Tech Bites

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re talking with Linda Pelaccio, producer and host of A Taste of the Past on Heritage Radio Network. How does today’s high-tech impact the study of the past? Digital and scanning technology has opened the world’s libraries to scholars and researchers, making history as easy as Google. But it has also stripped away some of the human elements that tactile articles convey. Linda shares her research experience as a consultant on matters of food and culinary history and a program director for the Culinary Historians of New York. She was formerly a writer and producer for the TV Food Network, and former executive producer of Everyday Kitchen for TalkAmerica Radio. Linda is a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier and IACP.

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Cooking is a science, but we don’t often think of our food on the molecular level. We think about a robust of a cup of coffee, without realizing it’s the volatile compounds giving it the rich flavor. Coffee has 1000 Volatile compounds, whereas lettuce has a mere 20.

In this episode of Tech Bites, we talk food science with James Briscione. His new book, The Flavor Matrix, explains how ingredients combine on a molecular level and how the human body processes these elements into taste sensations. The recipes are organized by ingredient and flavor profiles, with infographics, photos and appendix providing additional data. The origins of the book are based in James’s time working with IBM’s Chef Watson, translating recipes into data. James Briscone is the Director of Culinary Research and a chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in Manhattan.

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If everyone loves pizza, then why are all the great mom-and-pop local pizza joints closing? Big pizza chains and big corporate delivery services are all taking a big bite out of the independent pizza market across the country. But don’t worry - there’s an app for that. Slice, is a pizza ordering platform dedicated to empowering local pizzerias with the tools, tech, and marketing to compete with big chains. For the pizza lover, the mobile and online service makes it easy order from authentic pizzerias in their neighborhood. Joining us in-studio is Ilir Sela the Founder and CEO of Slice. Albanian born and raised in Staten Island, Ilir's friends and family owned and operated pizzerias in the greater New York City, including a family-owned pizzeria in Manhattan in the 70s, making him 3rd generation in the pizzeria industry.

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Seaweed isn’t just for sushi any more. The US seaweed snack market is estimated at a booming $500 million a year with no signs of slowing down. What makes it a super trend for 2018? With more that 11,000 species and uses across food production, health, beauty and industry, seaweed is both bountiful and versatile. The sustainable aquaculture makes it even more appealing for the long-term. A volatile and fragments global-market is one of the primary barriers to growing the worldwide seaweed market. Is seaweed the new kale? Joining us in-studio for this seaweed roundtable discussion are: Will Horowitz and Matt Lebo, co-founders of Akua.co a plant-based food company encompassing seaweed farms and kelp jerky production. Mark Cooper, founder of Bluefields.co, the first seaweed commons exchange to suitably scale the global seaweed production.

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With all the digital platforms available, like OpenTable, google business pages, and Facebook, does a restaurant still need it’s own website? Can a website help transact business and get customers with better SEO? And what is SEO exactly? We’ll answer these questions (yes, yes, yes and it’s complicated) and more with in-studio guest Krystle Mobayeni, Co-Founder and CEO of BentoBox, a hospitality-focused website design company.

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Are you interested in getting a job in the exciting work of food tech, but aren’t sure how to do that and what skills you need? Host Jennifer Leuzzi has put together a show that tries to answer the many emails and messages she receives from people who want advice on these very questions. Like in-studio guests Julia Greene, lead line cook at Roberta’s Pizza, who wants to know if you need to know how to code to work at a food tech job? Answering her questions in a mini-job interview is hungryRoot’s Chief of Staff, Zoe Mesirow, who is in the process of hiring 15 positions.

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What are the big food tech trends in Europe right now? Is the continent as obsessed with indoor-farming, alternative proteins and meal-delivery as we are? In-studio guest Fabio Ziemssen, Director of Food Innovation at HoReCa Digital in Germany, talks about new things in the German marketplace, trends from the Winter Fancy Food Show and NX- Food, a new retail ecosystem for startups to test products in a real retail environment.

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Why aren’t more restaurants and food businesses funded by venture capital? The short answer is scalability. It’s challenging to imagine a food business that can scale to $500 million in sales - and still maintain the IRL food quality, experience, and brand values. Even if you’re not taking your business to a seven-figure exit strategy, there are lots of thing to be learned from the venture investment model, including using technology to grow your business efficiently. Get up to speed on venture funding with in-studio guest Charlie O’Donnell, founder and partner in Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Brooklyn Bridge Ventures is the first Brooklyn based venture capital fund, with $23 million dollars across two funds.

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For the final show of 2017, we look into the future at the top food tech trends to watch in 2018. Will blockchain and digital agriculture improve the quality of our food supply? Will bio-tech and bio-hacking create the perfect foods grown in a lab with the flavor of terroir? In-studio guest Mitchell Davis and Tech Bites host Jennifer Leuzzi discuss the coming year in food tech, gastronomy, and apps. Mitchell Davis is the Executive Vice President of the James Beard Foundation and a scholar with a Ph.D. in Food Studies from NYU. In 2013, Davis led the team that was selected by the U.S. Department of State to create the USA Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015. He holds a chair on the Academy of the London-based World’s 50 Best Restaurants and has written several award-winning cookbooks. In 2017 Epicurious included Davis on their list of the “100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time.”

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The penultimate episode of 2017 is a look back at the tumultuous year that was. Joining us in-studio are three founders of restaurant tech businesses who share their stories, industry observations and favorites apps 2017. Deepti Sharma, Food to Eat founder and CEO from Episode 99 Women in Food Tech CEOs. Bradley Scott, Etch co-founder from Episode 109 Restaurant Recommendation Apps. Xavier Mariezcurrena, ChouxBox co-Founder and CEO from episode 94 Free Tax Advice with ChouxBox.

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