My Food Job Rocks!

I stumbled upon Stephanie’s podcast and discovered that her episode count was the same as mine. Curious, I checked out her site and her clean, bright, and crisp platform contrasted my dark, grimy and unartistic website. I sent her a quick email and got a response back, and here we are today. Stephanie is located in Charleston South Carolina and travels all over the southern United States to eat food and interview a diverse array of guests that invoke a southern flare. There are some differences between our podcasts. Stephanie does her podcast face to face. I barely do. Her podcast has no structure, mine as too much structure. Her podcast is about the fury of southern cooking, mine is about the calmness of a food lab. But the passion is still there. Stephanie and I talk about communicating via podcasting and writing, especially what the difference is between the two mediums. As a writer, we also discuss how to describe food, and we give some salivating examples in this episode. Overall, I had a blast with this episode. As you’ll see, it’s full of laughter and radiates with southern hospitality. 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. You can create a profile, add your resume and search for co-op, internships and full time opportunities just for Food Grads. Employers can find you too, they can recruit you for jobs and projects they need help with to give you the relevant industry experience you need. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods So let me pose this question to you food developers and R and D colleagues out there in Podcast land. Have you even run into a situation where you have marketing breathing down your neck to accomplish the impossible? I’ll bet. This is where my friends at Icon Foods can play a roll. Their ReformulateU initiative is in place and ready to help you reformulate with Clean Label Sugar Reduction in mind. Icon’s CEO Thom King was on one of my podcasts a while back and he literally wrote the book on cutting out sugar. His book Guy Gone Keto comes out in late March. If you are looking to cut down on your added sugars in your formulas and want a reliable supply chain partner in clean label sweeteners and ingredients look no further than Icon Foods. www.iconfoods.com or give them a call at 310-455-9876 Question Summary What do you do for a living?: I'm a Podcaster and writer Southern Fork: a podcast where I interview people in the south (culinary, expats, etc), I focus on the cultures and stories and profiles as chefs. I don’t review restaurants. I go to restaurants and make opinions on restaurants. I also write and the writing and the podcast work well together. Notable people: Merherwan Irani, Steve McHugh Podcasting versus writing: Do you pick out stuff from your podcast to put into your writing?: No, the interview allows me to get inspired and learn more about the chef. For example, I found out chef Steve McHugh had Leukemia from a couple minutes of interviewing with him and was able to get inspired by an article. Describe the Steps it took to get to where you are today: I’ve always been a writer and gravitated more towards food. When I was hired as a writer, I couldn’t get all the information I wanted. When I went freelance, I used the skills I was good at to create podcasts and long-form interviews Advice on freelancing: Reputation is the number one thing When I first started, I talked to my friends. My first 10 episodes were from my friends. I got better as I talked to my friends. As I got +90 episodes, I could go to a restaurant and ask “who reps them?” I can call the representatives and ask for the chef and I start to snowball based off of my guests Tips on making guests comfortable: Every podcast I listened to, I hope I speak less. I can only do two a day (I do these live). I don’t really know the nuance of the story. Everyone is different but we are used to our questioning as being a defensive mechanism. We’ve created an environment where we sincerely want to know why. The chef and culinary realm have a lot of profanity. My show is the one time we don’t need to clean it up. What is the most valuable thing you learned about podcasting: Podcasting is a new skill that made me stretch my comfort zone.  Advice on writing: don’t use drool-worthy or nom nom. The point of writing is to translate one sense to another sense. For example, translating taste to writing. Most of the time, relate to an experience or memory. Or describe the moment and environment and you can match it with the dish. FONA Flavor Course – Ancient Grain You can put connotation on descriptions. For example, icy can mean gritty like a slushy Umami – Sweet, Sour, Salty, Satisfaction Why does your food job rock?: I am so interested in the life of a chef Why do people like what they do base off of your interview on Southern Fork?: The need for approval. But also the compulsion of passion. The chef’s life is like being in an opera, golfing and a battle all at once. The best kitchens are completely silent. This is why there are more open kitchens.  What don’t you like about the front of the house in restaurants?: I want to feel comfortable when I eat. Service is super important. I don’t need bad service when plenty of restaurants have good service. Food trends: Done with Pork belly? A shift in service. The shift in service where the chef is giving you the dishes. It feels like you’re in somebody’s house. It heightens the experience I like off-menu item trends. For example, like a burger or soft serve ice cream or a surprise menu I like cured eggs shaved on salads, on top of fish dishes I like red wine: Mediterranean, Greek, Turkish. Wines that are getting on the list that are interesting and fun I like local/trash fish: Lion Fish, Tile Fish, Wahoo, Wreck Fish Tomorrow: Uni from Maine Adam’s pet peeve: eggs on top of things. Instagram,: #putaneggonit Also: deep fried pig ears. Charleston: Pig Ear Lettuce wrap What is something you’d like to know more about: Cheese! I give myself a task every year to learn to do something Who inspired you to get into food writing?: Charlotte Observer: Kathleen Pruvis. And John T Edge, director of the Southern Food Ways Alliance. Restaurants were part of the civil rights movement. David Wondrich (Esquire and Daily Beast) he looks at cocktails. Wayne Curtis in Rum Favorite Quote: Food people are the best people. If you can’t use butter, use cream. Julia Child Favorite Writing Technical Book: Will Write for Food (book and blog) that makes you understand the different types of writing mediums. Read the kind of articles you enjoy and want to contribute. (Eater versus Bon Appetit). Do chefs write recipes?: They write methods and batch things, but won’t translate it for single serving individuals  If you go pro, you have to go weight and scales What’s the best meal you’ve eaten recently?: One of my best friends moved to a new restaurant. He never was the head honcho. I ate his menu and I enjoyed him spreading his wings and I enjoyed it so much. Edmond’s Host (oust).  Food is really about pleasure memories What kind of advice would you give a freelancer in food media?: Save a lot of money. DON’T DO IT. In my world, it was inevitable. The writing world is very volatile and everything is cause and effect. If I didn’t have work, I would have to work in Food and beverage. Whenever a chef explains a dish, I wanted to ask so much more. You should read food articles for the structure to improve your writing. An average consumer will just absorb the news, you should absorb the structure. Where can we find you?: thesouthernfork.com. I’m on facebook, I’ve given up on twitter. Instagram @thesouthernfork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During my chat with Ken Burgin, we went on a lot of tangents, and they all crossed a common theme, which is building an online platform. In random spots of Ken’s interview, we end up talking about different areas of internet marketing and content generation and I thought it would make more sense to snip and stitch this content to a bonus episode. And I did this for a couple of reasons. One being that this podcast episode would make a lot more sense as a separate episode because if you follow what we said, it might actually inspire you to write more, or start a blog, or start a podcast! Another reason is a bit… well, I’ll let you judge this. During my satisfaction survey, I got a comment saying that Adam shouldn’t talk about podcasting so much. This was probably in regaurds to episodes like Alex Osterle and Don and Ben’s food safety podcast. I wanted to honor this suggestion so we’re trying this now. No ads this time, this one is a freebie So we begin with a topic about podcasting, something which originally linked Ken and I’s interest. Here you’ll learn a lot about how we got started, and more importantly, the community we’ve joined. Community is very important when it comes to starting something new. Ken and I had different communities, but it helped us all the same. Next we talk about blogging. A big part are novice questions I am always too embarrassed to ask. Overall, we talk a lot about linkedin and how it’s been doing awesome recently. Also, Ken mentions the value of consistency and he’s been doing this for years. What I haven’t been doing, however, is doing workshops. You’ll find out how that’s beneficial here.   So now we talk about email lists, the ultimate tool to build a following. We go in to a complex marketing term called funnels which starts with a email list. I find that an email list is the most useful tool for a marketer, but it’s really hard to grow. It’s actually very inconvenient to sign your email up on a list. Because of this, many people off free things to put on their list. Ken thought of almost 500 solutions for his clients and gave it for free. Giving out freebies that are so good you’ll pay for them is the best way to get email subscribers. Now about podcasts. This is a small extension of my convo with Ken on episode 106. We talk about our favorite podcast, but listen toward the end. We tell you a lot about what makes good podcaster great. And we finish off this bonus episode with a quote, “The confused mind says no”. Make your message clear. That is the thing that will sell. Also we talk about the restaurant, In and out Thanks for enjoying is bonus episode. If you like this format, I’d love your opinion on it. Let me know by either emailing me at podcast@myfoodjobrocks.com or message me on linkedin.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I met Ken when he commented on an article I posted. I think it was the one on how podcasting changed my life. Ken mentioned his experience podcasting in the food industry so we got to talking and decided to swap interviews. You can listen to my interview on Ken’s podcast on the show notes. Ken is what I like to call, an authority in the restaurant management industry. He’s had a restaurant for years,a nd then after selling it, he decided to take a more, teacher role. Ken doesn’t like the word consultant, but he has helped so many restaurant owners lower their cost and manage their dream. So in this interview, we learn some tips on how to become an authority in your space, but this is also a nice interview for people who are in the restaurant industry. You’ll learn the biggest problem with managing the restaurant industry, and even steps on how to sell a restaurants, and so much more. During our interview, Ken and I talk a lot about podcasting and blogging and I separated a good chunk of our interview and we’ll be turning it into a bonus episode later in the week. *NEW* 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. You can create a profile, add your resume and search for co-op, internships and full time opportunities just for Food Grads. Employers can find you too, they can recruit you for jobs and projects they need help with to give you the relevant industry experience you need. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods So let me pose this question to you food developers and R and D colleagues out there in Podcast land. Have you even run into a situation where you have marketing breathing down your neck to accomplish the impossible? I’ll bet. This is where my friends at Icon Foods can play a roll. Their ReformulateU initiative is in place and ready to help you reformulate with Clean Label Sugar Reduction in mind. Icon’s CEO Thom King was on one of my podcasts a while back and he literally wrote the book on cutting out sugar. His book Guy Gone Keto comes out in late March. If you are looking to cut down on your added sugars in your formulas and want a reliable supply chain partner in clean label sweeteners and ingredients look no further than Icon Foods. www.iconfoods.com or give them a call at 310-455-9876 What do you tell someone in a sentence or less?: I work with restaurants to get more business Barbeque Stopper – A word that makes everyone go silent, consultant, psycologist…. Food science I developed profitablehospitaility.com and posted blogs and podcasts onto the website Restaurant Owners are great at food, but they lack marketing and accounting skills. Ken has all of this as downloads How do you get people to find you?: Linkedin! I post frequently and people like it. It’s only been recently that I’ve used linkedin. I’ve been here quite a while. I’m available as a speaker and do workshops, which adds on. SEO is great too. Can you describe your ideal clinet/patients: I came from a  restaurant and a café background as an independent workshop. I ran workshops to gently tell people to get out of the restaurant business. You have to build a business with people who want to get going. How do you vet them: Money is a great filter. $40 dollar membership, $400 dollar call. Find a pain point, give value Steps it took to get to where you are today: I’ve always wanted to have a  café so I bought one in Sydney and grew it over 10 years. Bought another with a partner. Didn’t work out too well. Sold the café business. I sold the training side to the restaurant and hotels association. Then I consulted and was approached by Silver Chef and they bought the business. Why did you start a podcast?: I liked a podcast and I liked listening to them. I thought it would distinguish myself compared to the rest. Do you recommend any other podcasts?: History podcasts, business podcasts, BBC food program, Russian History podcasts, Hardcore History, Paul Barron Food Service authority in the US, Food Marketing Nerds (Wendy’s, Jersey Mikes) What are the common questions you get in the restaurant business?: Where do I find a chef? Why are my food costs so high why are my wages so high? Why is social media not working? You will get more engagement on articles trying to cut cost than to increase sale What advice can you give about cost?: Cloud based scheduling is cheap and easy to implement. And Cloud based point of sale system. Adopting technology is not about cost, but the struggle to understand it How do you teach people about technology?: Well it’s about stories. Great stories will convince people to adapt to technology. Especially if you mention if you save money. “If you want to get more people to listen, they need to hear cash register ring more” How do you