Sustaining Stillman’s: Turning a Profit at the Boston Public Market
Outside the Harvard Square Sunday Market, rain drizzles on a row of vendors as they advertise their assortments of produce, cheese, and baked goods to passersby. In a small, unassuming stall in the middle of the market, Rebecca Stillman sells a variety of meats on behalf of her daughter Kate, owner of Stillman’s Quality Meats.
Kate’s father started Stillman’s Farm over 30 years ago. Eager to find her own niche in the family business, Kate initiated Stillman’s Quality Meats on her father’s land in 2005, selling at markets all over the greater Boston area. Through the direct marketing made possible by the Massachusetts’ Farmer’s Market Association, small family farming has maintained a sustainable income for Massachusetts farmers. The ability to build relationships with customers has allowed the Stillmans to ensure their customers that they exercise the highest standards of care out of respect for nature rather than to appease third-party certifiers.
While seasonal farmer’s markets have given Kate the opportunity to start and grow her business by selling “conscientiously raised, grass fed, pasture raised meat and poultry,” it is her new stall at the year-round Boston Public Market that will give her company the space to turn a profit. Rebecca eagerly tells of the new value-added products available for sale there. From beef kebabs and peach-stuffed pork chops to house-cured charcuterie, the spread is sure to entice the crowd.
In an attempt to find new ways to sustain the business of farming in a post-agrarian culture, small farmers are turning to value-added products to boost profits. A produce farmer might, for instance, be able to sell quarts of fresh concord grapes for $5 a basket. At the end of the day, any leftover grapes will likely not make it through another market. With the addition of just a touch of sugar and half an hour over the stove, however, the farmer can sell those otherwise unusable grapes for $10 a jar in the form of jelly. By transforming their original products into something new and more valuable, farmers are finding ways to widen the scope of their sales. Creating a forum to introduce value-added products revamps the playing field for local small farmers.
Kate Stillman has eagerly joined in the game, but in the end, it is her customers who truly win.
“[Kate] survives, but it’s tough. She provides for her family,” says Rebecca . But when asked if customers are increasingly happy, Rebecca smiles demurely and nods. “Absolutely. Oh, absolutely.”
Sampling Scientific Cooking with Kenji Lopez-Alt at Harvest in Cambridge
By Jerrelle Guy
A private luncheon was held at the historic Harvest restaurant in Harvard square on Monday, October 26th, and a few 
people from the Gastronomy program attended. You all remember Chef Kenji Lopez-Alt from his column in Serious Eats, right? Well, Chef Kenji Lopez-Alt has taken his M.I.T. degree and brought that proficiency into his kitchen. He's managed to deconstruct many of the common cooking approaches taken toward some of our favorite recipes (All-American Meatloaf, Classic Baked Ziti, Big, Fat Juicy Grilled Burgers, and more) and boil them down to a simple scientific method. He even went one step further and made his science-based techniques accessible to the home cook.
The luncheon was a tiny taste of what scientific cooking could offer. Chef Kenji Lopez-Alt partnered with Harvest’s Executive Chef Kinnet to prepare a simple yet elegant menu: Slow-Roasted Pumpkin Soup, Spatchcock Roast Chicken with Scalloped Potatoes, Broccoli Rabe and Delicata Squash, and one can't forget the array of mini desserts that included a life-altering Earl Grey and Caramel Cream Puff!
Along the top of a wide-stretched table dressed in white linen rested his thick new cookbooks, waiting to be doled out to the lucky guests in attendance. Within their pages the chef offers extensive explanations and pictures, and for those who could attend the luncheon, living proof why we as cooks should reconsider the way we think about cooking. The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking through Science is as monumental in size as an encyclopedia, and it behaves like one as well. It's a necessary resource that should take a place on all of our cookbook shelves.
Harvest is celebrating its 40th anniversary all November-long with a special tasting menu, and inviting and honoring chefs from the Boston area who are shaking up the contemporary culinary scene. You can find more information on future events here.
Butchering Lamb at Lightning Ridge
By Lindsey Barrett
After a sunny forty-five minute Sunday drive from Boston to Sherborn, Mass., my Sous Chef Josh Turka and I arrived at a 
small white poster paper sign with a thin black arrow pointing us to 38A Bullard Street. The narrow gravel path, surrounded by thick green brush, opened up to a single-story grey ranch home with three wood-paneled barns behind it. Lightning Ridge Farm is a modest, family-run business dedicated to raising purebred Corriedale sheep and lamb for auction and wholesale.
“It’s named lighting ridge because a few years ago, right down the street, 24 cows were all killed by one strike of lighting,” said owner Nancy Miniter. She and her husband John, along with bostonchefs.com, invited restaurant owners and staff to visit the farm, have lunch and watch a whole animal butchery demonstration. This offered a unique and educational experience, bringing chefs out of the kitchen and closer to the products and people they work with. Over twenty chefs, general managers and restaurant owners from Massachusetts and Rhode Island wearing sneakers, full arm tattoos and some even in socks and kitchen Crocs, gathered to learn about purchasing local lamb directly from the farmer.
Nancy and John started the farm with just two small sheep as 4H projects for their son and daughter in 1990. Today they have 45 ewes on 15 acres. “If you can get a lamb to produce three times in two years she is a keeper,” Nancy advised. Lamb and sheep have a gestation period of five months, and most animals will “lamb” twins.
Lightning Ridge does most of its retail selling at the Wayland Winter and Natick farmers markets, where the lamb is broken down into loin, rib and chop primal cuts for customers. Nancy sells every part of the animal. "I do pretty good selling testicles at the farmers market," she said. "Testicles, hearts and tongues -- I can't keep them."
The farm produces lamb year-round, which is uncommon for a small farm. The animals are butchered at 120-140 pounds and will hang sheered, skinned and head-on at 60-70 pounds. It takes roughly six to seventh months for the animals to reach this weight. Hay made on site by Nancy and John, both animal science graduates, is used for feeding along with a 16% protein enriched grain feed. "I don't like seeing thin sheep," Nancy admitted.
After the grounds tour, the chefs sat down in the shade to whole roast lamb, smoked over peach wood, and Jacks Abby. It was welcome refreshment from the blistering heat that beat down from a piercing blue sky littered with a few sharp white clouds. Sitting around six plastic tables under white peaked tents, chefs chatted in true competitive culinary form. They
compared who had been working the most hours, what was on their current menu, how often it changed and who did what with lamb, each silently sizing up their fellow chef and quietly judging their practices and procedures.
The butchery demonstration was given by Savenour’s butcher shop manager Adam Lucia. Although the conditions were not ideal -- it was warm, the meat was getting soft and the hand saw was not breaking bones as easily as it would had the meat and air temperature been cooler -- Adam did his best to demonstrate how to break down a whole lamb. "It's not magic, it's just a lost art," he said as he delicately taps his boning knife with a steel mallet between rib bone and muscle. He explained what he uses the whole animal for and how nothing should be wasted. "The lard inside the lamb, it's a shame not to use,” he said. “It's like white gold." He went on to suggest we use it to sear proteins in pans.
Three days prior, sweat slowly creeped down the small of my back and my thick black chef pants stuck to my thighs. It was a Thursday night and it felt like the entire dining room at The Salty Pig had all sat down at once. At 6 p.m. in the middle of picking up and plating three pork tastings, two buccatini and clam pastas and a small agnolotti, I heard my chef yell my name. “Lindsey, talk to Josh at the pass,” my head chef barked as he finished garnishing a plate with toasted sunflower seeds and five vibrant sunflower pedals.
Josh leaned over the shiny black counter and asked what I was doing Sunday. Really? I thought. You want to know my Sunday plans when I'm frantically trying to plate six entrees on a space no bigger than a standard kitchen sized cutting board? "Um nothing chef, what's up?" I respectfully answered. Over the clanking of plates and beeping of timers, thoughts continued going on in my head: Was my loin resting? Was the garlic burning in the pan or did I have enough time to turn around, bloom in the Aleppo and deglaze with white wine?
He told me he wanted to tour a lamb farm and talk about purchasing a whole lamb. "Sure chef, sounds fun, text me later about details,” I spat out as I whirled back around to the six burner range. With a towel in hand, I grabbed sauté pans and heated up the black garlic purée. I then stole the crispy charred wax beans off the grill, aggressively chopped parsley to finish the pasta and tossed the finished plates to the pass.
Back at Lightning Ridge, as the butchering demonstration continued, Josh and I chugged down our third beer each. A welcome breeze blew in and the faint smell of dried hay and barnyard animal wafted through the tented tables. The shade, icy beer and farm scents were soothing, giving way to a moment to sit back and enjoy the simplistic Sunday setting. “Well,” Josh whispered over the tiny tapping of mallet to knife, a small grin forming out of the 
corner of his mouth, “now I want to get a lamb.”
If you go: Nancy encourages anyone to visit the farm, take a tour and see what they do daily. "We like when people visit,” she says. “We always tell people from the farmers market to visit the farm. They never do but we like it.” For more information, email jnene@aol.com or call 508-653-3212. Lightning Ridge Farm, 38 A Bullard Street, Sherborn Massachusetts
Dr. Ari Ariel’s Talk on the Hummus Wars
By Kendall Vanderslice
On September 30th, a rainy Wednesday evening, Dr. Ari Ariel presented the second Pepin lecture of the year, titled “Hummus Wars: Buying and Boycotting Middle Eastern Foods.” The new head of the Gastronomy program began his presentation with a slideshow of the Guinness World Record competition between Lebanon and Israel, each vying for the award of producing the largest hummus dish. A 9,000-pound dish in Israel was quickly defeated by a group of Lebanese chefs. After a few rounds of back and forth battling, the record for largest dish of hummus was won by Chef Ramzi Choueiri and students in Lebanon for their 23,000 pound serving.
While this might sound like nothing more than friendly competition between neighboring countries, Dr. Ariel says he views the hummus record as an extension of the political climate. It is set, he explains, within “a rhetoric of violence that turns cooks into combatants.” Since 2008, Lebanon has been seeking a legal claim to hummus. By trademarking hummus in the European Union, they aim to regulate the proportions of ingredients allowed in the tasty dip and require Lebanese recognition on every label.
The history of hummus is largely unknown. In Arabic, the word simply means “chickpea,” but the dish hummus bi tahini has become so popular around the world that it is commonly referred to as simply hummus. The exact origin remains a mystery – the earliest recipe is found in a 13th century cookbook – yet several countries claim ownership of the dish. Because hummus exists between multiple foodways and constructions of identity, this attempt to trademark the dish raises questions of authenticity and gastro-nationalism. Who has a right to regulate claims to authenticity? Is authenticity a product of, or a producer of, identity and nationality?
According to Dr. Ariel, the hummus wars prove that, while food can serve to reconcile, it can also push things in the opposite direction. Far from a bridge to peace, this culinary rivalry creates a new space within which political conflict can work itself out. Whether this non-violent space will remain such is yet to be discovered. So the next time you reach for some hummus, remember that the dish is a little deeper than you thought.
Don Lindgren Explores the Anatomy of a Cookbook
by Barbara Rotger
Like family bibles and favorite children’s books, cookbooks are often singled out in the home for special treatment. They are kept separately from other books, passed down from generation to generation, with each caretaker inscribing his or her own name within it. However, unlike other treasured volumes, users regularly mark these texts with their own corrections or commentary, adding whole new sections or boldly crossing out recipes that have proved unsuccessful. Years of heavy use are reflected in repairs, occasionally made by professional binders, but more frequently accomplished with tape or needle and thread, providing a tangible link between the craft of cooking and other household crafts.
Don Lindgren, proprietor of Rabelais Fine Books on Food & Drink, made these points in his lecture “The Anatomy of a Cookbook: The Useful Object and Its Users.” This was the first talk in this year’s Jacques Pepin Lectures Series, offered by Boston University’s Programs in Food and Wine. Lindgren emphasized use of the term “object” rather than “text” in his title, noting that there are many aspects of cookbooks that scholars can learn from that beyond lists of ingredients and instructions for their preparation.
Referencing the methodology that historian Barbara Ketcham Wheaton presents in her seminar on Reading Historic Cookbooks, Lindgren encouraged the audience to look for details such as the number of ingredients a cookbook calls for, the source of those ingredients, and the kind of environment they might reflect. Scholars should also consider evidence of the range of equipment in use and the people involved in preparing food – from heads of households planning menus, cooks who prepared them, and the merchants, foragers and farmers who supplied the ingredients.
Lindgren pointed out the importance of considering the motivations of the publisher or author. Cookbooks do not just exist 
as a vehicle to share recipes; authors may seek to gain publicity for themselves, raise funds for a cause, or support advertisers. The use of pseudonyms is common in cookbook publishing. Lindgren illustrated this point with an example, noting that a volume published by the “Society of New York Gentlemen” sold far more copies after the author’s name was changed to the fictitious “Priscilla Homespun”.
In another example of cookbook sleuthing, Lindgren showed how a bookseller’s ticket, affixed to the inside of a collection of cocktail recipes that was published in 1862, shed light on another historical moment. This slip of paper, pasted inside the cover of the book, indicated that the volume was sold in a shop in Havana that was in business from 1873 to 1877, providing evidence that contradicts the conventional wisdom of when cocktail culture developed on the island of Cuba.
After his talk, participants were invited to examine a number of cookbooks from Lindgren’s shop. Many took home a catalog and went home inspired to consider the “useful objects” on their own kitchen shelves in a new light.
Upcoming Lecture: Taste and Judgment as a Key to Becoming a Responsible and Enjoying Eater
Members of the Gastronomy Community and the public are invited to a lecture by Dr. Helle Brønnum Carlsen on Taste and Judgment as a Key to Becoming a Responsible and Enjoying Eater (Food "Bildung").
Dr. Carls
en will discuss an aesthetic approach to food, and how food knowledge and attitudes concerning foods (food Bildung, or food literacy) are used to frame the consumer’s choice as those of a responsible, reflexive human being. Dr. Carlsen, a scholar in food and aesthetics, obtained her Ph.D. at the Danmarks institut for Pædagogik og Uddannelse, now Århus University, from the Institute of Pedagogical Philosophy. She also has a Master of Arts in Literature from Copenhagen University, where she studied food and literature, and a Master’s degree in Nutrition and Biochemistry from DPU. In addition to teaching, Dr. Carlsen has served as an advisor for the Copenhagen House of Food, as a chef consultant for the Ministry of Education, food critic/reviewer in the monthly gastro-magazine Smag og Behag, freelance food writer, and lecturer. She has published 15 cookbooks, 2 academic books about food and philosophy/education and, most recently, a book for teaching food knowledge and cooking skills.
This lecture will be held on October 15, 2015 at 6:00 pm, in the College of General Studies, 871 Commonwealth Avenue, room 511, and is sponsored by the Gastronomy Program and Boston University's Programs in Food and Wine.
Course Spotlight: Food and Gender
Dr. Karen Metheny will be teaching Food and Gender during the Fall 2015 term. This 4-credit course takes an anthropological, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of food and gender, looking at how masculinity and femininity are defined through beliefs and practices surrounding food and body. Students will engage in a semester-long research project using ethnographic and oral interview techniques such as food-centered life histories.
This class will meet on Monday evenings, from 6 to 9 PM, starting on September 14. The course is open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Non-degree students may also register. Please contact gastrmla@bu.edu for more information.
Back-to-School Season, part 4
Our Back-to-School series continues with four more new-student introductions. We are looking forward to meeting everyone in classes, starting September 2, 2015.
Louise Beck Brønnum will be coming to Boston University for the Fall 2015 semester as an exchange
student from Copenhagen University, where she is studying Food Innovation and Health. At Copenhagen University she has been responsible for the students organization ”Gastronomic Playground” where new dishes are created from knowledge of nutritional, physical and chemical perspectives of food. With themes such as “from trash to treasure” they have created dishes such as crispy fish bone, hens’ feet, and chocolate ice cream made with blood instead of egg yolks as an emulsifier. The group served these dishes at festivals, communicating knowledge in an edible way. In her spare time, Louise writes for food magazines and a restaurant guide, and has authored two cookbooks. She looks forward to sharing her understanding of the Nordic kitchen with other students in the program.
Louise writes: “I love food. I would go as far as to call myself a food fanatic, who is MADly[1] in love with food. Gastronomy needs a holistic approach, which contains the interdisciplinary aspect of food: the scientific aspect, the cultural aspect, the aesthetic aspect, the ethical aspect and the cooking skills. Combining these aspects is what I find interesting about gastronomy.”
[1] Mad; Food in Danish.
Sonia Dovedy just arrived to 
Boston this summer and has already fallen in love with this vibrant city - from the fragrant mint sold at Haymarket, to the incredibly fresh seafood, and of course, bike rides along the Charles River.
Growing up in an Indian kitchen in California, Sonia was exposed to bright spices, warm flavors, and the beauty of homemade food eaten amongst family at the dinner table from a very young age. Today, she equates food with love, and finds that the simplest foods are the most beautiful in flavor. Sonia loves to study cookbooks, taste new flavors, and then experiment and create her own recipes in the kitchen.
Sonia completed her undergraduate degree at University of California, Berkeley, where she studied food media and nutrition. This education opened her eyes to the ways individuals form relationships with their food based on the media and society. While recently living in India for the past two years, studying yoga with Shri BKS Iyengar, Sonia connected with food in a new light, using her five senses. The locals taught her how to listen to the sounds of perfectly toasted cumin, how to feel the softness of a well-made chapatti, and how to coddle the best cup of chai.
Sonia devotes a big part of her life to the practice of yoga and Ayurveda. She believes that food integrates perfectly together with these principles - food is truly "beautiful fuel" for the body. She loves concocting wholesome, delicious recipes to share with others as well as encouraging those around her to slow down and pay attention to the beauty on the plate. She aspires to harness the wellness power of food and make it available to everyone.
You can find Sonia in the kitchen or on her yoga mat. You can also follow her on her food/yoga/travel blog: www.bakewithsonia.com.
Amy Lipsitz grew up in a coastal town in Rhode Island then headed north to study 
Public Communications and Food Systems at the University of Vermont. Her undergraduate studies gave her insight into many aspects of the food industry and she learned her passion is cooking and nutrition. Since college Amy has combined her love of food with her communications degree and worked in food marketing roles at a nutrition magazine, health food store and, most recently, a fair trade, organic chocolate company.
Amy loves how food brings people together. This love inspired her recently launched food blog ‘Sobremesa’ which, in Spanish, refers to time spent around the table savoring food and friendship. Amy posts weekly vegetarian recipes and photos on her blog. Through this experience she’s learned a lot about food and cooking, and met amazing people from around the world. Amy’s favorite part about blogging is inviting friends over to eat after a photo shoot and seeing what they think of her latest recipe.
When Amy’s not in the kitchen she can be found traveling and discovering different cuisines, hanging out with friends or training for her next marathon.
Caroline Pierce is a Massachusetts 
native and attended Boston University as an undergrad where she earned a degree in Environmental Policy and Analysis. Caroline has worked as an environmental consultant for the last 4 years helping restaurants to improve their sustainability and reduce their environmental footprint. Intrigued by the food-related side of her work Caroline applied to the Gastronomy program at Boston University in order to hone her culinary interests and pursue a new career.
Back-to-School Season, part 3
It is back to school season! Classes in Boston University’s Gastronomy program begin on September 2, 2015.
Here is your next batch of introductions to some of the new students joining the Gastronomy Program for the Fall 2015 Semester.
John Kramer, a Texas native, became interested in the study of anthropology during a year spent living in Arusha, Tanzania. His exposure to such a drastically different culture, and the increasingly visible effects of globalization acting upon it, led him to obtain a degree in Anthropology at the University of Houston. In addition to the academic aspects of culture, John also enjoys the more practical applications to be found in the study of food. To this end, he has worked as the Sous Chef for several years in the kitchen of Camp Waldemar, a summer camp in the Texas Hill Country. Combining his interest in the study of culture with his passion for food led him to Boston University’s Gastronomy program, where he intends to pursue both the policy and culture concentrations so that he may deepen his understanding and appreciation of culinary anthropology.
Kayla Koehn is a born 
and raised native Texan and sweet-a-holic, who found her passion for food while watching her grandma bake and cook the old fashion way. Following her dream she found herself at Johnson & Wales University where, after 4 years, an internship at Ecole Nationale Superieure de la Patisserie, in Yssingeaux, France she received both her AS and BS in Baking and Pastry. After graduating she moved back to her home state and started working as a culinary instructor for the Art Institute, and well as a pastry chef at La Cantera Hill Country Resort. She found that the best part of her day was seeing the smiles on people's faces when they ate their sweet treats and decided she wanted to see that more often. This led to her decision to continue her education, finding the BU Gastronomy program's focus on food policy to be the perfect fit. She hopes that one day she will be able to work with different nations around the world to help with their food supply, food sustainability, and see the smiles on the faces of people who no longer need to worry about where their next meal will come from. She is excited to start this journey and see where this program could take her.
Marina Starkey first became interested in food studies when she accidentally left the Food Network on too long and watched Alton Brown's "Good Eats" when she was only ten. Smitten with Brown and his vast culinary knowledge, she decided to begin experimenting with food and all its possibilities (much to her parents' dismay). Eleven years later, Marina has a BA in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College where she also worked as a contributing writer for the online culinary magazine Simmer. She also developed her own food blog titled "Marinated" where her food experiments continue to find their outlet to the world. While enrolled in BU's Gastronomy program, she hopes to build her culinary knowledge and skills so one day she can have her own cooking show and give Alton Brown a run for his money.
Lauren Weinberg grew up in Kansas City
, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies and History from Indiana University. While at IU, her penchant for food and farming developed during weekly trips to the Farmers Market. Conversations shared across produce stands created meaningful connections with local growers and community members who valued good food, celebrating the abundance of each new season, and learning from one another.
After college, Lauren’s interests led her to rural Connecticut and the Adamah Jewish Farming Fellowship, where she cultivated her knowledge of organic agriculture, maple sugaring, and lacto-fermentation. Lauren moved to Boston in 2011 to join the Waltham Fields Community Farm crew as an Assistant Grower. Beyond the fields, Lauren expanded her focus from the farm to the factory when she began working at Taza Chocolate in Somerville, MA. Starting as a Chocolate Maker, she grew into the role of Assistant Production Manager. As well, Lauren has continued to keep her hands in the dirt outside of work, gardening for 4 seasons at Codman Community Farm in Lincoln, MA.
Lauren comes to the Gastronomy Program with a desire to focus her education on food systems, culture and policy.
Back-to-School Season, Part 2
It is back to school season! Classes in Boston University’s Gastronomy program begin on September 2, 2015.
Here is your next batch of introductions to some of the new students joining the Gastronomy Program for the Fall 2015 Semester.
Valencia Baker is a fresh transplant from beautiful California who is on a mission to soak up all things epicurean at Boston University. Blend the adventurously quirky energies of Ms. Frizzle, with the homey, bubbly feel of Giada de Laurenttiis, and you’ve got her in a tasty nutshell. She’s dipped into many food niches, from Culinary Arts Elementary School Teacher, farm hand and prep cook at a Roman countryside restaurant, to Food Shelter Organizer outside of Sacramento, CA, and prep cook in Philadelphia’s financial district, but she’s hungry for academic growth.
A graduate of University of California Davis’ Sociology, Anthropology, and Sustainable Food Systems programs, her mind is excited about food justice. Born to an artistic and hardworking Afro-Latina family, Valencia grew up eating and cooking lots of colorfully rich meals at the kitchen table. Food brought everyone together after hard days’ work and each delectable dish, prepared with care, was enthusiastically celebrated by all. Eventually, the desire to share with others the feelings of love, gratitude, and pleasure that creatively prepared meals bought her family became an insatiable passion. After undergraduate school, she focused on merging her food love fury with her blooming social concerns for food justice. After BU Gastronomy, Valencia plans to open a food education farm supported bed and breakfast.
Elizabeth Nieves is from the Bluegrass State of 
Kentucky, 1,000 miles south of Boston. She recently graduated from the University of Kentucky with her Bachelor’s of Science in Food Science. Food science led her to two internships, including one at WILD Flavors, Inc. and the Food Systems Innovation Center (FSIC) at UK. Working at WILD gave her insight into the commercial food industry, while working with FSIC taught her about food microbiology and how to do home canning. Baking is where her real passion lies and, thus, her friends have affectionately nicknamed her ‘Bethy Crocker.’ Her great grandfather started the family bakery, which was passed down two generations and is no doubt where her fondest baking memories began. By studying Gastronomy, she would like to expand upon her culinary skills, while keeping a global perspective. Elizabeth will focus on food policy and hopes to work with the global food supply or nutrition policies in the future.
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” – Luciano Pavarotti
Metiga Parkcharoen credits this quote with giving her the courage to follow her gourmet dream of becoming a well-versed food connoisseur and restaurateur. Originally from Bangkok, Thailand, Metiga has had the chance from a young age to study in many other countries, including Singapore, France and the United Kingdom.She received her BA in Marketing Communication Management from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand with a term of study aboard program at Sciences Po in Paris. She has also completed a Master’s Degree in Marketing at University of Bath in UK. Through this travel she became trilingual (English, Thai and Chinese) and she also developed an interest in the various food scenes.
Metiga’s wanderlust and experiences living aboard and her eagerness to try out all kinds of cuisines have sparked her love of food. She anticipates an entrepreneurial career, revolving around curating the ultimate dining experiences. She also hopes that she will be able to contribute and share her extended knowledge of the food manufacturing industry and experiences while working as a marketer for one of the leading food conglomerates in her home country.
Yi Chieh Yeh, also known as Erica, is from Taiwan but has lived in South Africa for most of her life. She recently graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics. She started baking her own birthday cakes to take to school 
to share with her classmates in her early teens and has loved cooking and baking since. Having worked with and talked to all sorts of people about their health and nutrition during her university days, she became intrigued by how food, culture, history and so many aspects each play a different but important role in an individual’s life and well-being. She dreams to be able to create beautiful food, as well as, to give appropriate and effective dietary and culinary advice and guidance to people with special dietary needs.