My professional food education
I joined IRI to be the leader of the relationship with McNeil Nutritionals’ divisions of Johnson & Johnson. One of the main products in their portfolio was the sweetener brand, Splenda, and through that learned a great deal about the growing market for natural sweeteners.
This led to my current position at CSM Bakery solutions, where I have had experience in both consumer insights/market research and most currently in product management as a Category Marketing Lead.
As a Category Marketing Lead, I develop strategies, identify growth opportunities, and insure linkage of category initiatives to financial goals. I also spearhead the development of innovative products, and am responsible for the profitability of the Whipped Topping and Glaze Bakery categories.
Education:
- Masters of Business Administration, major in Marketing, minor in Finance – Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
- Bachelor of Science, Applied Sciences in Engineering (Packaging) – Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
But my serious education in food started about 15 years ago
My son, Derek, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a toddler. It’s fascinating to see how different foods can affect his blood sugar levels.
Then I, myself, started to have inflammation/autoimmune symptoms which led me to a rabbit hole of learning regarding food and lifestyle via books, podcasts, doctors, and functional medicine practitioners.
Food and nutrition are keys for me in maintaining a stable life without taking prescription drugs with their numerous serious side effects.
Are you a Scientist?
No, I am not a scientist. But, I read countless articles and books about the complex science of how food and lifestyle impact health.
Also, I do have background in statistics and analytics which helps me decipher scientific studies and literature. There could be unintentional, or intentional, flaws in how a study is designed.
What do you eat?
After eating and loving a mostly SAD (Standard American Diet) for most of my life, I now eat a mostly Paleo diet. Most days I eat high quality meats and fish (grass-fed or wild caught), different types of vegetables, fruits, and saturated fats (i.e. olive oil, coconut oil, bacon fat).
Since it is difficult for me to maintain this diet every day long-term, once or twice a week I’ll have a cheat day where I eat everything, except gluten.
I really only crave two foods, a Big Mac and a pizza slice that is not gluten free. I haven’t cheated, yet, with these foods.
What does 195 degrees stand for?
For the past few years I have been smoking meats. To get to the meat’s true tenderness and flavor, you need to cook it at low temperatures for a long period of time, otherwise known as “low and slow.” For pork butt/shoulder, it takes me at least 12 hours to smoke the meat.
I like the aspect of patiently waiting for the meat to cook. Ideally the atmospheric temperature to smoke the meat should be between 225 degrees to 275 degrees throughout the process.
Even taking the temperature to about 160 degrees would make the meat safe to eat. But you need to take the temperature of the meat to 195 degrees to get the juiciest and tenderest meat and also be able to ‘pull’ the meat. The high temps over a long period of time render the fat and allow for the conversion of collagen to gelatin, which creates/releases the moisture so prized by pit bosses (and people eating it!). The last five degrees takes the longest. You can cheat and get the heat up to get to the 195 degrees more quickly, but you sacrifice the moistness of the meat.
This process is akin to understanding and solving serious business problems. I believe that that deep thinking regarding every aspect of the issue is the proper way to reach a solution. Rapidly arriving at an answer may work short-term, but not get you the solid answer that you need.
There are more transactional things where speed is appropriate. For example, finding the percentage of consumers that buy a product would be something where strategic thinking is not required.
But, when dealing with strategic direction with business, taking the time to think things through, “low and slow” is the way to go.
P.S. Other things I like to do are going to my kids’ activities and playing tennis.
