Food Industry Executive
From an interview by Zachary Cartwright, PhD, lead food scientist at METER Food, with Brynn Foster, founder of Voyaging Foods
While Brynn Foster officially studied public relations and business as a college student, she says that a significant part of her education came from the time she spent in Europe.
“I went to school also in Italy and France, and that’s where I really got interested in this sustainability component and making a business out of it,” Foster says. “I just really love the idea of going to the market every day for your food. Where you don’t just go to Costco and stock up for a month on things. It really gives you more of a connection to farms and the land. I feel like that was more of a schooling than anything else.”
The passion for sustainability that Foster developed in Europe has served her well, as has her technical education in business. In 2005, Foster founded Voyaging Foods, a company that grows, manufactures, and sells foods native to the Pacific Islands.
Foster says that “Voyaging Foods” comes from the term Polynesian voyagers gave to the essential plants and foods they brought on their open-ocean voyages.
“They brought with them a specific set of plants that would be used for everything they needed for medicine, food, building homes, and spiritual uses,” Foster says. “So, these plants were kind of like the emergency kit of the Polynesian voyagers.”
These foods, including taro, poi, and breadfruit, offer significant health benefits. They are excellent sources of fiber and essential vitamins that helped sustain entire groups of Polynesian voyagers in times past. Today, they have mostly become novelty foods. Foster is on a mission to change that.
“You probably wouldn’t try taro or poi unless you were at a luau in Hawaii or Tahiti,” she says. “But in actuality, taro and poi are foods that we consider very important staple foods in Hawaii. It’s something that we give to our babies as a first food, because it’s so high in fiber, and it’s one of the most hypoallergenic foods in the world due to its small starch granule size. So, there’s a lot of benefits that a lot of people don’t know about with these canoe plants, because they’re underutilized.”
Perhaps one reason for the diminishing of native foods is the way global food manufacturing works. Gone are the days of the small family farm. Today, comparatively few large farms provide most of the world’s food. This food is processed and shipped around the world.
Small farmers on Pacific Islands have difficulty competing in this global food market, so the crops they harvest don’t usually make it to market. Or at least they didn’t until Voyaging Foods came along.
“We want to promote the regional decentralized manufacturing of foods,” Foster says. “We want to promote rural farming and manufacturing. There is no value-added manufacturing, really, in Hawaii. There aren’t a lot of places that you could take your products to have them manufactured. So if you’re a farmer and you live 40 miles out of town on these windy rural roads, you’re not going to want to drive into town to bring your 50 pounds of taro to make flour.”
The solution? Promoting regional decentralized manufacturing hubs, where farmers can be part of the process. Voyaging Foods helps farmers learn about food processing, from dehydrating and milling their crops to using water activity measurements to ensure their food products meet local and federal regulations.
Foster says that the native plants Voyaging Foods focuses on are “what you would bring if you were deserted on an isolated island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.” As it happens, that perfectly describes the situation of Hawaiians today. But instead of relying on foods grown on the islands, the state imports over 80% of its food.
“That’s just really scary,” Foster says. “Having our own labs and our own systems is really important in these regional areas.”
To help reach these goals, Voyaging Foods is participating in an initiative from the governor of Hawaii to double its food production.
“We are working on sustainable cities, and we want to double our food production by 2035,” Foster says. “We want to focus on the starch component, which is these plants that we’re making into flour.”
Doubling food production is a big—and Foster believes, attainable—goal. But it isn’t just about planting more crops. Food science also plays an important role, especially when local farmers are learning to manufacture food products.
Foster became an expert in food safety mostly by studying on her own about food transparency, best agricultural and manufacturing practices, and water activity measurements. At first she studied in order to comply with state and federal regulations. But when the concepts “clicked,” she realized how useful measuring water activity could be.
“I was sending samples to labs all over the nation for 10 years,” Foster says. “And it was thousands and thousands of dollars, and a lot of waiting, and a lot of shelf life. It was a really big barrier, especially for a rurally located Hawaii business. But to be able to operate as your own lab and to understand these things, and then to pass along this knowledge is really important. We can say ‘Let’s dry a little longer,’ or ‘Let’s tweak this.’ It’s so helpful.”
Foster uses water activity measurements not only in manufacturing Voyaging Foods products, but also in her training with local farmers.
“We’re using the water meter in rural sites so that farmers can understand what their R&D looks like, at what level they need to be for food safety protocol, for good manufacturing practices—all the standard operating procedures,” Foster says. “These are concepts that a lot of farmers don’t usually need to deal with, but … we’re hoping to use more of these [water activity] meters to give to the farmers as part of a toolkit to become autonomous.”
While Foster’s focus is mainly regional, she has had success in selling native Hawaiian products to a national market.
“We were approached to sell to Whole Foods,” Foster says. “We were the first company to sell taro powder in Whole Foods, along with some packaged consumer goods. That really bumped us up from ‘fun hobby’ level to [a professional level], having to know food safety regulations and protocols.”
Foster says that even though Voyaging Foods was a small company, the partnership with Whole Foods pushed them to think like a big one.
“Knowledge is power,” Foster says. “I want to be small but think big. So, I joined every class that I could.”
As she has, Foster has helped local farmers adopt that same philosophy—they may be small, but they’re doing big things.
A rising leader in the food moisture science field, Dr. Zachary Cartwright is lead food scientist at METER Group. He holds a PhD in food science from Washington State University and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from New Mexico State University. He is a prolific contributor and researcher in the METER Group food R&D lab, where he helps food companies solve complex product development and production issues with moisture sorption isotherms and water activity measurements. When not in the lab, he can be found hosting the Water in Food podcast, where he interviews notable figures in the food industry about how they use moisture to deliver better products.
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Brynn founded her gluten-free, artisan milling company in 2005 and does it all...from farming to distribution, to studying and applying food science principles like water activity.
"There's so much you need to know to stay in this kind of safe zone so really having our own labs and our own systems is really important", says Brynn.
Let’s learn about Brynn’s company and her desire to make indigenous plant products more accessible on Water in Food. Water In Food Episode 7 January 11, 2021
]]>Empowering Food Entrepreneurs: Education, Policy Changes Needed
Hawaii Together, with host Keli'i Akina and guest Brynn Foster
Hawaii’s local food entrepreneurs could play a key role in making the state more food independent and fostering a sense of community, but there are a few state rules holding them back.
Brynn Foster, the founder of Voyaging Foods, believes that if we could change these rules, it would reap huge dividends for Hawaii’s economy and culture.
Foster joins 'Hawaii Together' host and Grassroot Institute of Hawaii President and CEO Keli'i Akina to share the history of her company, the challenges at-home chefs and bakers face when trying to make and sell their products, and some of the policies the state should look to change to help local food entrepreneurs thrive.
]]>Hawaii’s local food entrepreneurs could play a key role in making the state more food independent and fostering a sense of community, but there are a few state rules holding them back, according to Brynn Foster, founder of the Oahu-based Voyaging Foods, which is dedicated to perpetuating the culture and healthfulness associated with Hawaii’s “canoe plants” such as taro and breadfruit.
Foster was the guest on the Dec. 5 episode of “Hawaii Together” on ThinkTech Hawaii, hosted by Grassroot Institue President Keli‘i Akina. She said that if some of those state rules could be changed, it would reap huge dividends for Hawaii’s economy and culture.
Foster shared with Akina the history of her company, some of the challenges that at-home chefs and bakers face when trying to make and sell their products, and some of the policies the state could change to help local food entrepreneurs thrive.
Foster said she was a big supporter of the proposed Access to Local Food Act, which was considered by the 2023 Legislature but failed to win approval.
Among other things, the proposed law would have allowed cottage food entrepreneuers to sell their homemade foods through the mail, online or through third parties.
Foster said she favored the bill because, “We need to have this collective of small cottage food makers that are doing big things.”
If you would like to view the entire conversation between Foster and Akina, click on the video below. A complete transcript follows.
12-5-23 Brynn Foster with host Keli‘i Akina on “Hawaii Together”
Keli’i Akina: Hello everybody, and welcome to “Hawaii Together” on ThinkTech Hawaii broadcast network. I’m your host, Keli’i Akina, president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.
Hawaii is often ranked as one of the worst states in which to start and grow a business. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t done. I mean, there are entrepreneurs who succeed all the time.
In fact, I’m so delighted today that we get to talk with one who has looked at the challenges and decided to face them head on, and is helping to build a whole community of entrepreneurs here in Hawaii.
My guest today is Brynn Foster. She’s the founder and director of Voyaging Foods. Now that’s a company dedicated to perpetuating Hawaii’s canoe plants such as taro, sweet taro and breadfruit, which ostensibly came to us via canoe.
Brynn’s products have been carried by Whole Foods and have been featured in the magazine “Food Industry Executive.” I would say she’s definitely up and coming, someone worth talking with, and who may, in her own practice, have some of the answers that our state needs for rebuilding its entrepreneurial community.
Brynn, good afternoon and welcome to the program. How are you doing?
Brynn Foster: I’m so doing so good. Thank you so much for having me today to be able to talk about this important subject and to, you know, spread it to your viewers. So thank you.
Akina: Well, you sound like somewhat of an evangelist about your subject matter, and I can tell from what you’ve done so far that you’re passionate about it. How did you get so involved in the local food community?
Foster: Well, it’s, you know, a journey for sure. I started by making my son gluten-free teething biscuits in my home kitchen. And that was basically from our dehydrated poi. We had a lot of poi that we were stocking up because he was, you know, teething and that was his first foods that we were feeding him. So we had a lot of poi.
And when I wanted to start making teething biscuits, I decided to take that poi, dehydrate it into a flour, and put it into as an ingredient for gluten-free baked goods. Because at that time over 18 years ago, gluten-free was becoming more of a thing, and I wanted to feed my, you know, babies gluten-free, as taro is naturally gluten-free.
So it really started with that base of a need to want to have something that wasn’t in the market. And then it really progressed into this journey of taro. And, you know, eventually it kind of circled around back to myself, which was my great-grandmother gave me a cookie made with poi when I was a little girl.
And I believe it was a seed planted in me to reintroduce me to my culture through food. So that’s really how this became from just like a cookie or a teething biscuit into something that is meant to be shared for Hawaii and the world.
Akina: Part of that story I hear is your own heritage, your own culture, speaking to you through the teething biscuit, so to speak. But what drove you to actually start producing this kind of food in your home?
