Today in the Kitchen....

Our guest star for today is.....

Purple Sweet Potato! 

Also known as.....

Ube!(pronounced Ooh-beh!)

Okinawan Sweet Potato!

but most importantly....

DELICIOUS! 

If you couldn't tell, I love Purple Sweet Potato! I love it by itself, in soup, in pie, as ice cream! I like to use these yummy tubers as an excuse to get my daily serving of vitamin A and vitamin C. It's also a good source of fiber, iron and potassium. Like blueberries, this bright color yam contains antioxidants that help fight the badies in your body. Hi-yah!

Today in the kitchen we are experimenting with Ube-Haupia Pie, more specifically Mini Ube-Haupie pies because who doesn't love small versions of things! I'll let you know how things go... 

Coming up soon, a recipe for 'Me-So-Hungry Miso Marinade.'

Till next time...

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

Nom Bomb~Banana Pancakes!

A Nom Bomb is a super quick post about a super easy meal detailed mostly in pictures (mostly from my phone, be kind)!

Cue Jack Johnson!

I suggest hitting play while you scroll through this Nom-bomb.

Breakfast! The most important meal of the day so it better be a good one! Here's a 3 ingredient fix chalked full of protein (about 12 grams) and whole grains (over 30 grams) not to mention a bunch of potassium (from a whole serving of fruit!) So here's what you'll need:

Clockwise from the bowl: 1 egg, 1 banana (preferable a mushy one), 1 packet of instant oatmeal,  and 1 fork. (And a skillet, a spatula and some butter)

First! Mush the banana in a bowl!

Then! Crack the egg into the mushed 'nana!

And then! Mix it together!

Next! Add the packet of oatmeal!

Then! Mix it all together!

So... place a sliver of butter in a preheated skillet (set over medium), just enough butter to create a thin layer!

Once it's hot, pour about half of the batter into the skillet

Then once you are able to shimmy a spatula under the cake, flip that yummy flapjack over! 

THEN! You're ready to eat. I like to have mine with a little bit of honey and if you're really hankering for more fruit, top that off with some applesauce!

Nom away my friends!

So that's it! A three ingredient banana pancake that'll fill you up (trust me, I nommed at 9 a.m. and now I am not even hungry all!) 

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn

IFT! IFT! IFT!

IFT 2013, Chicago! The annual meeting of food technologist, marketing specialist, culinary experts, fresh food students and your standard food geek! Where do I begin...

This was my first IFT conference and definitely one to remember for more than one reason. This year I had the great opportunity to present a new product for the Disney-IFTSA (Student Association) Product Development Competition. For this competition my team and I were require to create a healthy product that incorporated a current or classic Disney character. Each product was required to contain one full serving of fruits, vegetables, whole wheat or low-fat dairy.
My team created Mike Wazowski's S'creamy Dip and Scare Me Chips, inspired by the recent Disney-Pixar film Monsters University. Our product was a fruit based bean dip (apple sauce, banana puree, edamame beans, garbanzo beans, lemon juice and ascorbic acid) paired with a dehydrated crispy, crunchy apple chip. 

We competed against 4 other teams which included the University of Minnesota, the University of Puerto Rico, the University of Arkansas and Cornell University. There was a series of two presentations; one that was a a sensory test just for the judges and a second that was on the showroom floor open to the public.

My team approached our first presentation a little more formal and the second with more creative liberty and freedom. In the end, Cal Poly SLO came in.....second place, technically "first." YAY! Since it was our first time making it to the finals, being a part of the competition was a win within itself!

More exciting details....another Cal Poly team was a finalist in the IFTSA Developing Solutions for Developing Countries competition. The mission of this competition is for students to utilize their knowledge of food science and technology in order to develop new products and processing that is geared at improving the lives of those in developing countries. There are two divisions of the competition; a domestic and international category. Each year has a theme, this year was to "Develop food products to be given as a supplement to address malnourishment at HIV relief clinics across developing nations." Our team created Malawi Mix or MaMi, a paste blend utilizing locally harvested fish, tubers and nuts. Congrats are in order because our team also came in second! YAY! 

This competition was so fun to watch because we were able to meet teams from Indonesia and Malaysia. 

This competition was so memorable. The photos below are a few of my favorite memories from the conference.

 The Disney group hosted a mixer for the students. This was just one of the activities there. 

Along with small bites, hair-dressers and perfectly executed decorations there were also (temporary) tattoo artists! 

On another night the IFTSA hosted another mixer for students at Navy Pier, the perfect spot to scope out the city night lights. This was also a great opportunity to chat with other aspiring food scientist. 

In the last few hours in Chicago my friend and I walked up Magnificent Mile to the John Hancock Observatory to travel up over 90 floors or 1,000 ft. in about 40 seconds. On a given day you can see Lake Michigan and supposedly on a clear day you can see four different states. Whhat! 

And the BEAN! A Chicago staple. It was hot as heck but a few of my buddies and I marched to Millennium Park and saw not only the Bean but Crown Fountain too! 