sell a restaurant?: You need to control a lease and get it right. You will usually get a lease for 10-15 years. You have the right to do almost whatever you want with that lease. You also have to have it be easily ran. It has to be simple and people who want to buy businesses need to get it right away. What should someone do when they want to start a restaurant?: Get into the restaurant industry. Your college experience probably doesn’t cover it. Learn the ins and outs of a restaurant. There’s a very steep learning curve. Be there in the business 6 to 12 months Favorite Restaurant Concept: Grounds of Alexandria right next to the Sydney Airport Eataly World – FICO. A Theme park in Eataly What flavors are hot in Australia: Hot, big, spicy flavors such as Asian food. They also like to know more about where the food comes from Gelato Shops Hokey Poke – New Zealand flavors Unicorn Frappachino – worker complaints Tyler Cowan – Overrated or Underrated? Reid Hoffman – Masters of Scale GMO – good or bad? Bad Vegetarians good or bad. Good Social Media in marketing. Good or Bad? Good Robots/Automation? Good or Bad: Good Favorite Book: There’s a new three volume biography about Joseph Stalin. The Life of Stalin. What is the best food you’ve ever eaten?: An Indian restaurant called Malabar Any advice for anyone who wants to be a consultant: I talked to someone who consulted consultants. You gotta sell the benefit and pitch that you’ll make someone more money. “I’m going to cut your power cost and refrigeration” everyone wants it but must pay him to know the brand. Most consultants are too busy talking about themselves rather than tell them the benefits. Simple numbers work better, focus on dollar amounts rather than arbitrary percentages. Where can we find you?: I have a blog at kenburgin.au, profitablehospitality.com.au, Ken Burgin on Linkedin   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes you just browse the internet and you see a product that just is so noticeable that you have to take a look at it. This is Hugh Thomas’ company Ugly Drinks in a nutshell. A bright, light blue can with various bold flavors, and the U looks like a tongue, like it’s teasing you. Not only that, but Ugly Drink’s clever marketing campaign is eye catching and a bit tongue in cheek! Ugly Drinks was kind enough to give me some ads to show, which you can see on our website. Hugh posts regularly on linkedin promoting his company but does it in a way where I want to know more about his company. Success after success, funny ad after funny ad, I just loved the way his team is challenging the soft drink market! I had to have him on the show and I am so glad I did. Not only did I learn about the creativity in marketing and branding behind Ugly Drinks, but Hugh gave really clear, transparent advice to help the budding food entrepreneur excel to their level. So if you want to hear how to start and market a food company from the ground up, Hugh gives great tactical advice to do this! From choosing a manufacturer, to leaving your job, to getting into stores, and so much more. Soon to be launched in the United States around the time this podcast airs, keep an eye on these guys. Not because they’ll be dominating, I mean, they definitively might, but this company is just a fun, bright, brand, and I’m sure that if you follow them, they will take you for a wild ride *NEW* 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. You can create a profile, add your resume and search for co-op, internships and full time opportunities just for Food Grads. Employers can find you too, they can recruit you for jobs and projects they need help with to give you the relevant industry experience you need. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods So let me pose this question to you food developers and R and D colleagues out there in Podcast land. Have you even run into a situation where you have marketing breathing down your neck to accomplish the impossible? I’ll bet. This is where my friends at Icon Foods can play a roll. Their ReformulateU initiative is in place and ready to help you reformulate with Clean Label Sugar Reduction in mind. Icon’s CEO Thom King was on one of my podcasts a while back and he literally wrote the book on cutting out sugar. His book Guy Gone Keto comes out in late March. If you are looking to cut down on your added sugars in your formulas and want a reliable supply chain partner in clean label sweeteners and ingredients look no further than Icon Foods. www.iconfoods.com or give them a call at 310-455-9876 Question Summary When someone asks what you do for a living what do you tell in a sentence or less?: I try to build a rebellious healthy drink brand Ugly is a flavored sparkingling water with no artificial flavors. We stand for the ugly truth For example, we targeted Red Bull. Most sugary drinks have the same taglines. They talk about how it improves people’s lives but not their health. Have you gotten criticism on your aggressive ads?: No, people are very receptive. People should have choice and transparency How did you meet your cofounder?: Thomas and Joe met in a drink company. Thomas was in marketing, Joe was in sales. Originally had a still bottle drink but consumers wanted canned sparkling water. The first step was: how do we even make this? Called a lot of manufacturing facilities. A lot of people said “no” but eventually found one. How do you have people validate a food product?: Start small, make your own batches and go to farmer’s market. Once you see repeat basis, you have something. You can test on a farmer’s market or even online. How do you find a copacker?: To get a copacker to notice you, invest in a domain name and email, and a logo to show that you are legitimate. If they can’t help you, you have to follow up: “do you know anyone who can?”. This question helped a lot. The steps you took to get to where you are today: I finished university and started at Heinz brand management team. Then I joined a smaller startup as their first marketer and had to do everything. The brand grew massively (he met Rihanna!). I met my cofounder and left when the team had 60 people. What is the different in working in a big company versus small company?: I hated structure in a big company but I missed it in the small company. You should have a simple plan as too much structure will overbear you. For example: We aligned our team to do store demos and not big shows. This allowed us to focus and refine. As the team grows, you can improve structure. Doing store demos helped a ton with communicating the brand to people. How long did it take you to transition full time to Ugly?: Thomas and Joe came up with the idea in 2013. Thought it would take 2-3 months, took 18 months to start. 