Podcast appearances and mentions of andrea zeng

Welcome to the 200th episode [part 1] I’m your host and food scientist, Adam Yee and you are listening to episode 200, where I interview a couple of dozen people about their food jobs. The party was super fun, a lot of my friends showed up and I loved interviewing them. You’ll get a variety of different guests. From young entrepreneurs to seasoned veterans, to people not even in the food industry. You’ll hear from some guests from past episodes as well, to see an update in their life. I’m so amazed that this little project could garner so much support, I don’t need to tell you this, you know. But thank you for supporting My Food Job Rocks. We have so many interviews that I have to split it up into two parts. Because I’m moving to Austin Texas and have a bunch of traveling to do before getting started at my new job at WeWork’s Food Labs, I’ll be launching the second part, next week. You can find timestamps on who’s on this section at our show notes: http://myfoodjobrocks.com/200Wow So enjoy this live recording of the 200th episode at My Food Job Rocks. Thank you Alyssa Pizzaro from the San Francisco WeWork Food Labs for the space. If there are any audio quality hiccups, let me know but keep in mind, that some things are out of my control. Let’s first start with a small message from Nicole Gallace from episode one and one-oh-one, who couldn’t make it. [Timestamp: 2:00] David Sheu CEO and Co-founder at Bear’s Nutrition [Timestamp: 2:30] A milk-based nutrition shake for kids. It’s been formulated by a certified child nutritionist and has funding from the American Milk Board. Thanks Brian Chau for inviting him. [Timestamp: 2:30] My Food Job Rocks -  I get to see the happy look on people’s faces when they try my product Geof Lambert from Sierra Nevada Farms [Timestamp: 9:18] Geof messaged me on facebook to see if he could use Better Meat Co products to enhance his pork products. He happened to be at the Salesforce event down the street so thanks Salesforce for bringing Geof to the event.  I mention a previous guest’s business, Crowd Cow that got Geof interested. My Food Job Rocks – I can meet with people who are passionate Jenise Vu  Founder of Side Hustle Wednesdays - Not a Food Company, but a friend in Sacramento [Timestamp: 15:15] Jenise drove all the way from Sacramento for this event and she’s not even in the food industry. Though she isn’t in the food industry, we’ve been kindred entrepreneurial spirits in Sacramento. She’s been a great person to bounce ideas and make tough decisions. We talk about the decision to move to Austin and what’s going through my head by doing this. Jenise has done some amazing things in Sacramento and I’m very proud of her growing into the mature entrepreneur she is today. We also talk about David Chan. I’ve interviewed David for a future episode, but you can check out his Instagram @Nichijou.ramen Michelle Flood Del Monte Manager [Timestamp: 26:00] I met Michelle at NCIFT as she and Erin were spearheading the NCIFT New Professionals Organization. I’d say it’s one of the most active groups in the IFT section. Meeting people who are around your age is super important especially professionally and I’m so glad to have been a part of helping them grow and I hope the people listening to this portion is that you can be like Michelle and start a young professionals organization. It just takes a small group of passionate individuals. My Food Job Rocks – The people, the company. I get to travel and I love the people. Relaxed atmosphere and Brian Chau CEO of Mycokind [Timestamp: 32:28] Brian Chau has been one of the most vital connection I’ve made in California and it started off with a mutual friend/roommate, Cory Yee. Thanks Cory! Brian and I have had super interesting career journies with different pathways and different perspectives so we always share the challenges of food entrepreneurship. Without Brian, I don’t think I could have survived as a food consultant. Anyways, Brian explains my new job at WeWork quite well, probably better than I would talk about it. Brain recently started Mycokind, his dream company. Can you guess what he sells? Innovative mushroom products! Brian will also be persuing a Phd soon so though our paths diverge, well, your paths never really diverge if you’re in food. Like me I guess, Brian’s journey is super diverse and you’ll be amazed in what he’s accomplished. Hear also, a rant about communicating food science to food businesses. My Food Job Rocks – Going back and humanizing the food component – It’s not just sterotypes, food humanizes Gesina Beckert  Partner Development at Fairtrade USA [Timestamp: 45:50] I met Gesina at Naturally Bay Area about two months ago and have been seeing her a lot over a short period of time. I love this because Naturally Bay Area has been a huge supporter in what I do and I really enjoyed supporting them. I’ve gotten a  ton of legitimate and powerful connections through the Naturally network, and from what I hear, Austin has a very big one. We talk a bit about Fair Trade and the fun Naturally Bay Area. My Food Job Rocks – I can connect people in distant countries and get them into the discussion Andrea Zeng Chocolate Technologist in Ghirardelli [Timestamp 54:31] Next guest is Andrea Zeng, a friend I knew since high school, someone I begged to interview at Lundberg Farms and we once in a while, keep in touch. Currently, she’s a chocolate technologist in Ghirardelli in the Bay Area. Andrea has always had a goal to work at a well-known chocolate company making new flavors and she did it. I too, had a goal and did it, but then I didn’t do it. So I talk a bit to Andrea about how it felt to achieve your dream, and to try and find something new. I ask Andrea how to become a product developer in something you love, and we both give some awesome advice. My Food Job Rocks – I get to work in a chocolate factory every day