My only regret is not finding more time to walk the floor (and more of Chicago). Between rehearsing and preparing for our presentation there was little time for exploring to learn about companies, read journal entries and attend speeches. I did get a few sample bites in (Tomato Braised Beef Chips? Matcha Green Tea Cookies? Cabernet Frozen Yogurt? A whole China pavilion? Yum!) It was endless and needless to say my feet were tired by Tuesday afternoon.

I am so glad this was my first trip to IFT. It was so inspiring to see over 23,000 food geek students and professional food technologist well established in their field all wanting to better their food knowledge. I can't wait for New Orleans next year! 

Until next time, Stay tuned and Stay hungry!

-Taryn

Food Woooooooooooo-ologist Part 4!

 We are almost done! YAY! This is what we have covered so far!

• What the food science community defines as food science
• What the non-food science community thinks food science is
• Who can be a food scientist
• What I think food science is

This is whats left! 

• How I became a brown-eyed-bushy-tailed food scientist

Well it all started back on July 3rd, 1991 at 9:56 a.m.... just kidding. 

I think my earliest memory of food was dinner, around kindergarten time. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house which was conveniently located half a block from my house. Around 5:00 p.m. (on the dot) I would watch my Yeh-Yeh (Grandpa) and my Ning-Ning (Grandma) use a big butchers knife to slice and dice ginger, green onions, garlic, fish and glossy green vegetables they had just bought from Chinatown that day. Yeh-Yeh, an ex-restaurant owner and natural chef, would tie on a terry-cloth flower printed apron and pad around the kitchen wielding a pair of chopsticks, tossing a little of this and a little of that into the pans on the stove. By 6:00 p.m. I would be sitting at the head of the table (sassy, I know) nomming down on glistening steamed fish sprinkled with the thinnest slices of ginger and green onions. Leafy green veggies would be slipped into my bowl as I was urged to "yum tong" or drink soup. Since I was so eager to be in the kitchen with the Grands my first kitchen duty (as with any good restaurant) was to wash dishes. And I loved it. By 7:30 p.m. it would be time to go, so my full belly and I would say bye to the Grands for the night and with dad in tow would make the long, strenuous trek back to my house. 

Yum tong has probably been the only Chinese term I can pronounce and use with confidence and that "tong"  is the a pivotal reason I became a food scientist. This soup, as everyone claims, is magical; it helps when you have a sore throat, when you have a stuffy nose, when you have high cholesterol and even if you want better skin. (Seahorse story to come later)

Brothy soup goes like this: figure out what's wrong with you, pick a base broth (chicken, beef, etc), then find the necessary blend of leafy greens, mushrooms, dried scallops, fruit rinds, or tree root (to name a few). Then BOIL and then BOIL some more! Then DRINK and then DRINK some more!

To me, that's food science. You have a problem and you have a general idea of how to fix it; all that is left is to decide how you're going to do it. If you have a sore throat, you use a special kind of dried vegetable. To offset the mild but stark bitterness of the vegetable you could use a dried date or some dried mushrooms. Each ingredient has a purpose and when you boil them together they work together to help make someone better!

That was really long, I apologize. i suppose I am a product of my chef Yeh-Yeh, my gardening Goong-Goong (other grandpa), my fluffy cake making Ning-Ning and my fruit dehydrating Paw-Paw (other grandma). I have been inspired by my tong guru dad and my snack making mom, encouraged by a family of grillers, bakers and fellow food scientist and supported by a posse of fro-yo queens, wine-sippers, brew-masters and tapa-teams.  

What a feat we have accomplished! Coming up next, my very first experience at IFT, the annual meeting for food nerds world wide! 

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn

Food Woooooo-ologist Part 3!

Sorry for the delay! I've been sick. I know! Who gets sick during the summer!
Anyways, back to the task at hand.... This is what we have covered since we embarked on this Foodventure

• What the food science community defines as food science
• What the non-food science community thinks food science is
• Who can be a food scientist
•  What I think food science is
• How I became a brown-eye-bushy-tailed food scientists 

Two things? That's it?! Oh dear, we have a lot to cover.

What the non-food science community thinks food science is....is a really difficult thing to answer and I have no idea why I decided that was a good question. See, this is a hard thing to answer seeing as how I am not the "non-food science community" (I would be very large if i was the entire community) But I'll tell you the Top 5 things I have heard:

1. So its nutrition right? You want to be a dietitian? 
2. So you want to be a cook?
3. You just get to eat a lot right?
4. Is that even a thing? I didn't even know that existed!
5. So what you're saying is that you want to work in a hospital, as a dietitian....

So there you have it. Moving on...

I believe that food science is the study and understanding of the attributes of food ingredients. These characteristics need to be understood in order to create products that have a usable form and functionality. 

I think a food scientist is a person who has a fundamental understanding of food ingredients and how they interact when they are mixed together! A food scientist understands (or at least desires to understand) the physical, biological and chemical characteristics each food ingredient (in the whole world!) holds. Furthermore, a food scientist is someone who passionately believes in the power of food and wholeheartedly wants to sustain another individual whether it be basic nourishment or extravagant indulgence. I also believe that food science is absolutely necessary for societies and individuals to strive; or as I like to say "nourish and they will flourish!"

That was sappy. Oh! One thing left on our list! YAY! Till next time! 

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn