At some food ingredient, CPG companies, chefs act as culinary architects

When Stephanie Izard invites you to a fabulous brunch in the middle of your workday, you drop everything and go. The high-profile James Beard Award-winning chef boasts so many accolades that listing them all would make your head spin.

One of the latest achievements for this carnivorous culinary queen is collaborating with Nature’s Fynd, the unique fungi-focused company based in Chicago. This fungi-based protein, called Fy and created via fermentation technology, introduces a high-protein, sustainable and versatile base for alternative dairy and meat applications. Thus far, the company has developed breakfast sausage patties, cream cheese, and earlier this year, yogurt.

After touring the innovation center at Nature’s Fynd, and learning more about Fy, Izard decided to curate a special brunch menu for food media based on the products at her Peruvian-inspired restaurant Cabra. She used the Fy products as key ingredients, whipping up inventive dishes like Fy breakfast patty sliders topped with a spicy Fy mayo; sweet and savory crepes accompanied by strawberry chimmi, and chive and onion Fy cream cheese; and Hazelnut Fun Crunch Fy Ice Cream.

Every dish was a hit with guests, and Izard said that she welcomed the challenge to create them without using traditional dairy and meat.

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“Back years ago, we only thought of meat substitutes and dairy substitutes for folks who just couldn't eat meat, or decided not to because they were vegan,” Izard said. “Now it's a concern for everyone because there's not going to be enough meat out there naturally.”

She continued, “So, it’s important for us all to find ways that we can save our planet and preserve all of our natural resources. It's nice to have a little bit of balance. You don't have to be vegan to eat a meatless patty. You can eat it just because it's delicious. And you don't have to be dairy-free to work with the yogurt, just because it has a little bit different of a flavor profile and the creaminess is a little different.”

Izard is one of many prominent culinary professionals partnering with food ingredient and consumer product goods (CPG) companies to offer the extraordinary skill of perfecting taste and textures in better-for-you food and beverage products. Similarly, many of the experts at companies like Mattson and Stir Innovation also have strong culinary backgrounds. They are bringing a new dimension to the product development process, ensuring that they’re delicious with unconventional flavor profiles.

“We work with so many chefs who have incredible creativity,” Karuna Rawal, chief revenue officer and chief marketing officer at Nature’s Fynd, said. “When working with the likes of chefs Stephanie Izard, Eric Ripert or Andrew Zimmern, everyone brings their own twist … that's the really exciting part to see the inspiration that they bring. That, in turn, inspires us as we think about new products that we're developing.”

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Gourmet children’s food goes global – with the help of chefs

Serial entrepreneur Erica Bethe Levin’s first child was a picky eater, so she decided to create a gourmet children’s food line that would launch in time for her second child to enjoy. With Globowl, she introduces children to international fare that’s non-preservative and clean label. To ensure there were optimal flavor profiles in offerings such as Baby Spice’s Bean Bowl, Veggie Tikka Masala and Pad Thai for Tots, Levin created an advisory board of experts.

“We have a chef advisory board consisting of chefs who specialize in their particular cuisines; they either have restaurants or are professionals in the industry,” Levin explained. “They help authenticate all the recipes.”

For example, she’s brought aboard Carrie Nahabedian, a James Beard Award winner and Michelin starred chef based in Chicago, who is known for fine-dining Mediterranean cuisine. There’s also Dan Burrows, a classically trained chef who worked at the legendary Charlie Trotter’s restaurant during its heyday. He also boasts more than 30 years of experience in the CPG space with companies like Unilever and The Kraft Heinz Co.

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“We're really trying to make not just flavorful and world flavors but healthy products,” Burrows said. “They're all low sodium, they're all pretty low in fat, though we have some fat because that's good for babies.”

Globowl endured the ultimate test when Levin participated as a contestant on Gordon Ramsey’s Food Stars on FOX last spring. According to Burrows, Levin called him in a panic after Ramsey tasted the entire Globowl product line and issued negative feedback on Baby Spice’s Bean Bowl, saying that “the black beans were too sour, too acidic.”

That meant, Burrows said, that the team had to reformulate the product, taking into consideration that it was shelf stable.

“We added more tomato and a little more vinegar, but then we realized that [this update] would help the pH but it would also make it sourer,” he said. “We needed more buffers. So we bumped up the [amount] of rice in the dish. And the kids enjoyed it.”

That little chef nip and tuck in the end made all the difference.