everyone going? So I go by many names. I’m a food scientist at my day job, I’m an expert at protein bars so a lot of people call me bar man, and I eat everything so I’m sometimes called garbage disposal. However, today, I come to you has the host of the podcast, My Food Job Rocks. A side project that started two years ago that has changed my life. But My Food Job Rocks didn’t start as a random idea, it was actually there to solve a problem. I think a lot of people who want to try something, think an idea just falls out of the sky, but the easiest way to create something amazing is to solve a problem This is the article that started a podcast that has over 45,000 downloads. It was posted by Nicole Gallace who at the time, started Foodgrads, a platform which would act as a bit of a niche food industry recruitment site. Since she was starting her thing, I aske dhow I could help. We decided to end up doing a podcast. So my task was to interview an expert in the food industry every week with the sole purpose to showcase that there are really cool jobs in the food industry. After doing this for 2 years, I’ve noticed some really cool things happening that I’d like to share with you today.   After about 120 episodes, you realize that passionate people, no matter if you are a food scientist, food safety auditor, event planner, or entrepreneur, you have the same things happening. Lessons, advice, they all say kind if the same thing. Posting an episode and an article every week also helped me retain information. We are all here today also, to network, and that’s great! But by having a genuine, passionate conversation, the network becomes a bit more substantial, the value of a good conversation was a worthy investment. And I also realized that, why am I the only one doing this? At the time, I can’t believe people aren’t doing podcasts about food science. So I really want to share that you can do this too. Skills I ask a set list of questions to all of my guests on My Food Job Rocks. I find asking the same questions gives me a set of data and trends that I can convince myself that this is the right thing to do. However, recently, I’ve been asking more indepth questions to make each interview unique. Here are 4 questions I picked out that resonated with me the most. How did you find out about food science? – Most people found out by surprise, or that their path wasn’t a straight line. Most people who received a degree in food science found out by switching. In fact, only younger guests really stuck with food science from freshman to senior. What are some important soft skills? – The most important skill is to be curious. And this is amplified by being inquisitive, passionate, and creative. As long as you love learning, you can get far in the food industry. What types of food technologies are really exciting you right now? – The umbrella of Sustainability has been one of the biggest topics that’s brought up but luckily there are many ways to approach the problem. We have cool products like Plant based meat and clean meat exciting most food scientists, but food waste has also been a huge topic to save the world. What is one piece of advice you can give someone in your industry? – Love what you do is the most common answer, and I think in the food industry, this is the easiest profession to love what you do. Food connects with people in such a different way than anything else, that those who love it, are obsessed with it. Blogging is hard Being Consistent is tough, it takes 6 hours a week to maintain and do things for the My Food Job Rocks Platform. That’s like, 12 netflix episodes. It can get tough, I think most people who start stuff like this don’t expect the long game. But this is about falling in love with the journey. The knowledge I acquired just doing one interview was more than enough to convince myself that this is worth doing. This is why I edit all of my own podcasts, because I can absorb the information once again. Sharing these interviews is icing on the cake. If you keep going, and try your best, week after week, you develop a sort of snowball effect. The more people you talk to, the more guests you have on the show, the more consistent your quality is, the easier it gets. What used to be about begging my friends I went to in college to try out this podcast, ends up being begging people on linkedin to give it a shot. But eventually, people start to get word of your stuff. As you refine your craft podcasting, or even blogging, you can convince experts to be on your show! Not only that, but the conversations you have will give you the ability to ask for really high profile guests to be on the show. A good referral is quite a powerful tool with the right network. And recently, I’ve received tons of Public Relations pitches so now I don’t even have to beg guests anymore! Network Now I would say the best part about doing these interviews are the people I’ve met. I make it an effort to connect with all of my guests in My Food Job Rocks. For some, I buy their products, others, I buy their services or partner up to do some amazing stuff. Usually, when I go to a conference, or expo, I ask if anyone one of my guests will be there and I got to say, I always meet someone! I think this type of networking is really important. Though the things we do here is awesome, nothing beats a good conversation with passionate people. It sticks, and I’m sure many of you can relate, if you work with passionate people, you can get things done a lot faster. You can Do This Too! Throughout my time doing My Food Job Rocks, I’ve met a ton of cool people. But it’s not just my guests. There are other people in other platforms such as Instagram, twitter, podcasting, blogging, that have asked for my advice and we push each other forward. This is the most rewarding part. Building a community of people will want to take destiny into their own hands. I offer as much help and support as I can. And so the biggest takeaway I want to give, is that you can definitively do this too. I am not special. In fact, I’d say I’m just a bit crazy, but I think all passionate people are crazy. It may seem daunting to create something like this in 2 years, but the benefits in all aspects of your life is incredibly rewarding. There is so much room in this space. Without podcasting, I wouldn’t know how to speak on stage, or ask for advice, or meet so many incredible people. The Ultimate Reward But maybe that won’t convince you. Educating people is nice, but what is the actual benefit? This might motivate you. How far can creating a platform really springboard your career? Well, for me, I left my corporate job in Arizona to join a plant based meat startup with some really high profile players. This would have never happened if I didn’t start the podcast. So this is just a simple story of someone who started a little blog, and how it opened so many doors for my career and all I want you to take away from this, is that you can do this too. And if you decide to put a lot of effort, and post consistently for a year from now, I’ve got your back. We’ve got your back. The world needs more science communicators. You can do this too. You got this.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you are still a high school or college student and you want to get into this industry, I hope this podcast will open up the pandora’s box of opportunities we’ll be laying out before you. But even if you are maybe a bit further along in your career, there is always time to jump in. Marie Gibbons is probably the most famous clean meat scientist for multiple reasons. She is funded by the Good Food Insitute, she is currently doing her research in Harvard, and she’s really passionate in what she does. Marie’s passion and kindness resonate in this interview. She is an extremely authentic and transparent scientist who explains the process of clean meat in simple yet dense detail. Do note, some of the experiences Marie has being a farm animal veterinarian are quite graphic, of course, to prove a point. We only talk about it in the beginning, but just be forewarned. Otherwise, I’m glad that Marie has a sense of humor so enjoy a bunch of smart alec scientists talk about clean meat among other things. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Sponsor – FoodGrads If you are even just a little bit interested in a career in food & beverage, you should join FoodGrads.  It’s an interactive platform where you can hear about different careers, hear from your peers, have a voice and share your story as well as ask specific questions and get feedback from industry experts across the sector. Nicole is offering free job postings in the next two months and I highly suggest taking this offer. Email nicole@foodgrads.com and she'll give you instructions. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods Unless you have been living under a rock you can not get away from Halo Top Ice Cream’s amazing success with their under 300 calories per pint ice cream. What’s a frozen dessert manufacturer to do to compete? Pick up the phone and call Icon Foods at 310-455-9876 or find them on the web at www.iconfoods.com that’s what. They have a new HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix that delivers amazing mouthfeel and sumptuous flavor all under 300 calories per pint. But, here’s the best part; you simply add the HiPro dry mix to any milk type, add glycerin and inclusions and you are off to the races with an amazing finished product lickity split. Icon Foods HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix comes in hard ice cream mix, soft serve, vegan and wait for it… Keto. Call my friends at Icon and let them ReformulateU. 310-455-9876. Show Notes On the shownotes, I did something special and labeled Opportunities that are available in the industry. Clean Meat by Paul Shapiro 80,000 hours podcast – effective altruism podcast Zak Weston Harvard medical school Gym Meats When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you usually tell someone in a sentence or less?: I grow animal cells for meat. Dr. George Church How did you get to work with Dr. George Church?: I met him at an Effective Altruism conference and I contacted him after the show. We got to talking and here I am! How do you get funding for Clean Meat?: You have to write a grant or a giant lab report. When did you find interest in Clean Meat?: It came from when I was 12 years old and my dad gave me two pet snakes. I had to feed them mice. In order for snakes to live, they have to kill and then I thought of clean meat. Then I became a veterinarian and became a farm animal vet. And I realized farm animals aren’t treated the same way as other animals. I had to do a lot of really gruesome stuff as a farm animal veterinarian. If they get a disease, we have to find painful ways to remove it. How do you get in the foot in the door for Clean Meat?: Just like the food industry, there are so many avenues to help with clean meat. How is clean meat made? Opportunity: If you want to get into the science, focus on 3D modeling to prepare for baby back ribs and t bone steak. I can grow a nugget for $400 dollars Opportunity: Replace Fetal Bovine Serum to make plant-based growth media Opportunity: Somatic Cell Technology:Use pluripotency and turn them back into Stem Cells. Media components: Gatorade and Protein Powder. The standard Protein Powder has Fetal Bovine Serum Fetal Bovine Serum is quite a painful process by stabbing unborn baby cows in the heart to extract the fluid The growth factors have to be part of the serum which is the hard part because they have to tell the cell to grow. Opportunity: You can create growth factors with Recombinant DNA technology. You can get bacteria to create growth factor Algae Soylent Green Opportunity: Cut out the middle man to get the cells to automatically grow their own growth factor How do you change cells?: DNA, RNA, gene editing, environmental media etc. Induced Plurry Potent Opportunity: Scaling up Clean Meat. Regulatory, what is it going to be called? Opportunity: Induced Immortalization. To get cells to continuously grow until we said no. We just need to tell them to grown certain cells. Embryonic Stem Cells should be immortal. Telomerase Telomeres – serve as a buffer for our chromosomes to create DNA. What kind of resources do you use to find out about Clean Meat?: Sometimes, it’s literature based, sometimes it’s the feedback from professors and industry folks. Opportunity: Though there isn’t a lot of clean meat research, there is a ton of research in regenerative agriculture. Pigs are so physiologically similar to humans, which is why there is tons of research on pigs. We still need a lot of hands to sift through the research My Food Job Rocks: I get to study how life works. And not only that, but I have a chance to help animals and end animal suffering What would be your dream job title?: Clean Meat Scientist. I am funded by the Good Food Institute Harvard is generally interested in clean meat. Clean Meat and Plant-based meat actually has a lot of overlap. What companies are doing a great job in Clean Meat? Memphis Meats Mosa Meats JUST Foods Finless Foods What’s your favorite quote book or kitchen item: Blender and George Foreman Grill. I can make BLAT. Vegan bacon. If you’re trying to go more plant-based, you need to start with products with a lot of things going on and eliminate meat. A vegan food you really like: Tofu Scramble with Salad Greens and Asian spices Kimchi and lactic acid Smoothies – vegan chocolate protein powder, blueberries, greens Soylent Drinks Necter Soylent Rice and beans, and Indian food Do you have any advice to be a clean meat scientist?: Get familiar with cellular biology. All of these companies are looking for people and if you want to get into this, reach out and apply. It doesn’t hurt to reach out. If you want to reach out, you can go to the GFI and contact them. What should colleges teach you about to prepare you for life?: Taxes haha. Business course. There is a lot of common sense in business. A mandatory class on how to grow food. Where can we find you for advice?: My email is on the Harvard website, also on facebook, linkedin, or Instagram. I’m kind of bad for getting on emails but be patient.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We talk a ton about sustainability on the podcast, being one of the most important topics food industry professionals are interested in solving. Isaac is the perfect person to talk about environmental impact. Having been in multiple disciplines, he’s been researching the sustainability from biofuels to chicken coops. We get to talk about the cool sustainability tools I never heard about. One topic, in particular, is lifecycle assessment, a complete analysis of any product in the world’s environmental impact. I hope that this interview gives you the tools necessary to save the world. I also notice that Isaac and I have very similar ways of cooking. For example, we love stir-frying in our favorite cast iron skillets. What does that mean? I have no idea. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Sponsor – FoodGrads If you are even just a little bit interested in a career in food & beverage, you should join FoodGrads.  It’s an interactive platform where you can hear about different careers, hear from your peers, have a voice and share your story as well as ask specific questions and get feedback from industry experts across the sector. Nicole is offering free job postings in the next two months and I highly suggest taking this offer. Email nicole@foodgrads.com and she'll give you instructions. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods Unless you have been living under a rock you can not get away from Halo Top Ice Cream’s amazing success with their under 300 calories per pint ice cream. What’s a frozen dessert manufacturer to do to compete? Pick up the phone and call Icon Foods at 310-455-9876 or find them on the web at www.iconfoods.com that’s what. They have a new HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix that delivers amazing mouthfeel and sumptuous flavor all under 300 calories per pint. But, here’s the best part; you simply add the HiPro dry mix to any milk type, add glycerin and inclusions and you are off to the races with an amazing finished product lickity split. Icon Foods HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix comes in hard ice cream mix, soft serve, vegan and wait for it… Keto. Call my friends at Icon and let them ReformulateU. 310-455-9876. Show Notes When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you tell them in a sentence or less?: I’m an environmental scientist and my focus is comparing the effects of food and environmental effects in food. Why did you decide to join the GFI?: The mission is really exciting. I’ve worked on sustainability for a number of different angles, human health also. The technology like clean meat and plant-based meat can really change the world. What do you do at the GFI?: I’ll read a lot of academic papers, and clean meat articles, and everything, and then connect the dots and share it with people What is one fact about what you’ve found out?: Animals are generally not very efficient in producing meat. Clean Meat will reduce a ton of landmass. Not only animals but the corn and soybeans to livestock. 15-35 x more average land mass Clean Meat Some land is made for animals, a lot of arguments about land usage Though that may be true, half of all land on earth is from agriculture. As the earth becomes more populous and prosperous, the pressure for land is tremendous. Talk to Isaac about environmental impacts on clean meatLetter to the editor to the National Academy of Sciences on switching to plant-based diet might not be environmentally friendly. White Paper critiquing the flawed analysis on animal agriculture If someone were to get more information on alternative meats, where can they go?: Unfortunately a lot of these papers are very technical. We at GFI hope to break them down. World Resources Institute Steps it took to get to where you are today: Whitman College Walla Walla Washington, biochemistry and molecular science. I still took classes in environmental issues Purdue, Ph.D. in biofuels. Learned a ton about the environmental aspects of biofuels. After that, I started to get interested in food. Most important skills you need for your job: Big picture thinking How do you get better at big picture thinking?: Everyone is different. Some people are naturally inclined to think big, others like detail. However, to solve big problems, you need to talk to people. Coffee Causes Cancer in California Wework Impact Hub in Seattle PeasOnMoss What would be your dream job title?: I’m pretty happy with my job title now! Someday, I’ll have my own department of scientists but now, I love my title. What would you do with a team of environmental scientists?: Sustainability is a big problem so we need more experts. Lifecycle Assessment: A new scientific tool that has a lot of potential. Not the lifecycle of a cow or chicken, but rather, the lifecycle of a hamburger or a car. What About Protein Isolation? Ricardo at UC Berkeley Land use might be the most important environmental factors for animal farming What kind of research papers are you working on right now? Poultry farming and manure pasteurization How do you take in research?: I learn a lot by writing. Writing things to summarize and then I think about what other people say. I synthesize different viewpoints and different resources. What’s your favorite thing to cook?: I tend not to do recipes. Stirfry and stews. Some day, I want to use clean meat to make my family’s traditional chicken pot pie. Favorite Spice: Cumin, Rosemary and Thyme especially for potatoes and stews. Turmeric is good, but it stains. Adam’s Favorite Spice: Chipotle. The peppers in a  jar Favorite Kitchen item: Cast Iron Skillet Favorite Book: Cadillac Desert by Mark Briesner. About land and agriculture Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to go into your industry?: You can use your passion and skills on anything in the food industry. There are a lot of different ways you can apply your skills in food. What should colleges teach people more of?: The things that are really important are being reflective, being willing to admit your assumptions are wrong. Reflective thinking. The ability to write, the ability of have conversations on really important topics. Where can we find you for advice? The GFI website. Twitter: @doctordendrite Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erin Rees Clayton holds a diverse scientific background. A PhD in Genetics, a Masters of Public Health, and is in food. With this skill set, she has a very broad and insightful ability to connect the dots, which helps her a ton in her current job in the Good Food Institute. Erin and I spend a lot of time talking about questioning. I think it’s a really important skill to ask good questions and we go into how to do so. There are so many questions we still don’t know how to answer in food and Erin will share them with you, so you can be inspired to answer them. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Sponsor – FoodGrads If you are even just a little bit interested in a career in food & beverage, you should join FoodGrads.  It’s an interactive platform where you can hear about different careers, hear from your peers, have a voice and share your story as well as ask specific questions and get feedback from industry experts across the sector. Nicole is offering free job postings in the next two months and I highly suggest taking this offer. Email nicole@foodgrads.com and she'll give you instructions. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods Unless you have been living under a rock you can not get away from Halo Top Ice Cream’s amazing success with their under 300 calories per pint ice cream. What’s a frozen dessert manufacturer to do to compete? Pick up the phone and call Icon Foods at 310-455-9876 or find them on the web at www.iconfoods.com that’s what. They have a new HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix that delivers amazing mouthfeel and sumptuous flavor all under 300 calories per pint. But, here’s the best part; you simply add the HiPro dry mix to any milk type, add glycerin and inclusions and you are off to the races with an amazing finished product lickity split. Icon Foods HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix comes in hard ice cream mix, soft serve, vegan and wait for it… Keto. Call my friends at Icon and let them ReformulateU. 310-455-9876. Show Notes Did you know: Copper is an essential micronutrient When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you tell them in a sentence or less?: I work with scientists and entrepreneurs to make healthy and affordable meat alternatives The GFI works as more of a consulting role. They will analyze the scope, and mobilize the resources What kind of people do you get who come talk to you?: A variety, academia, entrepreneurs, and big companies. We also want other industries to get involves such as the tissue engineering company. Are there any educational hubs that are forming for these industries?: Not really. We’re trying to change it. Tufts, Harvard, and Berkeley have labs and innovation centers are going through this. Allison Burke Everyone is pretty much doing this. Washington and Texas A+M are both universities that are getting involved, probably more. Describe the steps it took to get to where you are today: Not a linear or planned path. Science is really about asking questions Dennis Thiele at Duke University. Copper Metabolism Then got a masters of public health at Michigan to get a more holistic view of scientific impact How did you get interested in GFI?: I stumbled upon it. I loved their mission and I wanted to see what it would be like so I wanted to go into it because I would always wonder if I didn’t What skills were they looking for?: I’m a Scientific Liason. At the time, it was grant writing in which I wrote a lot of during my time working. What are some big questions the GFI is trying to answer?: Plant-Based Meat Questions: The sources of protein. For example, pea protein. We really haven’t explored the vast majority of plants out there. Also, what are we trying to do with plant protein? Can we find healthier ways to create the product? Clean Meat Questions: Clean meat can rely on biomedical to get our questions answered. Yet the price of making Clean Meat has to be drastically lower than biomedical. A big point is to find a media to create clean meat. Media recycling systems or remove waste or add in is also a big questions Do you have any tips for asking good questions?: Not being afraid to admit being wrong. We always want to be right, but with cutting edge technology, we don’t know the answer. No one does but we are all working to solve these answers. Ask questions that don’t have answers and enjoy the process. My Food Job Rocks: 1. I get to learn new things and be challenged on a daily basis 2. I can make a difference in a very positive and big way. I’m one small part of that, but the potential is impactful 3. The people that I get to interact with. My colleagues are super cool. What would be your dream job title?: Similar to what I’m doing now. Food Systems Strategist maybe? Can you name one specific gap that’s stumping you?: I tend to think about what does it look like to develop plant based meats in other countries? Extruders are huge, expensive pieces of equipment and a lot of nations can’t afford it. What companies that don’t get much love are innovating in this space?: American Pulse Association, USA dry pea and lentil council. These are not for profit entities. Pulse protein innovation summit in Oakland: We brough farmers, breeders, food scientists, and plant based meat companies to discuss innovation of plants. Will that summit be there again, next year?: Maybe, not sure. We are actually having our own Good Food Institute Conference Who inspired you to get into food?: It’s more of a what, than a who. I saw GFI as the potential to really change something and this will make an impact. Should Scientists be Idealistic?: Some should be, most have a touch of pessimism. Favorite book: Fiction: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Non-Fiction: Long Walk to Freedom. For the books applicable to my career: Living Down Stream by Dr. Sandra Stiengraber and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Made an impact on thinking about health from not just inside our bodies, but outside as well. Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to get into your industry?: There is a lot of space that needs to be accomplished. People are struggling to find technical talent just because there’s not really a degree for that right now. Don’t be afraid to try something new. If a class sparks your interest, or you find a seminar that’s interesting, go and do it. Talk to people. You never know what you’re going to learn and making connections are crucial. A lot of scientists are introverted. How do you convince them to talk?: Us being scientists and talking is really important. Scientists can talk to other scientists and feel comfortable. What should colleges teach you to be more prepared?: Exposing students to broad applications to their knowledge. Not “If you major in X, you can’t work in Y”. Interdisciplinary collaboration: GFI is not just science and technology. We have innovation, policy, corporate engagement, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aylon Steinhart brings his entrepreneurial grit and amplifies it through convincing and motivating people to start plant-based meat and clean meat companies. But isn’t that hard? To start your own company? The short answer is yes, but it’s something worth pursuing. Aylon and I tag team to break down the tips and tricks to becoming more innovative and entrepreneurial. We go from tips on getting into Expos for free, why it might be a good idea to start corporate for a bit, and the amazing resources the GFI has, to help you start your plant-based or clean meat company. To give you some sort of disclaimer, this interview was conducted before I decided to team up and start my own company. But perhaps this interview was one of the factors that when the offer was presented to me, I accepted.   Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Sponsor – FoodGrads If you are even just a little bit interested in a career in food & beverage, you should join FoodGrads.  It’s an interactive platform where you can hear about different careers, hear from your peers, have a voice and share your story as well as ask specific questions and get feedback from industry experts across the sector. Nicole is offering free job postings in the next two months and I highly suggest taking this offer. Email nicole@foodgrads.com and she'll give you instructions. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods Unless you have been living under a rock you can not get away from Halo Top Ice Cream’s amazing success with their under 300 calories per pint ice cream. What’s a frozen dessert manufacturer to do to compete? Pick up the phone and call Icon Foods at 310-455-9876 or find them on the web at www.iconfoods.com that’s what. They have a new HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix that delivers amazing mouthfeel and sumptuous flavor all under 300 calories per pint. But, here’s the best part; you simply add the HiPro dry mix to any milk type, add glycerin and inclusions and you are off to the races with an amazing finished product lickity split. Icon Foods HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix comes in hard ice cream mix, soft serve, vegan and wait for it… Keto. Call my friends at Icon and let them ReformulateU. 310-455-9876. Show Notes When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you tell them in a sentence or less?: I work for a non-profit that is transitioning to animal alternatives. We’re trying to create a healthy and sustainable food supply through healthy innovation. I help startups and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to go into this space Watch out for Aylon Steinhart at a Stanford video How did you become an entrepreneur?: I was an account manager in Puerto Rico. I was studying business at Berkeley. Afterward, I took a leadership development training course at AT&T. I saw joining a leadership program to explore the learning ground of corporate life. Once I found out about industrial agriculture, things picked up fast and I wanted to make an impact. I saw that Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger were making an impact, and I wanted to be part of it. Impossible Burger vs Beyond Burger Even though I didn’t have a food background, I did a consulting to make a website for a food company. However, it was my innovation skill set that helped me with the GFI. Me not leaving the GFI alone is also another reason How to get to Expo West: Looking at the list and asking anyone to volunteer at their booth Startup Advice: Ask the right questions, make things as simple as possible, you need to think: “how easy will this be for the consumer to understand?”. Think of the end consumer. Are plant proteins premium?: Not really. It depends on a lot of different things Clean Meat is hard to commercialize, right?: Yes, but people are bright. The issue is to find Technical Cofounder Good Dot – Plant-Based Meat India Market Impact on both Plant-based Meat and Clean Meat is much more impactful than Academia How can we get more technical cofounders in the alternative meatspace?: You might know more than you think if you study muscle or plant knowledge. The GFI has 2 really good white papers on alternative meats and just email us. The GFIdeas community Slack Channel Kraft Heinz Incubator Good Catch Memphis Meats Many innovative companies in Israel We need more companies in both fields GFI company database What is one thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: What do consumers really want? Do they care if the meat tastes exactly like meat? Or can we actually make a better meat? Rennet: used to be gathered form the stomach of calves and then we discovered that we can ferment it with bacteria. Same concept is being explored with clean milk and eggs Who got you into Veganism?: Kip and Keegan. I watched a documentary. Media is important Pat Brown and Ethan Brown convinced me to go to Food. Bruce Friedrich too. Favorite Book: Artisan Vegan Cheese. I'm am making a probiotic beverage made by soaking Quinoa, mixed with a cashew blend and makes a cultured nut product Zak’s Bechamel sauce using cashews Favorite Food: Tom Ka Gai Soup – Coconut Milk based soup using plant based chicken 24 Vegan – vegan fish sauce Any advice for anyone who wants to start a food business: If you want to start a food company, I would urge you to start a plant-based meat and clean meat company Plant-based meat is a quarter of 1 percent of the meat market. In 3 decades, it will be a 1/3 of the total market. This was before the plant-based meat was actually shown. 70 billion dollars of market share is up for grabs But that’s hard: Yes, it’s not easy. Things that aren’t easy are probably worth doing. GFI has a list of white space company ideas for you to start their own company The White Space Company Idea You could import plant based food in Asia and sell it in the US. There is pre-extruded textured products as well GFI Blog. Look for me and find the resources You can email me directly if you ever want to start a food company: aylons@gfi.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Really excited to have the first of 5 interviews from the generous people at the Good Food Institute, the best nonprofit that deals with the plant-based meat and clean meat space. Zak Weston never thought he would end up in food but after finding how much he could impact the world, he persistently networked his way to a job as a corporate engagement specialist at the Good Food Institute Zak convinces companies to put more plant-based options on their menus and clients include restaurants, food service companies, and even manufacturing. One really important topic Zak and I get into is discussing the group, Effective Altruism, a very pragmatic group of individuals who want to do good in the world. This is where Zak found that food was his calling. If you are stuck in your life, then this episode will motivate you to keep going. The food industry is the perfect industry to impact the world. Quick note, I met Zak in person at the Protein Technologies Seminar. It’s always good to put a face with a name. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Sponsor – FoodGrads If you are even just a little bit interested in a career in food & beverage, you should join FoodGrads.  It’s an interactive platform where you can hear about different careers, hear from your peers, have a voice and share your story as well as ask specific questions and get feedback from industry experts across the sector. Nicole is offering free job postings in the next two months and I highly suggest taking this offer. Email nicole@foodgrads.com and she'll give you instructions. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods Unless you have been living under a rock you can not get away from Halo Top Ice Cream’s amazing success with their under 300 calories per pint ice cream. What’s a frozen dessert manufacturer to do to compete? Pick up the phone and call Icon Foods at 310-455-9876 or find them on the web at www.iconfoods.com that’s what. They have a new HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix that delivers amazing mouthfeel and sumptuous flavor all under 300 calories per pint. But, here’s the best part; you simply add the HiPro dry mix to any milk type, add glycerin and inclusions and you are off to the races with an amazing finished product lickity split. Icon Foods HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix comes in hard ice cream mix, soft serve, vegan and wait for it… Keto. Call my friends at Icon and let them ReformulateU. 310-455-9876. ShowNotes What did you do before the food industry?: Sales and marketing in software or non profit. I once started reading about the food industry and found that I could help fix the food industry. When someone asks what you do for a living, what would you do in a sentence or less?: I talk to companies on why you should give plant-based options. Companies all over the world are looking for plant-based products A lot of the job is networking, attending conferences and trade shows and talking. Sometimes we need to cold call but we have noticed companies are very open. We can easily tell people that people are open to plant-based food. We try to ask for a resource How do you find information about plant-based news: We have a team of 33 people who are writing and aggregating about the plant and clean meat industry. Plant-Based Foods Association, Nielsen, other well-respected places. Better Buying Lab, Academic Research, Asking Private sectors for answers. World Resources Institute Faunalytics: A subset of the research and data they’ve aggregated is plant-based and clean meat food Do you think companies who want plant-based options have a moral reason or financial reason?: Both. We take a pragmatic approach and fully expect that they need to make the profit. What is one misconception you want to dispel about the food industry?: The Food industry really does want to repair the world and climate change. GFI works to make sure things can be more sustainable. Consumers such as millennials care about the environment and where food comes from. Describe the Steps it took to get to where you are today?: I majored in business development. I had a job in Ohio and then in Florida. I learned a ton about sales I wanted to get into the food industry so I read a lot and interviewed people a lot. Effective Altruism Bruce Friedrich How did you get your job? Through networking or job application?: I met people in the GFI, did food industry networking, etc Center for Effective Altruism 80,000 hours – career guide to maximizing your impact using your career. Helps when you’re uncertain on your career. What is the most important skill you need for your job?: Being entrepreneurial, also being a great communicator Do you need to learn communication?: You can learn it. You have to put yourself in situations to do that. I used to read books on small talk which I found embarrassing. Once you practice doing it, you become more confident. Adam’s perspective: I only became social because I needed to lead things How many companies do you talk to a day?: 2 to 3 companies. Sometimes small or big. We maintain a product database on plant-based food service and retail to deliver to places who need that Made restaurant scorecards of 100 restaurant chains to evaluate their menu What would be your dream job title?: This is the perfect job. If I wanted to progress, I’d do the but bigger and better. What do you look for most in a job?: Impact on important issues. Most millennials don’t know how to change the world. “I want to change the world and I don’t know how” Trends and Technology: Plant based and clean meat (duh!) Memphis Meats Beyond Meat Regenerative Agriculture Wendell Berry one acre fund Mark Post Mosa Meats Expo West: Improve Nature, Forage, faba bean (chickpea?) butter, there are a lot of starts that blow me away Daiya’s ice cream pop Daiya yogurts Beyond Sausage Who inspired you to get into food?: A set of people that impresse don me that food is important. What books did you read that started you the food path?: The Ethics of What We Eat - Why our food choices matter. It’s probably the most consequential thing we do all day. Clean Meat by Paul Shapiro David Welch Michael Pollan’s book – Omnivore’s Dilemma What the best thing you’ve ever eaten?: On date nights, we try different recipes. We have a lot of dietary restrictions. We found an amazing dairy-free cashew alfredo sauce. Creamy, great consistency, nutty. Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to go into the food industry?: Get into the plant based and clean meat industry. Do as much research as you can and go to conferences. I promise you it’ll be very rewarding as this is the ebst time to get into food. What do you think colleges should teach you to be more prepared?: You should work in companies who value growth because it gives you career capital that will help you build success. It’s important to systematically explore career options. Eventually, you’ll get into a career space: hell yes, I want to do this every day. 80,000 hours career guide So Good They Can’t Ignore You You have to show high quality, passionate work that shows “yes, that person can do the job” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are listening to a bonus episode, a short one, where I wanted to introduce an exciting series we’re doing for the next 5 or so weeks. I’m super excited to be able to interview 5 amazing people from the Good Food Institute. The Good Food Institute, or the GFI, is one of my favorite non-profits in the recent couple of years. I enjoy their pragmatic, and scientific way of describing the innovative technologies behind plant-based and cultured meats. Loyal listeners of My Food Job Rocks know that I am very interested in this type of technology as I mention it in almost every episode. Some of the My Food Job Rocks interviews with people like Deya Trujillo from Beyond Meat, Paul Shapiro, the author of Clean Meat, and Tom Mastrobuoni, the CFO of Tyson amplified this hunger for knowledge. Loyal readers will also notice that once in a while, I write about plant proteins, mainly because they’re interesting and also a pain in the ass. I posted an article about the perils of plant proteins on LinkedIn and David Welch, Director of Science and Technology of the Good Food Institute, said I wrote a good article. Jumping on the chance, I asked to interview him or any other person in the GFI. He then connected me with Matt Ball, who then sent an email to 5 individuals who enlightened many different ways. In terms of food industry and technical works, I was able to interview 5 people who are technical experts in helping communicate, or perhaps a better way to describe it as, digest the complexities of plant-based and clean meat. Here, I’ll introduce them: Zak Weston - Corporate Engagement Specialist An active member of the Effective Altruism community, Zak joined GFI after several years of experience in sales and working with start-ups. He works with leading grocery, foodservice, and restaurant companies to help increase the quality and quantity of their plant-based product offerings.  Aylon Steinhart - Business Innovation Specialist Aylon graduated from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and has co-founded two startups. At GFI, Aylon uses his expertise in entrepreneurship, go-to-market strategy, marketing, and business development to help entrepreneurs launch the next generation of good food startups. He brings significant business leadership experience to GFI and has worked with companies such as Kellogg's, Applebee's, and Nestle. Erin Rees Clayton, Ph.D. - Scientific Foundations Liaison Erin has degrees in chemistry, epidemiology and genetics and has ten years of research experience focused on a variety of topics, including molecular biology, nutrition, poverty, and social disparity. Erin seeks out funding opportunities for plant-based and clean agriculture research, and she is also working to establish a dedicated plant-based and clean food lab at a top research university in the United States.  Isaac Emery, Ph.D. - Senior Environmental Scientist At GFI, Isaac studies the significant environmental and human health impacts of industrial animal agriculture and evaluates the reduced impact of plant-based and clean meat. Isaac has more than a decade of research experience in biomedical science and life cycle assessment of energy and agricultural systems. As a multidisciplinary scientist, he has a passion for discovering and communicating the most effective and efficient ways to reduce the adverse impacts of our diets. Marie Gibbons - Research Fellow, MS Student Marie is conducting clean meat research at Harvard Medical School under Dr. George Church with the support of GFI's REAP Grant funding. She is a MS Physiology student at North Carolina State University with a BS in Zoology, minor in Psychology, and 10 years of veterinary experience. She also serves as a New Harvest Research Fellow. Marie is using her passion for animal welfare and interest in medical science to explore and promote the cellular behavior needed for large-scale muscle cell production in bioreactors using serum-free media.   Each of these guests are extremely knowledgeable in every way possible. If you want to learn more about Plant Based or Clean Meat, I suggest listening to all of these episodes. Once this series is over, I’ll be making a cool category somewhere on the website. This is the future everyone, in My Food Job Rocks, it’s important for us to talk about the cutting edge of food. And these guys are the experts. If you’d like more information, follow the Good Food Institute at gfi.org. Facebook is the best way to get their info, but if you want to learn more about the tech, I recommend downloading their white papers and learn all about the tech. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices