As you recall in episode 110, I interviewed at the intro to food science class in NCSU and had a blast. Now we continue with Dr. Gabriel Keith Harris’ story.
Like many, his path to food science was unconventional, though he’s always had an interest with food, he went through the dietetics path until someone said he was interested in food science!
Gabe’s main focus in the academic world is how food is processed through the gut.
So get ready for an exciting episode where you’ll learn all about coffee and chocolate, inflammation of the gut, and how you can be a perpetual learner.
Sponsor – BAKERpedia
This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business.
Sponsor – FoodGrads
If you are even just a little bit interested in a career in food & beverage, you should join FoodGrads. It’s an interactive platform where you can hear about different careers, hear from your peers, have a voice and share your story as well as ask specific questions and get feedback from industry experts across the sector.
Nicole is offering free job postings in the next two months and I highly suggest taking this offer. Email nicole@foodgrads.com and she’ll give you instructions.
Join FoodGrads today! Just go to Foodgrads.com
Sponsor – ICON Foods
Unless you have been living under a rock you can not get away from Halo Top Ice Cream’s amazing success with their under 300 calories per pint ice cream. What’s a frozen dessert manufacturer to do to compete? Pick up the phone and call Icon Foods at 310-455-9876 or find them on the web at www.iconfoods.com that’s what.
They have a new HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix that delivers amazing mouthfeel and sumptuous flavor all under 300 calories per pint. But, here’s the best part; you simply add the HiPro dry mix to any milk type, add glycerin and inclusions and you are off to the races with an amazing finished product lickity split.
Icon Foods HiPro Ice Cream Dry Mix comes in hard ice cream mix, soft serve, vegan and wait for it… Keto. Call my friends at Icon and let them ReformulateU. 310-455-9876.
Shownotes
NCSU Interview
Marie Gibbons (spoiler)
Don Schaffner
Ben Chapman
When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you tell them?: I teach food science and nutrition scientice. I teach at the food science and bioprocessing department
Bioprocessing: pharmacy, brewery, fermentation, etc
Dr. John Sheppard
Cal Poly-My school is lumped into Nutrition, we are Food Science and Nutrition
Dr. Chris Albert – Dean at Missouri
Pharmaceuticals is bleeding into food science so we combine the two
Keith’s Area of expertise: What happens when you eat food, particularly plant foods. I get to study chocolate and coffee and see what’s in there.
Chocolate benefits: 1000s of years of anecdotal evidence that chocolate was a medicine.
Lewis and Clark
Coffee isn’t quite as extensive: Arab scholars and coffee houses might have spirred the enlightenment.
Prop 65: Coffee as a carcinogen
May prevent type 2 diabetes, or Parkinson’s. 3 cups a days
Study about not drinking something first thing in the mornings
Coffee Chocolate – Tierra Nueva
Chocolate Coffee
Raw Cacao
It’s no surprise that people are drinking cacao. This was its original intent
Steps it took to get to where you are today: I grew up with an interest in food and health. Then I joined the navy. In college, I did a bachelor’s of dietetics. I met a professor who moved to food science and he convinced me to go to IFT. The first people I met were NC State Graduate students. I went to the expo floor and ate everything
Food Toxicology – Dr. Steve Schwartz. He invited me to be a part of his lab at Ohio state.
Cancer center at Ohio State
Post-Doc: Center for disease control and prevention. Spent 3 years on how cells deal with inflammation.
Inflammatory: How do you feel inflamed?: It’s our body’s immune response like an injury, or sprain.
It does good, but can also do harm
Low-level inflammation in the gut: You probably can’t feel it. The signals that are produced might be damaging
Tenure process: The tenure process is the idea that you arrive as an assistant professor. You set up shop and your work shows that your work is vital. After 5 years, you make a giant packet that shows that you’re worthy to senior faculty. Then you get to Associate Professors.
You then have a board of professors from all schools evaluate you to get tenure.
Most important skill in the industry: The idea to always keep growing. When you graduate, you are not done. Treat your students to prepare themselves 5 years old. Things change so quickly in terms of how knowledge is communicated and how things work.
How do you convince students to learn beyond what’s expected?: Being enthusiastic really helps. Also bringing professionals to talk to students where all of the voices are saying the same thing to push students forward.
Why does hour food job rock: I get to give back to the people who taught me to be a great food scientist. I also get to eat my experiments. Food is right there and everyone eats
What type of food trends and technologies are really exciting to you?: Sustainability. An example is consuming insects will be the norm. Also Clean Meats and fermentation. Another trend is automation. Where are my students are going to work? The speed the food industry is automating is impressive.
The contrast to automation is artisan.
Hyperlocal production
Vegan trends vs meat trends
What is one thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: I’m really fascinated by engineering. Just watching these machines astounds me.
Fermentation: how to get these microbes to make something for you?
What do you think is the best way to learn more about it?: To visit as many food companies as possible. Watching how a large company vs a small company produces food.
In general, the food industry experts are quite gracious in sharing knowledge. In food science, there seems to be a desire or willingness to share information.
It’s easier to be friends with people than enemies with people in the food industry
In my graduate years, I wish I could have networked with them in the food industry.
At the end of the class, we have students get dressed and be technically interviewed
Favorite book: the bible, For reading and rereading: The Hobbit. Kitchen Item: rubber spatula
Pancake culture: flatbreads, tortillas, naan
Bread and beer are a result of noticing things
Vanilla and chocolate fermentation is a bit tougher
Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to get into your industry: Go on more food tours to give people a sense of what to look for. You should also visit universities.
Where can we find you for advice: Through linkedin. Also via email. Contact me at gkharris@ncu.edu