Sunday, January 10, 2016

7 women who are transforming the food industry as we know it

It's time to reclaim the phrase "a woman's place is in the kitchen" — because lots of ladies are are killing it in that very place.

These incredible women are also dominating the boardroom, the garden, the sushi bar, the book tour and within the community, all in the name of good food for good people.

1. Lisa Q. Fetterman

Fetterman invented the Nomiku sous vide immersion circulator with her husband and Wipop Bam Suppipat in 2012. It was brought to market via Kickstarter's first ever campaign for a home cooking sous vide device.

After making over $1.3 million from two Nomiku Kickstarter campaigns, it's safe to say Fetterman and the Nomiku are here to stay. The Nomiku is not just used in homes but in high-end restaurants worldwide, including Noma.

The Nomiku's latest version is Wi-Fi-enabled, and Fetterman tells Mashable the Tender app that controls it is "the biggest sous vide community on mobile." It lets users explore Nomiku's recipes and create and share their own. A delivery system brings sous vide-ready ingredients to your door, though the service is currently only in the San Francisco area.

Fetterman currently offers an online class to help others learn how to use crowdfunding to make their businesses come to life.

2. Christina Tosi

Christina Tosi injects mountains of whimsy into the often serious world of pastry. Her compost cookies (pretzels and potato chips mixed with chocolate chips and other ingredients), cereal milk ice cream and cake truffles are laughable — in the best way.

She has gone from David Chang's menu consultant to a James Beard awarded pastry chef who runs her own empire. She is the chef, founder and owner of Momofuku Milk Bar (founded in 2012), sister company to David Chang's Momofuku restaurant group.

Her Momofuku Milk Bar locations have multiplied and now include a branch in Toronto. Milk Bar distributes baking mixes nationwide through Target. And Tosi has entered the celebrity chef realm by judging Masterchef Junior.

She champions the fun, whimsical side of pastry without compromising her vision. Success is about "being an integrity-filled individual that crushes it, that is the most savvy, most team oriented, true person on the team, or in my case, in the kitchen," she tells Elle.

Clearly, she's doing something right.

3. Maria Rose Belding

When you were 20, you were probably buying fake ids and trying to avoid bacne before bikini season. Maria Rose Belding, on the other hand, was busy developing Means Database, which matches organizations, businesses and individuals with extra food to food banks and food rescue organizations.

Belding (recently honored as a L'Oreal Woman of Worth 2015) and cofounder Grant Nelson discovered that more than 35% of phone numbers listed for food banks and pantries were incorrect, making it more difficult for would-be donors to get food to those who need it most. MEANS lets those with excess food put the items in the database to alert food banks and pantries that food is available for donation. An algorithm lets those who are most likely to pick up the donations know first via email or text message.

American households throw away $165 billion of food per year.

When she turns 21, Maria deserves a drink.

4. Dominique Crenn

Dominique Crenn is crushing the high-end dining scene, one that has been dominated by men since the days of Escoffier.

Her 2015 cookbook, which doubles as an art photography book, Atelier Crenn: Metamorphosis of Taste, was lauded and given its own Vanity Fair spread. In 2012, she was the first female chefin America to earn two Michelin stars for her namesake restaurant Atelier Crenn. She opened Petit Crenn in 2015, a more casual eatery across the street from its big sister. Petit Crenn has a no tipping policy and the cooks serve the food directly to diners in a bold move that connects diners directly to creators.

Crenn tells Eater she is working on improving baby food and kids food: "I just want to be conscious and be a part of what matters and what can help to change the way we do things and the way we eat. Just to make this place a better world."

5. Jessamyn Rodriguez

IMAGE: JENNIFER MAY

Hot Bread Kitchen makes world class biyalis, chewy Moroccan s'men and a has major impact on immigrant and minority workers. When Jessamyn Rodriguez founded the bakery in 2007, thegoal was to create "lasting economic security for low-income, immigrant and minority individuals by creating pathways to professional opportunities in the culinary industry."

Rodriguez's bakery gets many of its bestselling items from employees' family recipes, such as the legendary corn tortillas.

She also operates an incubator program; the community kitchen and business support team has helped grow over 120 now thriving food businesses.

Men were getting a lot of the available work in the baking industry, Rodriguez tells Mashable. "It's our mission to change the face (and gender) of the bread baking industry." She is doing it one delicious biyali at a time.

6. Pashon Murray

Martha Stewart Hosts Ultimate American Made Meetup

Since she founded Detroit Dirt with Greg Willerer in 2011, Pashon Murray has dedicated herself to reducing Detroit's carbon footprint through compost, biomass collection and advocating for urban community gardens.

Composting reduces greenhouse gas emissions and uses natural resources to enhance soil.

Each year, Detroit Dirt composts tens of thousands of tons of food waste into rich, fertile soil, then sells that soil to Detroit's urban farmers. She is working toward making the compost available for retail sale.

She predicted 70,000 tons of waste would be salvaged this year, and is working with public schools to start the next generation thinking about saving our planet through food refuse.

7. Yuki Chidui

All hail the sushi queen. Chidui is the sushi chef and manager at Tokyo's Nadeshico Sushi, where all employees are female.

It's an unusual setup; the world of sushi is notoriously male-dominated. Some say women cannot be trusted to make sushi because of menstruation or because their hands are too small or warm. Chidui fights against these preconceptions with a staff comprised entirely of women, clad in beautiful kimonos, working as hostesses, servers and sushi chefs. The chefs have all trained at Tokyo Sushi Academy.

The restaurant's survival and continuous popularity (open since 2010) prove Chidui isn't just mastering the restaurant game; she is breaking sushi barriers for women.

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