I’m in Tokyo for the summer. That means a couple of things:
1) My vegetarianism has gone on hiatus.
2) My cooking has somewhat gone on hiatus due to ease of good food everywhere and tiny kitchen.
3) It’s really hot.
That doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about food all the time. On the contrary! Tokyo is one of the best places to experience food and explore some new stuff.
One of the places I have been frequenting is a posh ramen spot called Afuri. They’re known for their yuzu ramen, but they are also one of the few ramen places that has a vegan option. Since I’m not cooking much (unless you count cold tofu with shit tons of bonito flakes), I decided to feature this beautiful bowl, otherwise known as 彩り野菜のヴィーガンらーめん. …
The food: For those who know me, it’s no secret that I love eggs. My spirit animal is definitely a lazy egg yolk (see below). Avocado toast also ranks high on my list, and together…well, you can’t really do any better than that.
The thought: I recently had a conversation with some friends about the difficulty in trying to eat ethically and consciously. Specifically around FDA labels. That’s what we’ll talk about in this post.
I remember taking a bio ethics class in college, and one of our lectures was about the use of genetically-modified organisms. That’s for a whole other blog post, but we ended up getting into a conversation about food labels. …
The food: Time to get a little fancy — Lemon saffron risotto with roasted cherry tomatoes topped with crispy kale and pecorino. Also saffron is pretty cool!
The thought: As a newcomer to the agricultural space, I just learned about cover crops, and it gave me an idea.
Cover crops are certain types of plants that rehabilitate the soil after an intense growing and harvesting season. Something that I didn’t fully internalize about our food is that the nutrients in the soil that make it healthy are transferred to the plants that grow in it, and then eventually to us for energy. This means that that soil’s nutrients need to be replaced. …
The food: This dish is one of my favorite comfort foods, and it happens to be vegan (completely unintentionally!). It combines some of my favorite flavors including garlic, sesame oil, and ginger. Scroll down if you wanna skip the other things I’m noodling on.
The thought: How to “come out” about your new food lifestyle, e.g. vegetarianism.
So, let me preface this and say that I’m not vegetarian. And that’s not because I have any connotations about the label. Rather, it’s because I don’t think I’m disciplined/strict/decisive enough to earn the title of vegetarian. …
The food: This recipe has been adapted from an amazing book of recipes and stories called Our Syria, where two Syrian women interviewed refugees about the culture they’ve tried to preserve while being forced to leave home and scattered all over the world. I specifically added the delicata squash because I got it this week in my Boston Organics box and thought it would go with the pomegranate well. I also substituted Kite Hill almond milk yogurt. I’ve heard a lot of controversy over the sustainability of almonds vs. …
The food: I was craving a creamy, rich pasta dish but I have so many lactose-intolerant friends that in order for this to be a social endeavor, I needed to figure out a way to make it without dairy (or at least minimal dairy). Enter, cashews.
The thought: Last semester, I gave a presentation on how human-centered design could be a game changer for the emerging food tech and trends. I’ve explored that further in this post.
Wild Mushroom Alfredo with Fried Sage
Featuring Cashews
Serves 4–5
Ingredients:
1 package pasta of your choice
1 lb wild mushrooms of your choice (I use oyster, shiitake, and crimini)
1 bunch sage, de-stemmed
2–3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 small yellow onion, minced
1 1/4 cup broth of your choice
2 cups raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours
Salt to taste
Olive oil
Grated parmesan to…
Introducing a new series focusing on food and my hair-brained thoughts
Vegetarian Spaghetti Bolognese
Serves 4
Featuring Beyond Meat
Ingredients:
1 16 oz package dried or fresh pasta, cooked according to package instructions
1 package Beyond Meat Burger
1 28 oz canned tomatoes
2–4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, minced
1 stalk celery, minced
1 small carrot, minced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1/3 cup dry white wine
Olive oil
Grated parmesan for serving
Instructions:
In a medium saucepan, sauté garlic, onions, celery, carrot, and red pepper flakes with olive oil until onions are translucent and carrot is tender. Add Beyond Burger, making sure to break up and crumble. Cook until browned. Add wine and cook until absorbed. Add tomatoes and bay leaf. Simmer for at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of salted water. Before draining, reserve 1/2 cup of cooking liquid and add to sauce to thicken. Reduce sauce until desired consistency on medium/high heat. …
This was my first day at Matter on Tuesday, January 14, 2014. I still remember walking in to the big SF warehouse-like space, lined with whiteboards and peppered with post-its. I had no idea what I was in for.
In numbers, I can summarize it pretty easily. Over the course of three years, I’ve gone from:
+ Evaluating 0 to ~406 pitches
+ Running 0 to 6 accelerator classes
+ Meeting 0 to 109 entrepreneurs
+ Operating on 1 to 2 coasts
+ Working with 1 to 5 to now 9 amazing teammates
It’s harder to represent the growth I’ve experienced in numbers alone, something to which I’m sure our startups can also attest. I came in with no prior investing, industry, or programmatic background, but I was smart, scrappy, and willing to do the job. Corey took a chance on me, and for that I will be forever grateful. I went from being a design thinking neophyte to startup coach and bootcamp facilitator. I went from newbie networker to the chief connector for our startups. And I went from never having seen a cap table to due diligencing like a pro. …
Investors are human. Tell us a story.
You have been working tirelessly for weeks, months, maybe over a year, and after submitting your application to Matter’s accelerator program, you’ve been asked to come in and pitch.
You walk into a conference room and there are 2 people sitting at a table. There’s a projector, a podium, and a glass of water waiting for you. As you fumble with the cables, trying to set up your tech as smoothly as possible, the investors introduce themselves and wait for you to pitch.
You begin. As you’re talking and clicking through your slides, you notice one of the investors furrowing their brow, and the other one scribbling something on a sheet of paper. You wonder to yourself, “what did she write down? If only I could glance over her shoulder…” This goes on throughout the pitch — it’s mildly distracting, but you’ve pitched several investors now and you can multitask quite well. …
A reflection on and guide to prototype-driven goal setting with entrepreneurs
During the Matter accelerator program, the goal all our entrepreneurs work toward is the same: Demo Day. The path to get there varies team to team, but the core is common: at the end of the 20 week sprint, they will present the culmination of their efforts on stage in SF and NYC before an audience of 200+ investors, media executives, mentors, and more.
But what happens after Demo Day? Goals change. Driving momentum looks different for everyone, and that’s natural. Some teams use Demo Day to kick off fundraising, some focus on business development and growth, and others decide to keep working on product. And much like parents probably feel when their children leave the nest, we have to let them set their own trajectory. …
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