9-5 job and production fumbles, legal fees, etc caused some delays. Was there a concrete period where you had to quit?: You need a 3 month notice period. We had to talk to the CEO and he gave us his blessing. We did 3 month runway from leaving our jobs and getting into stores. How did you get into stores?: Joe had some connections, but sometimes you have to get into the trenches Why did people accept your project?: The UK wants to try new things. Our team is super energetic and have people give us a chance Lisa Tse I always thought London had terrible food: In the past, yes. In the last 4 years, the CPG industry has innovated in London. The supply chain got more interesting. Jamie Oliver also was a huge factor of making people more adventurous and health contious My Food Job Rocks: The best feeling is seeing someone with your product walking down the street with someone. What do you look for in your first couple of employee?: Passion matters more. IQ and EQ matters a ton. Lots of varying skill sets. What type of food trends and tehcnologies are exiting right now?: Online commerce. There will be a lot of food that will be sold online. Plant based protein will also be popular because it’s appealing to all eaters. It’s better for your body and better for the world. Cold brew coffee and kombucha is exploding in the UK What is the best social media space for food brands?: Instagram and Facebook. Your website needs to be set up to handle the user experience. Have them “go into the funnel” What is the biggest challenge the food industry has to face?: The food industry needs to understand how the digital world works What is one thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: Microbiology! It would help me sleep better at night. We are creating products, they need to be safe. Who inspired you to get into food?: I’ve always loved how brands affect people. I’m excited in how my brand gave impact. What type of brands do you admire?: Hippeas and RXBar What makes a great marketing campaign?: You have to understand the consumer and understand what that consumer’s like Romancing the Brand Favorite Quote: You’re the average of the 5 people that you spend the most time with Favorite Book: The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday Favorite Kitchen Item: Toaster Other books by Ryan Holiday’s Growth Hacker Marketing, Ego is the Enemy, Perennial Seller Favorite Meal: Surprised my mom for lunch at The River Café in London. Jaime Oliver learned to cook there. It’s the people you’re with that matters. Any advice for food entrepreneurs?: Be patient and don’t spend money. Also really think a lot about your brand and vision. Where can we find you?: email me at hugh@uglydrinks.com, @uglyhugh, at linkedin How about Ugly?: We’re launching in the US early 2018! You can find us anywhere. Talk to us at hello@uglydrinks.com. We want to pay it forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I met Dr. Sarah Ramirez in my last year in college. She was a temporary lecturer for Cal Poly and she enjoyed learning about the extracurriculars around the department, so I immediately thought she was cool. Soon, I took one of her classes about Food Waste and we’ve been friends ever since. She might be the only professor I had in Cal Poly that I see on a semi-regular basis and that’s mainly because she lives really close to my grandma’s house in the Central Valley! I’ve been keeping tabs on Sarah’s company, Foodlink, an innovative food bank in Tulare county, which is housed in one of the poorest American counties. Sometimes, I’ve helped a few times gleaning kiwis and lecturing about spices. I’ve seen Foodlink grown from a small food bank to a huge facility that has its own kitchen and hosts events to inform people on how to feed the community. Sarah’s drive and mission to feed the world is absolutely contagious. There are A LOT OF emotional truth bombs in this episode and it is just so inspiring listening to Sarah. She has the ability to make you care about the people she’s feeding. A big thing you’ll notice about Sarah is that she likes to break stereotypes no matter what. Whether it’s her life as a child, or rising up the ranks in Stanford, or what she’s current;y doing in the food bank industry! Sarah is a truly inspiring figure with a heart of gold. *NEW* 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. You can create a profile, add your resume and search for co-op, internships and full time opportunities just for Food Grads. Employers can find you too, they can recruit you for jobs and projects they need help with to give you the relevant industry experience you need. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods So let me pose this question to you food developers and R and D colleagues out there in Podcast land. Have you even run into a situation where you have marketing breathing down your neck to accomplish the impossible? I’ll bet. This is where my friends at Icon Foods can play a roll. Their ReformulateU initiative is in place and ready to help you reformulate with Clean Label Sugar Reduction in mind. Icon’s CEO Thom King was on one of my podcasts a while back and he literally wrote the book on cutting out sugar. His book Guy Gone Keto comes out in late March. If you are looking to cut down on your added sugars in your formulas and want a reliable supply chain partner in clean label sweeteners and ingredients look no further than Icon Foods. www.iconfoods.com or give them a call at 310-455-9876 Questions to ask How do we elevate the voices of the community we serve? Summary Best thing about your job: A mission driven organization. Putting together ateam that believes food can change the world. Food banks are about 30-40 years old. A time where there was an increased amount of poverty What has been the traditional method for food banks to get funded?: One misconception is that the government thinks foodbanks are completely funded. However, foodbanks still need multiple sources of funding, but still needs sustainable methods of funding. Less than 25%. The Celebrity Champions model works well in cities but won’t work in Tulare County Sara’s history: I never thought I’d be a food bank director. I started with community health and went from there. I saw a lot of people that became ill. I began to ask many questions about how to feed people and began to become an interdisciplinary learner. I became a director of Foodlink due to supporting it in the past and I found I could use all of the skills I learned to impact more people and make a difference. How do you take initiative on things?: Sometimes, when you get so obsessed with things, you have to dig deeper. I was frustrated, and sometimes you get so frustrated, you have to do something about it. There is no other option but there is no place I’d rather be. Problems with food equity: Work with food service directors. Recipe development, buy food in bulk and provide it to schools. There are a lot of barriers to this and it’s a new sector, so we need a solution My Food Job Rocks: I love breaking barriers and breaking stereotypes in the food bank industry What type of Food Trends and Technologies are really exciting you right now?: Social enterprise food trends. For example, youth run cafes are developing their own locally sourced recipes. Or creating cafes that develop job security. I thought I was insane with my ideas before I went to this thing and now I don’t feel alone The biggest challenge the food industry has to face: Food waste. I’ve studied this for several years and it’s been recently put into more important Who inspired you to get into food? Was it a specific person?: I remember asking my mom to make food from magazine but we couldn’t afford or know the ingredients used to create the dishes Favotie Kitchen Item: Food Processor (which I didn’t buy until way later) Favorite Book: Currently Big Hunger Favorite Food: Sometimes I just like what’s fresh and simple The hardest challenge about managing a food bank: Put into a box of stereotypes. I’m learning a lot of new skills to face the challenges in Tulare county What do you recommend people who want to take the non-profit route?: Focus on collaboration. We all try to do a lot with the limited resources that we have What’s been the most rewarding thing about being in a non-profit?: Be thankful for the experiences that you have any time. People will tell you that their dreams came through because of you Where can we find you?: Facebook. sarah@foodlinktc.org. We accept volunteers Other Links SLOW Food LA Kitchen Robert Edgar Closing the Hunger Gap in Seattle Food Sovereignty project in Maine that focused on food got state wide attention Si Se Puede Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in November, I saw posts from Dino Borri on Linkedin and all this buzz about opening Eataly’s newest location in Los Angeles. Conveniently, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to message him saying if I could interview him at the spot. It turned out, I was able to go to Eataly, take a tour of the fantastic new LA location, interview Dino, and did such a good job, I ate the heck out of their food. 