When you go on a journey to improve a skill, there are likeminded people who will support you, and there are people who will do the same as you. You either choose to treat them as competition, or treat them as cohorts. Over the past two years, I’ve communicated and even worked with people who have their own interview podcasts. These podcasts follow the same vein as My Food Job Rocks. Interview food experts and chronicle their life, advice and predictions. However, each podcast I’ll be sharing is focused on a  specific type of the food industry. From Research Chefs, to Clean Meat Scientists. Some of these podcasts I am proud to say, credit My Food Job Rocks as a source of inspiration. Others, I’ve had the pleasure to help improve their podcasting craft. I do this because I can’t tell everyone’s story, and everyone’s story needs to be told. By having a support network which motivates people to share the stories in the food industry is very important to me. And hopefully, by the end of this series, you might also take on the reigns of a podcast. I’ll be keeping their guests a secret, but here is who will be on in the next 5 weeks: Paul Shapiro and Toni Okamoto – Business for Good Podcast As many know, Paul Shapiro has been not only a guest on My Food Job Rocks, but also has been my business partner for more than…half a year. Paul and his soon-to-be wife Toni Okamoto (who runs the very popular platform Plant-Based on a  Budget) decided to do this small venture called The Business for Good Podcast, a podcast that focuses on the buisnesses and people who are doing good in the world. Though the podcast is not just in the food industry, there are some great gems in regards to how food business is impacting the world. Paul and Toni are both influential figures in the plant-based and animal welfare movement and use their connections to bring in awesome guests. This Wednesday, we’ll be launching their episode with a guest that’s pretty famous around these parts. Kim Schaub from Peas on Moss Kim and I started our platforms at the same time. We actually met in a facebook group called Podcaster’s Paradise, an online course which helps build your own podcast. We had one mutual connection, another guest, Andrea Zeng, who worked under her. Kim created the Peas on Moss Podcast, a podcast that has different types of guests which mainly focusing on R+D and innovation. There are also many Research Chefs and regular chefs on the show, so if you are into that field, Kim goes more in-depth on that. Peas On Moss still regularly launches episodes and the guests are always insightful with a slight entrepreneurial flair. I usually see Kim in almost every expo and we have a good time just chatting over good food. Lin Carson from Bakerpedia Past guest and sponsor Lin Carson created the Bakerpedia platform through her own sweat and blood and has built it into a fully sponsored masterpiece which houses a wiki that has all the baking knowledge in the world. And this is not just the simple stuff like gluten or ascorbic acid, but maybe you want to know what’s diastatic malt or how garbonzo bean flour acts in your product. Their podcast Baked In Science takes on multiple formats. They not only do interview podcasts, but they also do Q and As, and more technical focused podcasts. I’m always amazed on how much content, from writing to podcasts, the Bakerpedia team dishes out. Katie Jones from Good Food Heroes Podcast Katie Jones has a pretty amazing story. She got laid off after an acquisition, traveled around the world in an RV car, then decided to go into copywriting for the food industry. I met Katie through her content on LinkedIn and she was very engaging the way she talks with her peers on the platform. Much better than me engaging on LinkedIn posts. So Katie decided to start her own podcast and I had a hand in helping her a bit set up the format. Her podcast interviews food businesses that have a bigger mission. Whether that’s food waste or ethical sourcing, that’s what she loves to do and that’s what she focuses on. If you’re into learning more about food businesses that are mission-driven, then this podcast gives great insights on how it works. Katie Mleziva from Real Food Brands Podcast Katie is a food brand consultant with whom I also met on LinkedIn. I think it first started when we coincidentally launched Carrie Arndt’s podcast on the same week. We’ve had some over lap in guests ever since including the executive team from Soom Foods. Katie generally focuses on branding and not only does she bring in some really awesome guests with practical advice, but she herself does solo episodes that talk about the tactics in branding. Alex Shirazi from the Cultured Meat and Future Food podcast Paul shared with me an interview that Alex did with Lisa from Stray Dog Capital. This was episode 4 out of 4, but seeing his guest list be top GFI brass and Paul himself, I wanted to reach out and help him with his podcast, because I didn’t like his design or audio quality. Surprisingly, he was happy to take my advice and even better, I was able to meet him during the food funded event and we’ve been friends ever since. Alex Shirazi is what I’d call a cultured meat enthusiast. He’s a managing director at a software development firm at his day job. Not a scientist or CEO, but he cares so much about the topic, he not only did a full-fledged podcast where he interviews CEOs of cultured meat companies, but he also did a full-on symposium in the heart of San Francisco on a small budget and impressive marketing. I was honored to be a moderator at one of the panels, and I can’t thank Alex enough for giving me opportunities to publically speak in Boneville Labs and Indiebio. I love the topic of cell-based meat. Everyone knows this but if you really want to learn more about the many companies behind it, Alex’s podcast has some really impressive guests from all over the world. If I were to map it out, My Food Job Rocks is considered a broad podcast. It’s a podcast about career advice and showcasing the food jobs that are present today. The podcasts listed here are part of this, but are much more specific and also have their unique twist on things, and maybe you want that type specificity in your podcast library. And if there isn’t a podcast that fits your need, perhaps this will show you the opportunity to create your own.  

Food technologist Andrea Zeng and I worked together as the product development team at Lundberg Family Farms renovating their snack line, creating new rice meal kits, and developing frozen items for them. Andrea has since moved into chocolate product research and development, drawing on her time managing the Cal Poly Chocolates Food and Nutrition Science student product development and management program. Now a chocolate technologist, she joins us to talk about product development across different brands and the similarities and differences among them. We recorded this episode last fall, so Andrea is not the newbie any more.  This podcast is sponsored by Icon Foods. Get information about their non-sugar sweeteners at . Join them and sponsor the show.  

Andrea Zeng worked with me in a past R&D role, and although she crossed food categories when she moved to a new job at Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, she had past experience working in chocolate science. Here she gives some foundational advise on how you could cross from one category to another and how passion for the category is the key to cross-over.  Thanks to Icon Foods for being the founding sponsor.   Check out other episodes at  

Some housekeeping items before we get into this episode. We will be going back to one episode a week starting at episode 61 to focus more time on website improvements and writing. I was fortunate to have a young food science student named Veronica Hislop reach out to me. Working together, we collaborated to make a sort of flavor article series. Check out Flavor Investigator Veronica Hislop dive into the very mysterious world of flavors, which if you are in industry, this might be beneficial for you. Sponsor This episode is sponsored by FoodGrads, an interactive platform for the Food & Beverage Industry, which focuses on closing the gap between students/recent graduates and employers. With a broader mission to attract and retain people to a meaningful career in food. From Food Scientists to Farmers, Chefs to Plant Managers, QA Technicians to Dieticians or R&D to Sales, no matter what your passion--there's something for everyone in Food—and they will help you find it. Join FoodGrads for support, mentorship and guidance to start your career. You’ll see an amazing new website in Spring 2017. Just go to foodgrads.com Transcript Today we are going to dive into the topic about switching jobs. We as young people are in a weird situation when the topic of changing jobs pops up. Especially when you have career job and you want to switch to another career job. This is mainly because well, the people who give advice to you about switching jobs lived in a world of pensions and loyalty. Is loyalty dead in the corporate world? I’d say yes, but that’s my opinion. I’ve helped a couple of friends walk though this transition and they talk about the questions like “people are going to see me as a job hopper” “ The best part is, I’ve done this exact same thing! I switched jobs and so have so many of our guests! Andrea Zeng, Tiffany Lau, Jocelyn Ngo, Kimber Lew to name a few. In fact, the people I mentioned had less than or around 2 years’ experience before they hopped to a different job. So in this episode, I am going to walk through my experience in switching jobs in a lot more detail than what I’ve done before. Hopefully, I’ll be able to relieve some stress if you’re deciding to jump ship. ------- My first job was at a granola bar factory. Then it made dog food, then it made fruit bars and then it didn’t. I don’t know what they do now. In hindsight, the job was really tough but it solidified my work ethic and skill set. The job paid very well and I learned a ton. With the amount of overtime I was working, I made a lot of money! But overtime comes at a cost. It usually means no social life, or you’re too tired to do anything. So why did I leave? A combination of things. For one, the job I applied to while working was my dream job. Something I wanted in college. Also, I really didn’t like waking up at 4:30 am and working 10 hour shifts. I think a big part (in hindsight) was my manager. Probably the tipping point was when I disobeyed my manager and left on a vacation I had planned. It was just a day, but things didn’t go very well. When I came back, I was taken into the office with the HR Manager and well, we had a talk. Basically, I was assigned to something called a Performance Improvement Program which is the scariest thing on earth. Basically, you have 30 days of constant monitoring to shape up or get let go. According to the internet, the chance of actually getting fired from this is high. Some even say it’s a death sentence and you’re just biding time. So I looked for new jobs. I won’t get into too much detail about this, but I was able to change my mindset about work and became more positive and listened to criticism. Overall, I completed the Pip program and got a bonus. Nice. However, this also showed a giant red flag: that loyalty is dead. During my exit interview, I deduced that the PIP was basically made to figure out what the heck I was doing at this job. No one really knew my role so I didn’t do much. Once the PIP was in place, they gave me more supervisor duties with none of the credit. And that was red flag number two. Every time I had a bad day, like managing an entire factory line by myself (even the maintenance program) or clean 100 gallons of hot syrup in a 90 degree room, I looked up jobs and just kept searching. People were also leaving (or wanted to leave) left and right. Work got increasingly frustrating because people had their heads up their butts. But now I’m just ranting. Red flag number 3 So I hustled a bit harder. I applied to more jobs even out of state and started to volunteer at a local artisan food shop to see if I can potentially start something (I actually sold spices there for a while) Eventually, I got a call from my current company. However, my first phone interview with my now-current manager went horribly wrong. So I pioneered the dog biscuit line with like, 2 people. Oh, and if someone went to the dog food line, they couldn’t go back to the granola bar line., that includes Maintenance. So when something goes wrong, maintenance was very hard to reach and convince to go there. And of course, something goes wrong. Let’s see, I came in at 4:30 am today and my phone interview was at 4pm. I thought I could make it right? Well, murphy’s law sliced through me and I had to stay for 14 hours fixing that line with minimal help. I had to reschedule the phone interview. Luckily,  my current manager had experience with factory work so he sympathized with me and that might have also been another reason why I got the job. More on that later. Either way, I wanted to cry that night. It was one of those days that you hated your job and wanted to run away forever. Luckily, I haven’t had one of those days in a long time. It took about 2 months to filter through the interview process with Isagenix due to a couple of schedule conflicts on both our ends. It felt like years. I was actually in a business trip learning how to make crackers when I got the job offer. My old company was investing heavily in me to lead a new line and sent me to trainings and factory work to become a master of crackers. So this is the dilemma: the company is investing so heavily in me that means I should stay? It’s a good rational, and a debate I had with my mentors. The two roads were both very promising when you look at it in a bird’s eye view. I am not sure what was the biggest reason I decided to accept Isagenix. I would be sacrificing a higher pay, and a specialized skill in return for a stable office job and not much traveling (so they say as I’m writing this on a plane in Montreal). Then I remembered the red flags and how I got that Performance Improvement Plan… as I said before kids, loyalty is dead. After accepting the job offer, I had to wait 2 weeks back in Phoenix to get all of the paperwork scanned so I was am legitimate person. Being at my old company was brutally slow and I’ve noticed some hostility on the R+D end and the production end building up. Well, just gave me more reason to leave. After a hostile email from the head of R+D, the HR lady wanted to talk to me on how that was inappropriate of her and then I said I was leaving. There was no counter offer, but my quality manager friend told me she was pretty upset. In fact, there were about 5 people who left in a two month span so the Phoenix plant has started to show its scars. During the exit interview (where you need to be brutally honest on why the company sucks… which I didn’t do) I really just said that I wanted to develop products and she realized that too. However, we did have a long discussion on my manager (who apparently got fired). My quality manager best friend congratulated me and so did some other people. The manager I worked under said maybe two words to me, and that was mainly business related. Most of the people who didn’t like me were like this. And so after that, I bought like, 50 boxes of delicious factory cookies and went to San Luis Obispo for some weird reason. I started my new job next week and in hindsight, I should have waited longer and enjoyed a nice vacation but I was actually excited to start my job! I worked in Leclerc for about 1 and a half years and now it’s about 1 and a half years in isagenix. I can tell you this: I have never had a bad day at work working here. If I ever did have a bad day, I think of the worst day at the factory and shrug and smile. The hours are nice, the coworkers are very friendly and the opportunity to advance is a lot easier than in my old job. I get to create great products and have freedom own hat to develop. I get to travel to conferences, factories, and trainings all over North America to learn how to be a better food scientist. I absolutely love it. This was the best decision I’ve ever made. Overall, the biggest source of advice I’ve gotten was from a combination of mentors and my dad. It’s your life, you need to realize that your whole life is NOT about the company. It’s about you. If you get a job offer to a new company, it’s hard to embrace the change but of everyone I’ve talked to about changing jobs, it’s been worth it. For me, changing jobs allowed me to have a much better work life balance. I also travel to really cool places and eat really good food while I’m there. The dense amount of experience I got form manufacturing gave me a useful perspective and I was able to use the skills from my previous job to become an awesome product developer. Will Isagenix drop me? Possibly. There have been instances where I’ve messed up but the great thing about companies like Isagenix is that they have buffer money. But company loyalty still doesn’t mean anything to me. I am very grateful Isagenix has given me the opportunity to grow as a food scientist which is why I am loyal to them but I have to prepare myself. Why do you think I have this podcast? So after this long story, I hope I can answer some questions in regards to people worrying about jumping ship on your current job. This is exactly the same ordeal I went through so in hope this helps. Leaving with less than 2 years of experience will ruin my resume Most HR ladies will say to stay at a company for at least 2 years. I think it’s ideal, but sometimes opportunity needs to be grabbed right away. Tiffany Lau had the same situation when she worked for Safeway Production. It was brutal! So brutal that she quit and it was the best thing in her life. Another thing I really want to emphasize is the importance of a tough job. Manufacturing for instance sucks. The hours are long, the people are not the brightest and you barely get free food. In exchange, you make a lot of money and become extremely valuable in the industry if you stick with it. You should congratulate yourself for sticking with manufacturing for at least 1 year and from what I’ve been seeing, 1 year might be all you need to jump from manufacturing to Research and Development because the skillset in manufacturing is just so valuable in R and D. So 2 years is nice, but you will know when enough is enough. If that is 1 year or 1 month, then just leave. But be smart about it, and don’t do it often. I work with a popular person in the industry and he will defame me We say the food industry is big, but it’s also small. People know people, yes. But that doesn’t really mean anything. There are many factors for you not to worry about this. There’s the good way, or the bad way. Overall, it’s really dumb, especially early in your career, to burn bridges. What I’m saying is that try to leave your company with modesty, take your 2 weeks notice and leave a great impression on everyone. Though leaving my current job after investing maybe $5000 dollars into making me a cracker expert might have been a big F you, I made more friends than enemies in Leclerc. I think. But when you move companies, you have to look at bigger things. If I moved from being a product developer at a whey protein company to McDonalds corporate, will people really notice who I am? You are young, at this stage, you should not niche down. Niching down, or focusing on one very specific product (like protein bars) is for consultants and professors. Even if you know someone from that niche, it’s so easy to just hop on to something similar and increase your skill set. You can also evaluate your brunt bridge on how him as a connection will ruin you or not. For example, my manger worked in a spring factory. Ok right off the bat, there is a less than 1% chance I will meet him at a corporate health and wellness company. However this has hurt me in the past as well. After I joined, I asked my old company if they wanted to make our bars. I got some cold answers… Overall, one person will not ruin your career unless they’re like Alton Brown or something. What I can say is that the best piece of advice I have is to just simply… be better than them. The company has does so much for me If you’re asking this question, then you just have to weigh the pros and cons. In most situations, you might actually have the possibility to get a huge step in salary when switching jobs. There is a huge debate about company loyalty. This is going to sound harsh, but how many years will you put in before it all crumbles down when they fire you, or lay you off, or new management doesn’t like you? Hopefully not long. Loyalty is important. If your company is sending you to places, or is training you to do something amazing, they are investing a lot in you and does hurt them when you leave. However, the same perspective can work too. If you make the company a million dollars, they can probably drop you because you cost too much. This is a huge gray area for me, but I hope these drastic scenarios give you some perspective on whether or not you think loyalty is dead. Should I wait until I don’t have a job to start looking? No. You are deemed much more valuable when you are employed and your stress level will be a lot less when you apply for jobs while working. My advice for this is to apply for jobs when you have a REALLY BAD day at work. When I had my bad 14 hour days, I just slumped down, looked at my ugly face when my computer is loading and started typing in food science jobs and went to town. In most situations, the state of not having money and trying to live will make your job search unsatisfying and potentially desperate. Your chances of ending up in another unsatisfying job is pretty high. If you get fired, or laid off, or you got so mad, you threw sharp objects at your boss and left, then you are at a different situation. I would contact your support network (husband or wife, mentor, family, etc) and let them support you emotionally and financially so you can go 100% on finding the next job If you have none of those worst case scenario? Just send me an email and I’ll see what I can do. This is a more rhetorical question: What’s better, being in one company for 30 years of 6 companies 5 years each? This depends on so many things. Accomplishments and achievements and the ability to transform your company or department will always give you more points than just slapping a year and what you do. However, I lean more on having working through a diverse array of companies. I think the best example I can give is my current Chief Science Officer. He’s been in several companies but he was able to create a lot of money for the company in the years he’s worked there. In almost 1 billion in value, there’s the reason he’s Chief. I think if you have the ability to connect the dots between the companies you’ve worked for and see a common thread of success and reproduce it, then you nailed it. It is inevitable that if you plan to climb the corporate ladder, you will be dealing or managing people. Once you realize that people are truly the same in every company (i.e. they just want to feel valued, and know that they matter), then you can make gold.

Do you remember episode 2 and episode 11? Both Trevor Fast and Andrea Zeng took this dude’s chocolate class and were even promoted to work in chocolate production on campus. Today, we’re interviewing a man who has been enamoured with food all his life. He was our professor at Cal Poly, he owned and owns bakeries and chocolate shops, and he spends his time donating chocolate-making equipment to Africa. This man is the one and only: Dr. Tom Neuhaus. If you would like to listen to more of our episodes, make sure to check out our itunes link. If you like them, we would love it if you could rate and review. Thanks! About Dr. Tom Neuhaus Rich. That’s one word that comes to mind when we listen to this episode. Retired professor, business owner and philanthropist, Dr. Tom Neuhaus is rich with stories, experiences, knowledge and, well, chocolate! After an adventurous life baking and cooking across the world and teaching at some of the most well known academic food universities, we have decided that Dr. Nehaus is the epitome of food and science. After training as a chef and baker in Europe, mainly in France and Austria, Dr. Neuhaus found himself eager to open his own restaurant.  Leaving his first restaurant, Sweetish Hill Bakery and Restaurant in Austin, Texas, Dr. Neuhaus found his way to New York City and later Washington D.C. as an Executive Chef at restaurants like Quo Vadis and Fifty States. Following a myriad of prestigious chef positions he entered the world of academia; writing columns for The Washington Post as well as teaching at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration (where he earned his PhD). Most recently he taught at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo teaching Sensory Science, Food and Culture, as well as his famous Chocolate Classes! Mama Ganache In 2004, Dr. Neuhaus opened Mama Ganache, a small chocolate business in San Luis Obispo. Mama Ganache makes high quality, ethically sourced and produced chocolates that are both Fair Trade and Organic Certified. Through his business, Dr. Neuhaus has begun making directly sourced chocolates that are not only quality treats but also bring awareness to fair trade and small cocoa farmers in West Africa. Project Hope and Fairness (PHF), founded by Dr. Neuhaus, helps cocoa farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) with their cocoa production, manufacturing, sales and trade. PHF grounds itself in three platforms- directly supporting cocoa farmers, educating consumers about the cocoa market and encouraging larger chocolate producers to see the importance in adopting Fair Trade policies. We fully believe Dr. Neuhaus hit the nail on the head with his philosophy on being creative, fully inspired and excited by food. We hope you enjoy this high-energy episode with a wonderful and passionate Food Scientist.  Hey Oprah! Are you listening?!? Tom's Ventures To learn more about Project Hope and Fairness and all of Dr. Neuhaus’s amazing work in the Ivory Coast and Ghana please visit http://projecthopeandfairness.org/ Small businesses are making a big difference! To eat some of Mama Ganaches’ delicious treats, find them in San Luis Obispo on Monterey Street or have some delivered right to your door. If you want to read snippets of Dr. Neuhaus’s (yet-to-be-published) autobiography, see what’s tempering in the Mama Ganache kitchen or to see some pictures of his recent adventures to Ghana head over to his blog at https://tomsfoodworld.com/ Key takeaways When you go into food, you are driven by it Why you should invest in small businesses, even if they are in other countries Why finding your muse will set you for life What we talk about Malcolm Gladwell Howard Moskowitz Cal Poly Chocolates Mama Ganache artisan chocolate Project hope and fairness Shoes stuffed with cigarettes German chocolate Lindt chocolate Favorite Food: Anchovies First Venue: Bakery in Texas Cornell University Eco-hotels in Africa Jacques Torres Technical skill: Curiosity Anthony Bourdain- kitchen confidential Bedford Stuyvesant Fair trade Organic Pine needle beverage Favorite Kitchen Item: Melanger Cement manufacturing Calcium carbonate Fine chocolate industry association Bean to bar association Single origin Favorite Food: Eggs, Fresh tuna, Uni Favorite Quote: Voltaire – I personally don’t like religion but my valet does so he doesn’t steal my spoon Best Advice: Culture and language, Language and food Oprah Depa is the first country in Africa to make their own chocolate Paul Farmer   Download Episode

Today I interview Andrea Zeng, long time friend, some time rivals. This is a great episode about choosing between culinary school and a degree in food science. Note that you can always have both (as you will find out in a future episode!). We're going to be talking about a lot of cool food science terms like enzymes and retro-gradation. Hang on!! If you would like to listen to more of our episodes, make sure to check us out on iTunes. If you like them, we'd appreciate it if you could rate and review them. Thanks! About Andrea Andrea is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science and a minor in Packaging. She currently works as a Food Technologist at Lundberg Family Farms, developing new consumer packaged goods within the natural and organic category. During her time at Cal Poly, Andrea was a Student Lead Product Developer at Cal Poly Chocolates. With Cal Poly Chocolates, a student run business through the Food Science Department, Andrea was able to turn ideas into new products and ultimately onto shelves of stores in the local community. By working in a student run business Andrea helped with order fulfillment, inventory management, student management and special events. Currently located in Richvale, California, Andrea works with products ranging from chips, to rice cakes, rice and risottos. Using her experience with quality at Earthbound Farms, her practice in the lab at university and innovation with chocolate, Andrea has been able to create new (and I might say "yummy"!) rice entrees, rice cakes and puffed snacks.  Outside of the test kitchen Andrea also works with sensory testing and food styling and recipe suggestions for the Lundberg website (how cool is that!?). Check out some of Andrea’s creations at most major grocery stores! About Lundberg Family Farms Lundberg Family Farms, based in Richvale, California, in the United States, produces rice, chips, packages, and markets organic foods. It is family owned and has been a pioneer in organic farming, especially rice products. It was the first business to produce and market a brand of organic rice in the United States. Today it is one of the United States' top brands of organic products, with 14,000 acres (57 km2) under management. Key Takeaways Why Andrea (and I guess, me) chose majoring in Food Science over Culinary School How Food Science might enhance your cooking skills The frustration of targeting timelines and waiting for product success What we talk about Lundberg Family Farms IFT16 Ridgeview California Heat and Eat Cal Poly Peach Cobbler Enzymes Denature Food Chemistry Retrogradation Vending Machine Restaurants Food Network Giada DeLaurentiss Ina Gartner Alton Brown Victorian Nox Chef’s Knife Zoodle thing Box Grater Quest Noodles Savory Granola Bars Vietnamese Spring Rolls Just Do It Download Episode