Jack Benchakul worked at biotech giant Genentech before he got into coffee, eventually trading in his work on cancer-fighting drugs for a brick-and-mortar coffee shop in LA’s Chinatown. The name of his coffee shop, Endorffeine, is one example of how he brings his scientific background into his love for coffee. What hooked you on coffee? My coffee epiphany … Continue reading
Tylor Urias is the Executive Chef for Spencer’s for Steak and Chops at the Doubletree Hotel by Hilton in San Jose. He was raised throughout the United States and abroad in very rural farmlands which helped to grow his interest in ecology, agriculture and food very early on. He works with several organizations such as … Continue reading
Andrea Crawford got her start growing greens in the early 80’s for Chez Panisse. Today she operates Kenter Canyon Farms, selling mostly wholesale greens, including 20,000 pounds of oregano per year to Chipotle. She recently launched a bread line using wheat from her farm. The bread is baked, milled, and harvested using three varieties of … Continue reading
Anthony Myint, a chef based in the Mission in San Francisco, is a founder of the restaurants The Perennial, Mission Street Food, Mission Chinese Food, Mission Cantina, Mission Burger, Lt. Waffle, and Commonwealth Restaurant. His cookbook, co-written with his wife Karen Leibowitz, Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbable Restaurant, was a New York Times Notable cookbook in … Continue reading
Sandor Katz, a self-proclaimed fermentation revivalist, became hooked on fermentation with his first homemade batch of sauerkraut, earning him the nickname “Sandorkraut”. As an AIDS survivor, he considers fermented foods an important part of his health and well-being. His 2003 book, Wild Fermentation, was lauded by Newsweek as the “fermentation bible”, and his 2012 book, The Art of Fermentation, received a James … Continue reading
Dr. Paul Thompson, a PhD in philosophy, is a professor at Michigan State University and the W. K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics. He has served on many national and international committees on agricultural biotechnology and is the author of From Field to Fork: Food Ethics for Everyone, among many other books … Continue reading
Dr. Kent Kirshenbaum received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCSF, is an NSF Career Award recipient, and is currently a professor of Chemistry at NYU. His research focuses on the creation of new peptide-based macromolecules that can be used as research tools or therapeutic strategies. In 2012, he filed a patent for a foaming agent which acts … Continue reading
Ernest Miller, a pro at food preservation, was once the Executive Chef at Farmer’s Kitchen in Hollywood. In 2011, he relaunched the Los Angeles County Master Food Preserver program, where he was the lead instructor. Nowadays, Miller reigns as founder, chef, instructor, and historian of Rancho La Merced Provisions LLC., which provides “food and classes that reflect the rich … Continue reading
Juliet Han graduated from UC San Diego before moving to Washington D.C. for a music policy internship. She eventually switched to coffee and has now been working in the coffee industry for over a decade. Han has been a judge for regional barista competitions and represented Intelligentsia Coffee in the 2012 U.S. Cup Tasters Championship, where she placed third. … Continue reading
Eve Lahijani graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Economics and Business and went on to earn her Masters in Nutritional Science at CSU Los Angeles. She is now a registered dietitian for Vitamineve, a nutrition counseling service, and a nutrition health educator at UCLA. Eve’s Fiat Lux seminars on body image and proper nutrition have … Continue reading
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