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. You can create a profile, add your resume and search for co-op, internships and full time opportunities just for Food Grads. Employers can find you too, they can recruit you for jobs and projects they need help with to give you the relevant industry experience you need. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods So let me pose this question to you food developers and R and D colleagues out there in Podcast land. Have you even run into a situation where you have marketing breathing down your neck to accomplish the impossible? I’ll bet. This is where my friends at Icon Foods can play a roll. Their ReformulateU initiative is in place and ready to help you reformulate with Clean Label Sugar Reduction in mind. Icon’s CEO Thom King was on one of my podcasts a while back and he literally wrote the book on cutting out sugar. His book Guy Gone Keto comes out in late March. If you are looking to cut down on your added sugars in your formulas and want a reliable supply chain partner in clean label sweeteners and ingredients look no further than Icon Foods. www.iconfoods.com or give them a call at 310-455-9876 Key Takeaways What Eataly means to Italian food What makes each Eataly location unique How Purchasing vets their 25,000 SKUs Show Notes Eataly is all about Susbtainability What is your official job title?: VP of Purchasing, but titles dn’t matter in Eataly What’s the best thing about your job?: We create a lot of jobs in the United States. We also support a lot of small business products How do you find new vendors? We go out and they also go to us. We have a blind taste for all of our products. They use a simple ranking system. The food has to be Good, Clean and Fair. The History of Eataly SLOW Food Philosophy - a movement Mr. Oscar Farinetti, the founder of Eataly who wants to combine Italy Food and Retail Used to be called Eat Italy Opened in Italy to start (duh) Then the Tokyo Location 5 more stores in Italy New York Location (Aug 31st 2010) 40 stores in 2017. Finally in Los Angeles Possible next locations: Las Vegas, Toronto maybe Phoneix (haha) Launching Eataly World in Bolongna November 15th Eataly world 65 acres of Italian food. Has FICO – Italian farmer production Why do people like Eatlay so much?: We deliver the experience. Every location is different. When you walk, you feel like you’re in an Italian market. Differences in Eataly Every location is a mix of products. What’s different in Japan’s Eataly? We use soy sauce and tofu. Los Angeles has more Vegan and local Fish products Claifornia Wine Flour is sold locally. We want to use local ingredients What is your favorite food event or expo?: The town of Bra, Cheese event in Italian 30000 people. All the cheese mongers in the world for 4 days How did you get into Eataly?: I worked for SLOW Food and my boss Carl Petrini knew the owner of Eataly El Bulli Dino had a dream of going to New York, and he opened the Eataly store in new York El Bulli will create a class Did you have any experience in purchasing or was it all there?: I had to learn it on my own Any advice for quality products versus cheap products?: It’s easy to buy the best product, but it’s hard to afford the best product. I need to find good food for everybody. Our system makes it easier for smaller businesses to get to our market. Our job in Eataly is to deliver good food to the store. Why does your food job rocks?: Food has become cool. In the past, food was a common person’s job. Now food is important. We have to take care of the earth What type of Food Trends are you interested?: We want labels that say “not organic”. Also, the certification is too harsh for small businesses. GMO Good or bad?: Bad Gluten-Free: It depends. I love pasta and pizza but I don’t overeat. We should enjoy food. Clean Meat: We need to eat meat. But we should eat less meat Sustainability: Everything should be sustainable The biggest Challenge the food industry has to face?: Food Waste. We produce food for a lot of people but a million people still go hungry. Eataly is almost 0% waste and we give food away. What is one thing you’d like to know more about?: Other food cultures. Whenever we open a new store, I discover a new culture. What’s a new favorite cuisine?: Whenever ask people what’s my favorite, I tell people I haven’t found my favorite yet. Whatever reminds me about my roots. What do you recognize when you eat your home town food?: Raw meat at my home town Bra. A local cheese from Bra  mixed with tomato. Who inspired you to get into food?: Carlo Petrini was in my hometown and he inspired me. I started working for him at 14 year old. I met people like Michael Pollan Why did the owner like you?: I got lucky. I was born in the right place and met the right people. I was part of the University of Gastronomy. We hire a lot of people there. (is this like food science?) Favorite Quote: We are what we eat, don’t eat sh*t Favorite Kitchen Item: Knife. I eat raw food so I like to cut. I have knives from Japan and Brookyln Any advice for anyone who wants to go into your industry?: When you’re in the food business, you’re feeding people. You’re in the ecosystem. Study a little bit. Where can we find you if you want to be found?: You can go to our website and contact our buyers. We will blind taste your product. Eataly SKU’s: 25,000 in the United States. The Los Angeles SKU has 15-18,000 SKUs.   Learn more about your ad choices. 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In most of my recent interviews, when I ask about technology, I’m always hearing about Clean Meat! So when I saw that there was an actual book coming out on the topic, I used my awesome network to get the author, Paul Shapiro. I have to give my thanks to Ken Botts for kindly hooking me up with this awesome interview. Paul Shapiro is an animal rights advocate who has taken an interest in Clean Meat as a powerful technology to save the world. Think of this episode as a very technical summary for Paul’s book, clean meat, with added science geekiness. After the interview, I bought the book and read it and the topics in this podcast reflect the surface of If you’re really interested in Clean Meat from this interview, I highly recommend reading Shapiro’s book as it goes in depth on a lot of topics we’re talking about. So all of your answers about Clean Meat will be answered in this episode. Including why we’re naming it clean meat, the technology used, opposition to clean meat, and the role you as food scientists can play as this technology scales up. To buy Paul Shapiro's book, Clean Meat, click this link. 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. You can create a profile, add your resume and search for co-op, internships and full time opportunities just for Food Grads. Employers can find you too, they can recruit you for jobs and projects they need help with to give you the relevant industry experience you need. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods What’s worse than marketing saying, ‘we have to clean up these sugars?’ They want clean label sugar reduction because that’s the trend. So I advise you to skate to where the puck is going. Whether it’s to make your product a bit healthier or following the ever-changing FDA laws, my friends at Icon Foods – formerly Steviva Ingredients – are here to help. They have more than 20 years of R&D experience with natural sweeteners and sweetening systems in a wide range of applications. With a product list of twenty different sweeteners and plug-in sweetening systems that keeps growing, you can’t go wrong. Check out stevivaingredients.com to learn about the newest all-natural sweetener solutions and collaboration opportunities. For more information, visit ICON foods at ICONfoods.com Questions Asked How Clean Meat Started Why the name Clean Meat is used Clean Meat being cleaner than regular meat as Clean Meat is technically going to be very clean ground meat (sterile environment) How clean meat is made and the new technology being used to grow meat A talk on how microbial fermentation is working in this industry Open Source versus proprietary information Opposition on Clean meat Why hardcore vegans don’t like Clean Meat Will Clean Meat be sneaking in or be publicized heavily? How is this different 10 or 20 years ago How can food scientists help the Clean Meat Revolution? What kind of Universities are working on Clean Meat? (not what you think) Can I make Clean Meat in my Garage? You’ve tasted a ton of clean products, how do they fare right now? What is missing? What do you wish to accomplish with your book? What is one statement you’d like to make to convince people to buy clean meat? Other Links Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World $300,000 dollar burger in 2013 Mark Post - Creator of the first lab grown burger Peter Verstrata - Founder of Mosa Meats Sergey Brin – Founder of Google Elon Musk Memphis Meats Bill Gates Cargill #eatfortheplanet podcast with Paul Shapiro GFI - Good Food Institute  Why call it Clean Meat? Other names: In Vitro Meat, Test Tube Meat, Cultured Meat Clean Meat Website Michael Jacobson – Founder of Science and Public Interest. Campaigned about food additives Biopsy Sattellite Cells Fetal Bovine Serum Hampton Creek: Proprietary plant scanning technology using machine learning Geltor – commercialized gelatin Microbial Fermentation and making animal byproducts Microbiol Technology: Collagen, Leather, Egg Whites, Xanthan Gum Company: Modern Meadow Marie Gibbons - MG1 Turkey Cells The more meat you eat, the more likely you’ll like clean meat (or meat analogs) Mixing mushrooms with ground meat Meat Breweries Harvard Cellular Agriculture  Tufts – Cellular Agriculture UC Berkley focus on plant based proteins Smithfield and Sara Lee Israel clean meat startups Perfect Day Yuval Noah Harari – Sapiens Natural Ice versus Artificial Ice Canon vs Kodak. Canon had to transform itself to get ahead Maple Leaf Food Lite Life Field Roast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So this is kinda cool, if you recall our very first episode, we interviewed Nicole, and now, artistically timed, we interview her after 100 episodes. This episode is a bit different because it’s a return guest, and it’s much more conversational. Especially because Nicole and I know each other well, and talk fairly frequently A lot of podcasts do this, especially those with the same networks. I actually find these episodes really enjoyable because it’s like two friends having a conversation about life. I hope you find the discussion we have warm and inviting. However, we do bring up some really cool topics of discussion. We start off with a discussion on social media, then we reminisce about the growth of both Foodgrads and My Food Job Rocks. However, I would say the most important topic in this episode is about how scientists can communicate better, and what part Nicole and I play in this. Key Takeaways Nicole and I discuss the journey of growing our projects The debate on what to support in science How to get noticed on social media Other Links Linkedin Foodstirs Guelph University 3 to 5 years of industry experience is a good area where people can relate to Young people think they’re either too special or not good enough Imposter Syndrome - Nobody feels like an expert Gary Vaynerchuk Spoon University Lin Carson Bakerpedia Katie Jones Zooey Deschenel Elenor Batalini A blog is not a scientific paper Jessica Gavin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ll be talking about this episode in three different sections: One will be about how we produce this podcast, two will be a sort of overview of the most common answers our 100ish guests have given on My Food Job Rocks, and the last part will be about what we plan to do for our future.     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. You can create a profile, add your resume and search for co-op, internships and full time opportunities just for Food Grads. Employers can find you too, they can recruit you for jobs and projects they need help with to give you the relevant industry experience you need. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods What’s worse than marketing saying, ‘we have to clean up these sugars?’ They want clean label sugar reduction because that’s the trend. So I advise you to skate to where the puck is going. Whether it’s to make your product a bit healthier or following the ever-changing FDA laws, my friends at Icon Foods – formerly Steviva Ingredients – are here to help. They have more than 20 years of R&D experience with natural sweeteners and sweetening systems in a wide range of applications. With a product list of twenty different sweeteners and plug-in sweetening systems that keeps growing, you can’t go wrong. Check out stevivaingredients.com to learn about the newest all-natural sweetener solutions and collaboration opportunities. For more information, visit ICON foods at ICONfoods.com I’ll be talking about this episode in three different sections: One will be about how we produce this podcast, two will be a sort of overview of the most common answers our 100ish guests have given on My Food Job Rocks, and the last part will be about what we plan to do for our future. So let’s start with how this podcast was made. Podcasting technology is pretty cheap. You can get an ATR mic for $70 dollars, audacity software for free, MP3 Skype recorder for free, Skype for free,  and hosting for about $10-20 dollars a month. I’ve had this for almost all 100 episodes but we will most likely invest in some other software very soon. One of the things I purchased recently, is wavve.co software which converts audio clips to video clips which I find pretty cool. Again, setup for podcasting is super cheap but it does take some skill to improve. You eventually get into a rut when recording, editing, and publishing episodes and it wasn’t until episode 80ish where I wanted to really analyze how to improve. I paid a radio coach about $100 dollars to evaluate two episodes: an interview and a monologue and I got some really great insight on how my audio sounded and I dunno if you guys have noticed, but the entrances are a bit more dynamic. Speaking of past episodes, I recently listened to episode 000 and it was terrible. I sounded really boring. It’s recently been replaced with a more modern version. Check it out! I also noticed while digging up clips for the intro, that I zoomed through the intros so fast. Wow, I hate listening to my past self! But if you’ve been here since the beginning, then you’ve seen the improvements. In the things I do, I try as hard as possible to get user feedback and this is why I love using surveys. I used surveys to get responses from the Arizona Section IFT and got some very valuable feedback using this method. Giving away prizes helps a ton with getting people to fill out the survey. For those who filled out a survey, thank you! Throughout the podcast, I’ll talk about things I’ve noticed but one very particular one is the audio quality, which scored low and got some interesting comments. Many didn’t like the inconsistency of audio and some people say that it’s not very car friendly. I also got one saying I make too many mouth noises. Haha, I love it! So over time, we’ll be upgrading the sound quality of My Food Job Rocks and this is going to be a learning experience in my end. There are a lot of youtube videos that teach you some cool stuff so I’ll try that. Right now, it’s current episodes, but I wouldn’t mind doing this for all of our episodes eventually. So as everyone knows, I have a full time job and I have to schedule these things before or after work. This isn’t too bad as my job is decently flexible and timezones are awesome. Guests are told to sign up using a free app called calendly.com and then I send them a list of questions about 3 days before hand. When we do the interview, I get them and I warmed up and then we begin with asking the first question, which is a general “how do you introduce yourself?”. As you might have noticed, the episodes are getting longer and longer. The amount of questions haven’t changed, but how I asked questions have changed. I’m sure you realized that I now ask more questions to get a better understanding of the guest and really try to dig up some great advice. This is just a skill I developed with practice but it’s made the podcast a lot better when it comes to getting advice. Or so I think so. Through the survey, I received a lot of feedback that maybe an hour an episode is too long. I’ve debated about this for a while and I’ve decided this: Starting at maybe the 110th episode, we’ll still have hour long podcasts, but it’s going to be segmented into two parts, a general inquiry and a lightning round questionnaire at the mid-point of the episode. I want the most important info at the first 30 minutes and give structured opinions at the end of the episode. So for example, most of the great stories about career advice will happen at the beginning of the podcast and opinions about technology, favorite books, etc, will be at the end. I know this is not ideal for people who want to finish things from start to finish, but to be honest, I am a huge believer of long-form content. We need more long-form sources of content in the world. I think that really separates the people who like to absorb information and actually learn from My Food Job Rocks. Tim Ferriss, Tom Bilyeu, and other interview based podcasts give some amazing insights that take an hour long, but I learn so much and I feel like a 30 minute talk between guests really devalues my time with them, their time with them, and of course, your time with them. So after I get an audio file, I put it on my backup and it’s added to the list of podcast guests, or a google drive. Usually, we have around 5 to 10 episodes in stock because interviewing is really enjoyable for me. Last year, I tried doing 2 episodes a week, but it really killed me doing so. All of my time was devoted doing podcasts! That was when we switched to more article-writing content when I realized my time was being eaten up doing twice a week. So for a 1 hour podcast, it takes 3 hours to do. We first record it, that takes an hour, then I have to edit it, which involves listening to the podcast and through real time, write, pause, and edit the show. I find this a really enlightening process because I’m absorbing the most information through this step. I not only get to learn about my guests, but write notes in which I can eventually apply it to my life. A lot of the advice I’ve gotten from my guests have made me a happier and healthier food scientist. Because it takes 2 months to revisit the podcast, it’s like reviewing a brand new episode. Uploading and copy pasting it on the website takes about 30 minutes of work, and I blast it out on facebook, twitter, and linkedin. I use these platforms because these are where my guests live. A lot of younger food scientists. Or business owners use facebook to share my content. Twitter is great for the people who use it such as Logan or David Despain. Linkedin is my powerhouse and I meet most of my guests there. Most of my viewerships, thank-you notes and things of that nature come from linkedin. And that’s kind of my process on the podcast. Again, doesn’t take too much of my time. So now let’s go to part two. Talking about the most common and interesting questions on the podcast (We go more in depth in the podcast) Questions that were scrappedMore focused on asking better questions in the beginning What’s your favorite food? Something inspiring Where will you be in 5 years? Who inspired you to get into food? Important SkillsPassion Curiosity Emotional Intellegence/Empathy Always keep learning Books I’ve read thanks to my guests The Alchemist Radical Candor A More Beautiful Question Books that are insanely popular On Food and Cooking Anything by Malcom Gladwell Modernist Cuisine Kid’s books: Give a mouse a cookie, swallow a fly, Oh the Places you will go Other Books I Mention So Good They Can't Ignore You Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and a Quest for an Amazing Future Clean Meat Quotes that were popular Crazies by Steve Jobs The Man in the Arena by Theodore Roosevelt Kitchen Items that were popular Kitchen Aid Vitamix Knives (especially chefs) Spoons of sorts Technology that is really popular 3D Printing and then it stopped Alternative Meats Clean Label Super specific: Baking technology and Whole Genome Processing Problems that the industry needs to faceFeeding the World Communication is a big one General Advice on Being in the Food IndustryFind your passion Your Network is your net worth Love what you do Try everything   Let’s talk about the future So base don the survey, the results were pretty cool. I bounced some ideas around about free things we can do, and also some avenues where you would pay for things. For free things, I want to try different media platforms. I’m already experiencing with short videograms that are kinda cool. I also want to try and get an inclusive group going either on facebook or linkedin. I’ve been noticing through my posting on linkedin, a lot of other people are telling their story Thank you everyone for also filling out the daring question on what type of things you would buy from us if given the chance. We’re carefully taking things into consideration and I have an idea where this will go. Ideally, I’d like to launch this mid year. So next year, we have more interviews, and it will be a mix of things you like, things I like, but I’ll be focusing on more technical experts. From the data I’ve gathered, I want to really dive into technology that is really changing the industry. To do this, I’ve tapped into some of my guest’s networks so you’ll be getting some really cool discussions on the topic of let’s say lab grown meat or geospatial technology. It’s thanks to a strong relationship I have with my previous guests, that I have this opportunity, and they will be thanked as the episodes roll out. Other than that, better podcasts, more articles from guests, maybe more services, and perhaps something completely new. Overall, the big question is what does My Food Job Rocks stand for? I think this will change every year, but I’ve always stood by this philosophy. Everyone has a story to tell, and the people in the food industry are no different. My Food Job Rocks is a platform for people in the food industry to not only tell their story, but have the ability to encourage people to tell their story. I’ve been finding this out more frequently as we continue to post consistently on linkedin. People are inspired, and people are talking. This will always be our main focus here, to give you the ability to tell your story and inspire others to do the same. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As some of you know, whenever I’m sent for business, I try my best to meet with people wherever I can. This time, it took me to Chicago. So I took a few days off and asked if I could come into the IFT office in the heart of Chicago. I talked to a few people on staff due to my role as Chair of the Cactus IFT section, but I also was able to get an amazing interview with two IFT employees. Karen Nachey and Jay Gilbert. Fun fact, I worked with Jay as an undergrad in college. So a main theme in this interview is food science, how we all found it, and more importantly, how IFT can help you as a food scientist. As you know, IFT has a variety of tools for food scientist and Jay and Karen break down how to use these resources. We talk about webinars, the best way to take your time on Expos, the Food Evolution movie, the really cool things happening with IFT Next, everything IFT is in this episode. 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. You can create a profile, add your resume and search for co-op, internships and full time opportunities just for Food Grads. Employers can find you too, they can recruit you for jobs and projects they need help with to give you the relevant industry experience you need. Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com Sponsor – ICON Foods What’s worse than marketing saying, ‘we have to clean up these sugars?’ They want clean label sugar reduction because that’s the trend. So I advise you to skate to where the puck is going. Whether it’s to make your product a bit healthier or following the ever-changing FDA laws, my friends at Icon Foods – formerly Steviva Ingredients – are here to help. They have more than 20 years of R&D experience with natural sweeteners and sweetening systems in a wide range of applications. With a product list of twenty different sweeteners and plug-in sweetening systems that keeps growing, you can’t go wrong. Check out stevivaingredients.com to learn about the newest all-natural sweetener solutions and collaboration opportunities. For more information, visit ICON foods at ICONfoods.com   Key Takeaways How Karen, Jay and I found out about food science Info on webinars, IFT's Expo, IFT Next, and plenty of other IFT tidbits Cookbooks, how to get recipes, and how we use cookbooks differently Question Summary Best thing about your job: Jay- Working with experts everywhere in the food industry. IFT has 190 passionate volunteers Karen – Researching and writing about new food ingredients. It’s very interesting to learn something new When was the first time you learn about food science?: Karen – My roommate told me about it. My roommate actually switched into food science. Jay – I wanted to go into culinary school and went on a tour about food science. Went to Massachusetts. For IFT, I was a volunteer since I was a freshman and rose through the ranks thoughout my college career. This opportunity to came up and I took it. How do most people find out about food science?: Most people find that it’s a love of food. But even basic sciences anywhere can be applied to food science. You either find out about it early, fall into food science, or someone tells you about it later in life What is the most important skillset in the food industry?: Curiosity, Willing to learn new things. Food industry is constantly changing. Communication skills, especially now, with the complexity of talking about food, we want to arm food scientists with the power of knowledge. Keep envolving. How you and the work that you do matters. How to have scientists present their research Volunteer Leadership training – Telling your story. Recorded at: http://www.ift.org/community/new-professionals/emerge-live.aspx What other resources does IFT use?: Webinars, IFT expo. You have the opportunity to talk to IFT any time to ask what you want them to do for you. Just contact info@ift.org How can you optimize your IFT Expo experience?: First off, plan ahead. Don’t segment yourself to one specific thing. Spend your day to “taste the buffet”, such as seminars, show floor, and the mixers Online directory, print directory of things Also check out the ELN Emerging Leaders network Also check out the Food Evolution movie On Transparency: Food is more controversial and mainstream. IFT is trying to educate consumers and food scientists to communicate together IFT Next: Startup focused section. Big initiative from Ingredion. We look for startups who will disrupt the food industry and we want to support them. The most beneficial part of the program was for these startups building their network Food Disruptor Challenge – Startups who will be competing Shark Tank style Digital improvements to IFT – Virtual webinars, or 1 page digital pdfs. We’re looking at a bunch of opportunities. Have more TED Talk like opportunities What type of food trends and technologies?: Karen: Flavor trends and Clean Label. It’s everywhere! Clean label tips for Adam Pumpkin Spice Latte might be trending out. Maple might be taking its place S’mores Cold Bew Coffee Flavor House email lists VR and Augmented Reality will change the game.SPIN class changes with Augmented Reality Innova and Fonterra both utilized Virtual Reality The biggest problem the food industry has to face: Social Media and everyone can talk about anything. As scientists, how do we communicate the right things properly? Not to divide, but to collaborate If you want to be a food communicator, contact IFT and we will connect you to a program. info@IFT.org Who inspired you to get into food?: Jay – My Grandma. Karen- I fell in love with food when I was actually studying food science. When I was a kid, I wanted to make soup and I started dumping spices What got you involved in IFT: Jay – As a young kid, I joined my local food science club and my advisor pushed me to get more and more involved in IFT. For Karen, one of her professors got her involved. Shoutout to professors: Dr. Lathrop, Dr. Sam Gugen and Dr. Julie Goddard Favorite Kitchen Item: Karen – Vitamix. Jay – Kitchen Aid Favorite Books: On Food and Cooking, Flavor Bible, Ratio Favorite Food: Karen – What’s the best thing you ever ate?: Lenya Brava Baja California restaurant. Butterflied Striped Bass cooked on an open flame. 4 different sauces. Jay – Phuket Thailand’s Tomyum Penauts and Tomyum Soup. Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to go into the food industry?: Find your passion and take a holistic approach to the industry. Food Science has an opportunity for everyone. Find a professor you can lean on, always be willing to learn something new. What do you think you need to learn to get you more prepared for the workplace?: Try different things, start networking. Who you know is really important. Get out of your shell and just talk to people. They are definitively willing to help. Where can we find you?: Jay Gilbert: Social Media or email: jgilbert@ift.org Karen : IFT flagship magazine food technology. Ingredients Section Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices