One week in a post #10: Fonio, Mood Boosting Gummies, Joyful Organizations and Beuty Treats made of Food Waste.

Now that climate beneficial eating is becoming more popular, and a number of individuals and organizations are getting into the space, I feel called to share with a broader audience what I encounter every single day through my work at Future Food and Food for Climate League. Weekly, I share startups I read about, products I tasted, founders I met (and a bit of personal life!). Every single concept I mention will be tracked on a public database we’re populating. The overarching goal is to increase general interest in this topic, acknowledging that the challenge is too big not to work cooperatively.

This initiative is possible thanks to our amazing Future Food Ecosystem, where our team is working diligently every single day to research, design, create, and commercialize new food solutions to help our planet.

My word of the week

NOUN

• Cryptocurrency

A digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority.
(if you’re in Miami this week, ping me!)

Food, Climate and Innovation: three highlights of the week

Kendall Jenner’s brand backfire and the challenges behind a Tequila bottle

Many celebrities are well-known for their love towards Mexico’s Tequila and Mezcal. At the tip of the iceberg there is definitely George Clooney, who recorded $1 Billion in sales with his brand, Casamigos Tequila. This week it’s Kendall Jenner’s turn. But the result seems different. From cultural appropriation to the lack of credit, the 25-year-old model has tapped into something bigger, generating controversy and complains. Why? Because the Tequila industry is something deeply embedded in the Mexican culture, and it’s on the road to becoming extinct. It takes an average of 5 to 8 years for an agave to fully mature and it takes an average of 7 to 8 and even 12 years for it to be harvested. But many new tequila brands are cutting it short to 4 years before the plant is harvested to keep up with such high demand. Additionally, as the price of agave increases, only the big companies can afford it, making it impossible for family-owned brands to survive. Due to this, initiatives like the Tequila Interchange Project works to protect the sustainability of production for the agave plant. It is essential we understand how to savior a Tequila, get to know its flavors and acknowledge the intense labor behind it. It takes years to produce 1 bottle only for us to shot it in 10 seconds.

Some Mexican owned brands you may want to check out: 1800, 400 Conejos, and El Tesoro.

The Good Mood Food Movement

Mental health awareness skyrocketed in 2020. Following his father’s suicide, Robin Williams’s Son Zak began battling extreme depressive episodes. Self-medicating with alcohol and cannabis made him feel only more anxious. Following his recovery, Williams “partnered with a food scientist to create a formulation featuring GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid), L-theanine and rhodiola, compounds that helped him achieve a balanced state”. His aim is to create a “better mood” company using natural ingredients that help boost brain health. The good food movement is made up of a new segment of startups flooding the market thats worth $78 billion (functional food and beverage). Williams’ products such as “PYM Mood Chews and Mindright bars aren’t intended to replace medication, therapy or other forms of long-term care, but are positioned as tools for combating everyday stress”. The company is up and running, just give it a try!

Food Waste x Beauty

As I mentioned multiple times, upcycled food ingredients are gaining consumer retention as more become concerned on the planet’s health. Upcycled ingredients according to the Upcycled Food Association are defined as the ones that “use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment”. Upcycled food is a way that anyone can help reduce the amount of wasted food. Now, you can help reduce this waste during your beauty routine:

1. Circumference is a skincare company which is featuring a cleanser of olive leaf extract directly from excess and unusable leftover leaves in the olive oil-making process. Each bottle is sold for $48 and through this bottle, consumers are supporting their partnership with Brightland, an olive oil company that provides Circumferenc with their leaf leftovers from its California farms.
2. Farmacy is another brand that is hopping on the upcycled trend incorporating left over apples in its products such as lipbalm. Kseniya Popova, Farmacy’s director of research and development hopes to transition from using one left over ingredient per product to “make a whole formula from waste”.
3. Klur uses avocado and tomato seed oil that is usually discarded and features it in its limited edition Surrounding Surfaces Cuticle Oil. However, Klur does not loudly reference its sourcing.

Climate Friendly products I tasted this week

NuBana: Flour

NuBana is a neutral tasting fruit powder that delivers valuable functional properties because it has a different starch structure than starch from corn, potato, tapioca or other plants. The flour is made up from bananas that would otherwise be wasted. What I like about this product:

• A Gluten-free Alternative / does not contain gluten and works very well in gluten free applications.
• A New Binding Agent / NuBana can replace wheat flour and is ideal for applications needing viscosity, adhesion or water-binding.
• Impact / 20% of the bananas grown for the fresh market are composted or destroyed because they do not meet the size or shape specifications for fresh markets. This ventured works to solve this problem.

Yolee: snacks

YOLÉLÉ brings West Africa’s oldest cereal grain, fonio, to the global market to support the West African farming communities. What I find interesting about them:

• Market / This brand brings an ancient grain to the market which is a current food trend.
• Flavor profiles / A mix of unfamiliar and familiar flavors:”GREENS! Moringa + Baobab”, “YASSA! Chili, onion, & lime”, “Sea Salt”, and “AFRO-FUNK Dawadawa + Ginger”.
• Diversity / West African ingredients are definitely still not hugely present in European and American market!

Karana: Comfort Food

Asia is a large producer and consumer of pork. With deep run roots, it can be difficult to introduce plant-based foods replacing pork in the Asian cuisine. Karana offers comfort foods made with Jackfruit. What I like about them:

• Impact / Jackfruit grows very abundantly but tons of it goes to waste every year given its difficulties prepping the fruit for daily consumption.
• Authentic options / the brand offers products like whole plant char siu bao and pork & chive dumpling.
• Trendy / Jackfruit has been hype for a few years now but it is definitely still very popular.

My reading of the week

Chief Joy Officer, Richard Sheridan

Sheridan came to dream of leading a company that would inspire people, bring joy and create flexibility around people’s needs. That’s why he founded Menlo Innovations. In his second book, Sheridan describes how it’s possible for anyone to lead a business by focusing on joy and optimism instead of fear, hierarchy and bureaucracy. With the right values, approaches and systems, anyone can do this.

There are 7 key learnings in this book:

1 / Joyful leaders embrace authenticity and humility and encourage others to do the same.

Are you your true self at work? Or do you act differently in the office than you do at home or with friends? Many people feel uncomfortable being their true selves in the workplace. But joyful leaders create an environment where both enthusiasm, sadness and overwhelm are welcome.

2 / Joyful leaders are optimistic and are willing to take a chance.

Edward de Bono, a psychologist and philosopher, wrote a book called Six Thinking Hats. In it he explains six different approaches to thinking about any situation. A white hat thinker looks at things only as cold hard facts. Someone wearing a red hat would consider only the emotion of the moment. The black hat is often associated with the engineering mindset, which considers all that could go wrong. All the hats are fundamental and the joyful leader is the one who listens carefully to all of them, and is not afraid to take a chance.

3 / Serving others offers the greatest joy, so build your organization around it.

People satisfaction is the main success metric to look at.

Whether you have a food service business and you’re doing something as simple as cleaning tables, or you’re managing a digital business and you’re taking the time to handwrite every Christmas card to your employees, each act of care stands out and make an impact.

4 / Valuing leaders, not bosses.

A boss uses his or her authority to tell employees what to do. A leader motivates people by inspiring and influencing them. Bosses are at the top of hierarchies while leaders can be found everywhere in an organization.

5 / Simple rewarding systems help create a joyful culture.

Systems are often overlooked when businesses encounter problems. These issues might be a failed sales pitch or a harsh customer complaint. Systems thinkers approach an organization in terms of its systems and processes, such as how work is allocated and monitored or how certain tasks can be made simpler. They’re always looking for ways to make things better by using their systems thinking skills. Systems needs to be designed in a rewarding way, ideally taking into consideration the different personalities and love languages of the team members, in order to effectively make everyone feel appreciated.

6 / It’s important to build a team that cares.

To build an ethos of caring for one another, consider the systems you have in place relating to your people. Recruitment is a great place to start. At Menlo College, potential recruits are given a clear message about the company’s ethos from the beginning. In their first interview, candidates work in pairs on a task together and their goal is to make the other succeed.

7 / Organizations that embrace learning together are more joyful and likely to survive.

Borders Books, which was founded in 1971 and employed almost 20,000 people at its peak, failed to recognize the threat posed by Amazon and is now out of business.Borders had 17 years to figure out how to survive in a new world. However, it didn’t succeed. The lesson from this is that leaders need to be active learners. Peter Senge says that the only long-term source of competitive advantage is a business’s ability to learn more quickly than its competition can.

Establish a culture of reading and learning by encouraging your team to spend time researching. Make books available; have people share their favorite readings with others during lunch and learn sessions (not only will this help spread new ideas, but it can also improve presentation skills); help employees learn by pairing them up for activities; give credits to attend classes and events; bring wise and inspiring individuals to lecture in the organization.

The Future Food Institute believes climate change is at the end of your fork. By harnessing the power of our global ecosystem of partners, innovators, researchers, educators, and entrepreneurs, FFI aims to sustainably improve life on Earth through the transformation of global food systems.

Learn more at www.futurefoodinsitute.org, or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube.

Or attend a program through the FutureFood.Academy!

Can I help you with the work you’re doing? Please reach out to me here!