You said you didn’t see it on the market. Did you look far and wide and just couldn’t find what you needed? But what I’m really asking is what turns you from a consumer into a producer?
Foster: That was a really good, like, “aha moment” because there are several, you know, Whole Foods has just kind of started to open at that time. And, you know, they were supposed to have everything in the world, and they didn’t have taro flour.
And I was like, “Why don’t they have taro flour?” You know, taro flour has to be a thing. You know, it’s a starch, it can be a great flour.
And it was then when I started to realize, you know, the things that are at the store really weren’t always the healthiest for us, and they were just more of these commodities. And what were commodities?
And I never, you know, really understood what that was, so I really did like a 10-year, I would say, journey into kind of, you know, de-educating myself on — well, de-educating is called, I don’t know if you call it rewilding, or unlearning — you know, about food. And how the system is really, like, meant to really not keep us healthy at all.
And I was going on mommy-and-me field trips with my son. We were going to, like, lo’is and we were learning all about the ahupua’a and about the system.
And so I was at that moment, like, I can’t be this consumer anymore just going to the store to find my foods. I wanted to know my farmers. I wanted to understand how the food was grown, you know, everything about the food, especially if it was going to be going to my child, to my toddler.
So that really brought me into this, like, consumer is the old way, and really wanting to have a positive effect in my community. So I started making my own flour.
Akina: So, Brynn, that’s an interesting thing you mentioned earlier, that you went through a period of being deprogrammed, so to speak.
Are you suggesting that we today have been, for lack of a better word, brainwashed as to what our diet should be, as to where our food should come from and so forth? And we’ve really not reflected enough about that. And you went through a process of doing so and have come up with a different way of preparing food and living.
Foster: Well, the business of food is serious. You know, it’s been, I think, since the grain revolution, you know, there’s been a lot of talk on how we can mechanize food to be better.
Well, then that changed a lot of the wheat into wheat, you know, that was more about being mechanized, not for the benefits of our digestion. Which is also why, you know, the biodiversity of seeds have really, like, decreased because a lot of it is not mechanizable. It’ll just break, you know, the mills or the things to make it pureed.
So we have to understand that food is this business. And until we can kind of go back to the old ways that things were preserved or made; the ancient seeds, you know, the heirloom seeds, and that is really where the story became not just a food company for me because I started, you know, understanding these issues were huge, way beyond me, way beyond Hawaii.
But then Hawaii had the answers to a lot of these issues, you know, in the ahupua’a system and the way the land is managed, in the sacred seeds, in the stories of these seeds, and in the place-based foods, and the, you know, variety of the kalo that was available.
And that’s where I jumped into saying, “Yeah, I’m going to make this into a business because I can see that the powers-that-be don’t think that taro farmers should have more than, you know, a month-to-month lease, even though their kalo takes a year to grow.
So that’s what made me think of, you know, this economic driver that could potentially help get their leases longer or their water rights back. Or I was sort of backending into being, you know, a steward of the land by, you know, playing into this game of the food business.
Akina: So, Brynn, tell us a story real quick of how Voyaging Foods, which is the name of your business, came about. How did something that began in your kitchen as merely a way of meeting a need you had to get, for yourself and for your child, products that are simply not on the shelf in the stores. How did you go from there to actually becoming a business?
Foster: Um-hum. Well, you know, like I said, I was going on these mommy-and-me field trips where we were going to the lo’is, we were talking to farmers, we were understanding what the issues were, how the plants were grown, where the water was coming from.
And I started, you know, making these products made from kalo flour and they were really good. And so not only were babies having them for their teething, but my mom was eating them, and then some friends wanted to eat them. So then, I started making cookies and then having them for sale at farmers markets, but I didn’t have a name for the business.
So that, I really believed in, like, this was something bigger than me, and the name would come. And, you know, as learning goes, you know, there’s this, like, layer of learning that happens, and so that’s how I treated this business.
It’s really, like, divinely led, honestly. Because I have no history — well, I didn’t know I do have a history in kalo — but I didn’t have a known conscious history of it until I started to work with it, eat it, plant it, put it into my life, then it really blossomed.
So that’s the way, you know, the Voyaging Foods’ name came. And then I started learning about the Hokule’a, I had no idea. And then I started learning about Polynesian Voyaging Society. So it was all like this, you know, accumulation together.
Soon as I was learning more about the moon cycles and how all of this history is really the blueprint for how we are, as you know, children of this land, to come, and with our kahea and our kuleana, how we are to, you know, operate in this day and age.
So that’s really how … it was, because the Hokule’a was really like, I want to say a muse, because the Voyaging Foods is really the plants that the Polynesians brought on their open-ocean voyaging canoes when they purposely came to Hawaii or they traveled around the Polynesian triangle.
You know, this wasn’t like we just kind of drifted all those lies that Hokule’a proved how skilled our, you know, society was. So these plants are meant to be shared, obviously, but they’re also like the emergency kit that you would bring on a desolate island, even though, you know, we were very healthy as a people, pre-contact.
Akina: The story that you’re telling, that’s great. And I love hearing your story. What I want to hear also is a bit about the challenges you faced in trying to build your business.
It may be the case that people who have a great idea can go after that great idea, but sometimes there’s difficulty encountered along the way. What are some of the challenges you found that food entrepreneurs face when they’re trying to bring their product to market?
Foster: Well, I was very specific, you know, I was all about taro and I was very specific about Hawaiian-grown taro. So I had a lot of challenges. You know, this is a hundreds-of-years-old problem: not enough land, water issues. So I was really coming up with all of that.
And I hope that is solved within our lifetime. I don’t like to put it into this, like, multi-generational ecological disaster problem that we inherit. I want to see that gone now. And I believe that happens through food that we eat here, around here and culturally.
So yeah, the barriers were many. And I spent many years,you know, before I decided to put this into a business, I went to talk to all the experts that were growing kalo. There was actually a big push in the ‘80s to make taro flour.
UH [University of Hawaii] had a grant that, you know, had a lot of money behind it. They were building machines and they had a patent on a lot of these processes.
And so I met with all the experts that were part of that process. And I said, “Why isn’t this happening? I need this. I want to buy it from you.”
Well, it didn’t happen because the money failed, you know, the grants failed. And I thought, “Wow, this is something I need. This isn’t like a grant. I’m going to make this my life’s mission.”
And so, yeah, the barriers are a lot, but once you find your kind of drive or your group who get you or who needs something as much as you do, then you just stick with them.
But I think talking to too many people in the beginning might be a problem because you will find their problems, and you don’t want to inherit their problems because their situation is not yours. So you can kind of honor their past and say, you know, “I do appreciate the work that you’ve done. And I’d love to collaborate in a way that we’re moving forward.”
Akina: Now, Brynn, you also encountered various regulatory problems, some legal issues, the kind of thing someone doesn’t necessarily think about when they’re baking goods in their kitchen and then want to sell them. What was your experience with that?
Foster: I didn’t know anything about cottage foods. I only knew that you had to be in a commercial kitchen and you had to, you know, do all of these things. So, yeah, I think, I don’t want to say wasted, but I might have spent over 13 years putting too much money and time into participating into the regulatory…
You know, I do love the process of things, I like learning all of these barriers and then I like to pass on the knowledge. So I like to create duplicatable systems for other people to replicate for the betterment of the whole. And so that’s what I did.
And that’s why some people are like, “You’ve been in business over 18 years and, you know, you should be a millionaire by now!”
But the issue is, when you’re also trying to be vertically integrated, growing and harvesting and processing and being gluten-free — which I started before gluten-free was a thing — so I was certified in it all. I pretty much figured all of the hurdles out. But yeah, I wasted a lot of money and a lot of years and I could have saved, you know, a lot of things if I didn’t go down those routes that I didn’t need to because I’m doing low-risk manufacturing.
Kalo and breadfruit and a lot of these canoe plants are low-risk. And I think also there’s a lot of deregulation with a lot of those, especially because, you know, they are cultural and we grow them and it’s part of our cultural rights to also process these. And just like, you know, with poi pounding on poi boards, like there’s certain rights that we have as a culture to continue the way, processing the way that we know best, in a safe manner also.
And I think we’ve come really far. And so we do have a lot of the tools now so that we don’t need to be heavily regulated and we can be partners with people like the Department of Health, to say, “Hey, we’re managing ourselves, you know, probably better than you can. And here’s the data.”
I mean, I remember when I started to go into Whole Foods and when we had to get audited, you know, I gave them a bible that was like three years of just data and information that I had collected and all the details.
And I remember, the auditor came in — I think he was from the mainland — and he just looked at it and he’s like, “I trust you. Wow, you really know your stuff.” You know, he was looking through the pages and saw.
So I think we’re working to, like, have things deregulated, but that doesn’t mean that we’re saying “We’re not going to be washing our hands and going the distance.” We’re going to definitely do that.
Akina: Now one of the challenges you faced was the need for a commercial kitchen to produce certain kinds of foods. How did you face that challenge and what do you say to people who were trying their best to produce food to sell but can’t afford a commercial kitchen?
Foster: Yes, this is exactly why I started to get more involved in cottage foods, because in Hawaii, sometimes it’s who you know. And unfortunately that was even more so 18 years ago when I started.
I was calling all the schools to try and, “Hey, can I use one of your kitchens you’re not using?” And I finally was able to find one, and so I operated in there for over 10 years. And I was at that time, you know, feeling like, “Oh my gosh, I know how fortunate I am to have this kitchen.”
And I know so many other people that are doing amazing products and gluten-free products, things that I needed to eat — and my kids, I wanted them to eat the same way. So I was trying to say, “Hey, you can come use my kitchen,” even though that wasn’t allowed, but I was trying to start new LLCs with these people.
I mean, I was just going over overboard, which is a waste of time and money just because also to be able to collaborate, to, you know, pool your resources so that rent isn’t so high so that you can share people that are helping you in the kitchen so that you can cost-share with ingredients. All of these things are necessary to be able to have a food business in Hawaii.
So, you know, at that time, I was just going off on these tangents, making my own LLCs when I shouldn’t have been doing that with people that were doing great things, but how do you collaborate together and share a kitchen when the kitchen wasn’t allowing you to do that? So there was a lot of hurdles.
Akina: Now, you mentioned partnering with the Department of Health. One of the concerns of the Department of Health, we’ve been told, is safety.
There are people in the community who need to be protected from unscrupulous practices of producers who put food out there that isn’t safe. What are your thoughts when you hear that and how do you respond to it?
Foster: Well, you know, there’s a lot of unpacking to do with that statement alone. The way that I come at it is I want to look at Department of Health as a collaborator. Like I said, I went through all the courses that I needed to do in order to understand what they were looking for, and I wanted to now share that with everyone else because I understand that a lot of people don’t like to go that distance that I did.
But I was in Whole Foods, so I wanted to be understanding what the barriers were. So to make healthy food, definitely the tools available for that knowledge are here now. They weren’t there 10 years ago. They weren’t probably there even seven years ago. You know, we have water activity meters now, hand meters that we can see, you know, how dry is this and what’s the potential for any issues.
So, I think HACCP [Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points] is a very interesting course to take because then you understand critical control points. And you really get to kind of have the knowledge of the big guys, but you can still be, “small, but my idea” is what I like to say.
So, we share a lot of this knowledge that I’ve taken and some other people in the industry have taken, so to create safe food. And what I’ve heard and I’ve researched is there hasn’t been any problems with cottage foods and, you know, on the mainland, there hasn’t been any issues with that. So, we know, we hear a lot more issues with the big farmers and the big makers.
And that is upsetting when you’re hearing thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds of produce or poultry is going to waste because of something like that. So that’s why cottage foods is so important to me, is because we’re on more of a smaller scale, so we can change and pivot and really see what our batches are like.
I’m really focused on small batch because we also want to understand the different place-based foods and the different taste profiles of those. So, I really believe this industry is all about place-based and in the small makers. And then we can all collaborate together and then it’s a really big industry.
Akina: Thank you. Now there was a bill proposed in Hawaii’s Legislature last session. It was called the Access to Local Food Act. And what that would have changed would be some of the rules for what foods may be sold in Hawaii. It would have allowed people, for instance, to sell their homemade foods through the mail, or online or through third parties. Do you think those kinds of changes in the Access to Local Food Act would be helpful?
Foster: Absolutely, 100%. And I’m putting, you know, my energy towards this because during the pandemic, I started a collective called the Canoe Plant Collective with my partner. And this bill will support that feeling of “we need to have this collective of small cottage food makers that are doing big things.”
Small doesn’t mean, you know, many and not important. So yes, these issues that we’re bringing forth with shipping, being able to sell at stores and being available on the internet, those are huge to cottage food makers. And it’s something that we definitely need to expand the economic viability of cottage foods in Hawaii.
We’ve seen how Maui needed food and all of these hubs came, but they were all imported. I think that we need to rethink how we’re providing food, how we’re cooking it, how we’re serving it, because there’s a lot of options to, you know, create a hub from the farmed food. And if there’s homemakers that are able to safely process this and distribute it to our local communities, then we’re eliminating shipping altogether, which is important.
Akina: During the pandemic, I was involved in an effort to help local individuals prepare meals for kupuna or for others who were in need. And one of the problems was complying with the regulations that certain foods have to be maintained at certain temperatures.
And so the bill that we were just discussing addresses this. It would allow foods like barbecue or poke to be made and sold at home under certain conditions. But what do you think about that part of the bill?
Foster: Well, I think there’s a lot of different parts of the bill that seem to be kind of wide-reaching, because there’s different regulations for those things.
My kuleana is the low-risk manufacturing, which is no meat, it’s plants, there’s, you know, no allergens. So that makes me feel comfortable because, I don’t understand how all the different time temperature controls that you would need for different, you know, eggs, poultry, meat. That gets into another level.
And I was trained in a little bit of that, but, like I said, my kuleana is in dehydration and drying and making flour and teas. So I definitely know that there’s a lot of opportunity to share the knowledge in how to do that to make it safe. So I would most definitely, if I knew the makers and was able to, you know, understand their process, I would feel safe consuming it.
But that’s what the great thing is, it’s more transparent this way, because they will be able to share their process and you’ll know who they are. Just like knowing your farmer, how they grow their food, what inputs do they use on their, on their produce, on their plants. It’s the same concept, it’s really just getting to know your producers.
Akina: Well, Brynn, we’ve got a minute left and I’m wondering if you could just quickly share one of your own or someone else’s success story in terms of how they’ve been able to make the kind of food they want and take it to market.
Foster: I mean, I just really appreciate my own journey and my own story. Because, you know, one of my successes, when it seems like everything’s too hard and there’s too many barriers, is my favorite memory was we made a pancake mix with kalo flour and ulu flour for the Hokule’a when they went to Tahiti several years ago.
And that was really special to me because it was full circle. It was everything that showed me, yes, this is important. And we’re doing something bigger than ourselves. We’re connecting people through food.
And whether Hokule’a is, you know, sharing aloha when they go around the world, and they open up these new portals of learning. And, like, I just initiated the delearning or the unlearning of what we used to think was so important back in the days, that hasn’t served us well.
So, that was a success story for me, is to be able to have ulu flour and taro flour connecting the people that were on the Hokule’a in a place that they hadn’t been in a long time.
Akina: Well, Brynn, you’ve made me hungry. And so your message is getting through not only to my heart, but my stomach. Thank you so much for being here today. I think you’ve shared a lot of things that people are very interested in and now can come out and be advocates for. Mahalo.
My guest today has been Brynn Foster. She’s the founder and head of Voyaging Foods. It’s been wonderful listening to her story, and I hope you were inspired by it.
I’m Keli’i Akina, president of the Grassroot Institute, and wishing you the very best. We’ll see you next time on ThinkTech Hawaii’s “Hawaii Together.” Aloha.
]]>Hawaii’s local food entrepreneurs could play a key role in making the state more food independent and fostering a sense of community, but there are a few state rules holding them back. Brynn Foster, the founder of Voyaging Foods, believes that if we could change these rules, it would reap huge dividends for Hawaii’s economy and culture. Foster joins 'Hawaii Together' host and Grassroot Institute of Hawaii President and CEO Keli'i Akina to share the history of her company, the challenges at-home chefs and bakers face when trying to make and sell their products, and some of the policies the state should look to change to help local food entrepreneurs thrive. The ThinkTech YouTube Playlist for this show is • Hawaii Together Please visit our ThinkTech website at https://thinktechhawaii.com and see our Think Tech Advisories at https://thinktechadvisories.blogspot.com. ThinkTech Hawaii streams from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm HST on weekdays. Check us out any time for great content and great community. If you have any questions, please send them to: questions@thinktechhawaii.com. Our vision is to be a leader in shaping a more vital and thriving Hawaii as the foundation for future generations. Our mission is to be the leading digital media platform raising public awareness and promoting civic engagement in Hawaii. ThinkTech Hawaii is a Hawaii Non-Profit Corporation: President and CEO - Jay Fidell Executive VP and COO - Carol Mon Lee Production Manager - Hayley Ikeda Administration Manager - Maria Sabio Station Manager - Michael Pangilinan Broadband Provider - Servpac Inc. Underwriters: Atherton Family Foundation Carol Mon Lee Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education Michael Sklarz The Cooke Foundation Hawaii Energy Hawaii Energy Policy Forum Hawaiian Electric Galen Ho of Immersive Worlds Kamehameha Schools Roberts S. Toyofuku and Pacific Law Institute Sharon Y. Moriwaki Shidler Family Foundation Sidney Stern Memorial Trust Volo Foundation Yuriko J. Sugimura ThinkTech treats this video as licensed under a creative commons license, and invites the public to view, distribute, disseminate and share it under the terms of that license. The information in this video is not to be relied upon as legal, medical, accounting or other professional advice. For legal, medical, accounting or any other advice, please consult with your own professionals. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests in this video are their own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of ThinkTech, its management or staff or other organizations with which our hosts and guests are associated.
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How we get involved in local food
]]>Brynn Foster, the founder of Voyaging Foods, believes that if we could change these rules, it would reap huge dividends for Hawaii’s economy and culture.
Foster joins 'Hawaii Together' host and Grassroot Institute of Hawaii President and CEO Keli'i Akina to share the history of her company, the challenges at-home chefs and bakers face when trying to make and sell their products, and some of the policies the state should look to change to help local food entrepreneurs thrive.
Please visit ThinkTech website at https://thinktechhawaii.com and see Think Tech Advisories at https://thinktechadvisories.blogspot.com.
ThinkTech Hawaii streams from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm HST on weekdays. The vision is to be a leader in shaping a more vital and thriving Hawaii as the foundation for future generations. The mission is to be the leading digital media platform raising public awareness and promoting civic engagement in Hawaii.
ThinkTech Hawaii is a Hawaii Non-Profit Corporation: President and CEO - Jay Fidell Executive VP and COO - Carol Mon Lee Production Manager - Hayley Ikeda Administration Manager - Maria Sabio Station Manager - Michael Pangilinan Broadband Provider - Servpac Inc. Underwriters: Atherton Family Foundation Carol Mon Lee Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education Michael Sklarz The Cooke Foundation Hawaii Energy Hawaii Energy Policy Forum Hawaiian Electric Galen Ho of Immersive Worlds Kamehameha Schools Roberts S. Toyofuku and Pacific Law Institute Sharon Y. Moriwaki Shidler Family Foundation Sidney Stern Memorial Trust Volo Foundation Yuriko J. Sugimura ThinkTech treats this video as licensed under a creative commons license, and invites the public to view, distribute, disseminate and share it under the terms of that license. The information in this video is not to be relied upon as legal, medical, accounting or other professional advice. For legal, medical, accounting or any other advice, please consult with your own professionals. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests in this video are their own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of ThinkTech, its management or staff or other organizations with which our hosts and guests are associated.
]]>In researching our Hawaiian history, we are taught that the ali'i (ruling class) and leaders would travel all over the world as delegates to speak on behalf of our residents in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
2019 I was a delegate for the National Farmer's Union Legislative Fly In to Washington D.C.
We had the opportunity to hear from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials about current events, opportunities, and other work the department is doing on behalf of farmers.
We received briefings from other administration officials and the leadership and staff of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Agriculture.
The most important agenda items of the fly-in are the meetings with legislators. A highlight of the trip was meeting with Tulsi Gabbard who was putting her bid in for presidency!
A hallmark of the organization's grassroots structure, teams of Farmers Union members met with hundreds of members of Congress highlighting our priorities, the challenges our farmer's are facing, and goals for future legislation.
History reminds us of the Hui Aloha 'Aina group that sent delegates to petition annexation and to meet with the president and Congress. This group was to be a true representation of the Hawaiian nation. People of color whom race prejudice in Washington by signatures taken from the rural and unrepresented parts of the islands (even Kalaupapa).
I was amazed to see Kalo (Taro) grown outside the legislative office and the museum featuring native and indigenious people's history. EO! Learning that the Ebbitt House was where Queen Lili'uokalani stayed during such a tramatic time in Hawaiian history was a point of interest.
The trip was extra special because I was able to part of this important part of history for #MMIW seen here:
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The Hawaii Women Farmers Network (WFN), with generous support from the Hawai’i Department of Agriculture (HDOA). This directory allows users to access, support and connect with female agriculture producers, makers, entrepreneurs and leaders in their communities. To be included in this Directory, the farm/agri-business needs to be owned by a woman/women (50% or more) AND the woman/women must have major leadership role(s) in the decision-making and management of the agriculture operations and business. The WFN Directory’s map-based interface covers all islands and includes agriculture businesses and endeavors of all sizes.
]]>The Wayfinder Micro-milling and drying labs are one of the innovative and tangible solutions to a broken food system.
Did you know Hawaii is at food risk with our starch crops? We import 100% of our flour and there are no regional, decentralized value-added flour mills or processing spaces.
The Wayfinder's vision supports a regional, decentralized system of farm kitchens in refurbished shipping containers for capturing farm harvests making end-user products. The units include a clean energy-based, passive solar dryer to work in tandem with the kitchen container.
Here is our newest challenge you can help us with:
Take a listen to how we operate as our own labs in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The specific manufactured product is dehydrated kalo (taro) powder, 'ulu (breadfruit) flour, teas, herbs, dry mixes and baked goods-products and recipes we have been making and sharing for almost over two decades.
Since our canoe plant processing is focused on our low-risk, shelf stable plant drying and milling, we are able to utilize innovative ways to implement our ‘aina (the land which feeds) based food production method that incorporates the community as part of the solution.
The 30 %By ‘30 Initiative is the marketing arm that supports an island wide Hawaiian grown and milled canoe-plant flour product supported by home kitchens, chefs, grocers, bakeries, restaurants, hotels and anywhere that serves food.
How we started.....back in 2005
The Wayfinders will operate as an educational lab demonstrating self-sustaining opportunities for food security across regional areas of all the islands beginning with O'ahu.
Our grass roots organizing based in local, place-based food systems grow stronger within an interdependent ‘aina based mentality.
This circular economy provides an inclusive food industry for greater access and availability for all.
We are excited to be collaborating with The Canoe Plant Collective to pool our resources and knowledge to create a resilience hub that hasn’t been available for small farmers and makers.
With our over 2 decades of combined baking, milling, recipe and product development experience our passion for all things canoe plants is deep!
Here's a shot of the team loading the flour mill to get repainted!
We are gathering information from interested people who could utilize the shared facility. Please fill out the intake form below and we will get back to you.
We are in the process of building infrastructure to share in the task to double food production in Hawaii by creating access to flour making knowledge and tools.
Join the The Canoe Plant Collective and support our initiative by becoming a flour advocate.
We are interested in partnering with:
If you have an interest in being a mentor or adding your support, we could use your help. This includes student volunteers who want to gain applied experience in the field and retirees.
Click here to see the fundable programs within the Wayfinders creating more access for:
We have studied with experts in:
Our programs fit in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals with the U.N. Global Goal for Sustainability and encourage community-action projects. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Agenda, adopted in 2015, includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. Countries around the world have committed to taking action to meet these goals, such as ending hunger and poverty and creating sustainable cities and communities.
Eō, a call for conscious action features the importance of indigenous culture and its relation to environment and community. An entertaining and modern approach to taking action towards sustainability.
We begin in the Hawaiian Islands and feature sustainable living, the connectivity of food, ‘ike (knowledge), experience based learning and an insight from some of the leaders in sustainability.
In order to reach environmental goals on a personal level, we all share responsibility.
The goal to share a connecting value with calls-to-action, accessibility, and a positive intention.
Watch the episode Voyaging Foods is featured in here.
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All this week we have been looking at all things ulu. Today we feature the Ulu Cooperative on the Big Island which has joined forces to marshall the power of ulu. Dana Shapiro of the cooperative is one of the many ulu ambassadors out to spread the word about ulu power. A promising crop as we look to diversify the economy and support local farmers. The Ulu Cooperative along with the Hawaii Farmers Union Foundation and voyaging foods has launched an initiative to promote replacing 30 percent of flour use with local starches by 2030. Click here to take the Ulu Flour Survey.
]]>Hawaii 'Ulu Cooperative on getting crops to market
The 'Ulu Cooperative on the Big Island which has joined forces to marshall the power of ulu. Dana Shapiro of the cooperative is one of the many 'ulu ambassadors out to spread the word about 'ulu power. A promising crop as we look to diversify the economy and support local farmers. The 'Ulu Cooperative along with the Hawaii Farmers Union Foundation and Voyaging Foods has launched an initiative to promote replacing 30 percent of flour use with local starches by 2030.
Click here to to listen to her interview on Hawaii Public Radio.
]]>Inspired by traditional Hawaiian agriculture, Voyaging Foods uses canoe plants such as kalo (taro), ‘uala (sweet potato), and ‘ulu (breadfruit) to produce gluten-free baked goods and alternative flours.
Founder Brynn Foster’s intent is to “reclaim our culture through food.” After uncovering the historical records of taro flour exports during the 1800s, Foster created her social enterprise to support the biodiversity Hawaiian canoe plants and expand the local food market. “What we need in Hawaii is to make more foods here and to extend the shelf life and food security of these local foods,” said Foster when describing the expansion of supporting local farms.
Voyaging Foods is co-creating a value-added space, with the goal of providing access for companies who want additional processing. In an effort to improve Hawaii’s self-sustainability, Voyaging Foods has joined with the Hawaii ‘Ulu Cooperative and Hawaii Farmers Union (as its fiscal sponsor) to launch their “30% by 30” ‘Ulu Flour Initiative. They are working to replace 30% of the flour in bakeries, restaurants, and homes with locally grown and milled flour from local starches such as ‘ulu. Voyaging Foods is using their own ‘ulu flour, as well as joining with other ‘ulu flour advocates. They are currently giving flour samples to bakeries to test, as well as helping turn the wasted Grade B and C foods into flour and products.
For more information, click here.
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UN We Empower SDGS: Voyaging Foods from lauren carson on Vimeo.
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"Living on Oahu has taught me underlying principals in nature that are inherently beautiful and valuable. I intend to interweave this indigenous knowledge into my modern, scheduled life when planting, working and even resting. Learning from the voyaging canoe Hokulea's Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage and the way they navigated using the stars keeps me grounded. No matter where I am in the world, I can look at the night sky and feel that connection to my island home and the cycles in time. In the Fall months, I always try to recognize Makali'i also known as Pleiades on the mainland that, in Hawaii, signals the start of the Makahiki season, a time of harvest and the rainy season. The lessons and traditions of Hawaii are treasures I carry with me no matter where I travel."
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U.S Grassroots Accelerator Program for Women Environmental Leaders from WEA on Vimeo.
]]>The WE Empower Challenge is the first of its kind, a global business competition to honor, support and celebrate women entrepreneurs who are advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and inspiring entire communities to create the world we want by 2030.
Our Founder, Brynn, was one of the top 25 global finalists and will be in New York during the UN Global Goals week (22-29 September 2019). See the finalists at the link here.
Women business owners have a multiplier impact on their staff, their customers and their broader communities. Global initiatives such as the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law project support and guide women business owners to help advance gender equality
Research from McKinsey demonstrates as much as $12 – $28 Trillion could be added to the global economy by 2025 if all countries bridged the gender gap. Women entrepreneurs play a critical role in global wealth creation.
Violence against women and girls affects one in three girls and women worldwide, undermining both dignity and potential and inflicting huge costs – including economic cost. The economic cost of violence against women and girls underscores the dire need for commitment and action from all sectors, including the private sector. A 2015 study found that domestic violence against women and children costs the global economy $8 trillion.
]]>Whole Foods discovers new, cool and unique products — from growers, artisans and makers in communities across the U.S. Voyaging Foods is happy to be part of their first 5 local companies featured on their global website.
Voyaging Foods --> Gluten free has never tasted better than Voyaging Foods’ canoe-plant flours and baked goods. By milling their Hawaiian-grown heritage canoe plants, Kalo (taro), ‘Uala (sweet potato) and ‘Ulu (breadfruit), they are able to utilize them as the foundation of plant-based fiber and protein for their delicious dry mixes as well.
]]>When the Well+Good team descended upon ExpoWest—the world’s largest natural product convention, protein was the who’s who of macronutrients. But at this year’s ExpoWest, we noticed another ingredient pushing protein aside. Suddenly, being high in fiber—a designation formerly found on extremely uncool foods, like prunes and those snack bars your mom ate—has more caché than being high protein.
Why the shift? Protein helps build muscle and tissues; fiber, of course, is responsible for keeping food moving through your digestive tract, says Shawn Wells, RD, and can help reduce inflammation and promote gut health. But experts say that while both are essential for health, focusing so much on protein may have distracted us from getting what we’re more likely to be deficient in—which, you guessed it, is fiber. “If you look at the data, 95 percent of Americans are getting enough protein,” Sweet Earth Foods co-founder Kelly Swette says. “But the inverse is true for fiber; only 5 percent of Americans are getting enough.” (“Enough” for the average woman is about 25 grams per day.)
While fiber is readily found in whole food sources like vegetables, whole grains, fruits, and lentils, those foods can take longer to prepare—making them not a convenient choice for most of us busy humans, says health coach and Go With Your Gut author Robyn Youkilis. Enter packaged food brands stepping up to the plate and adding fiber to their products, which KIND predicted would be one of the biggest food trends in 2019.
Previously, when brands wanted to add fiber to food, they’d add in often synthetic options like dextrose and inulin. In this wave of fiber-is-the-new-protein products, brands like Sweet Earth are incorporating natural, fiber-rich ingredients (particularly prebiotics, a type of insoluble fiber that feeds your gut bacteria) into their latest offerings instead. A sampling of what they have in the pipeline: a probiotic vegan breakfast burrito, veggie pizza piled with Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and mushrooms on a chia seed and psyllium husk crust, and the forthcoming PoGos, breakfast toaster pastries made with chicory root and acacia gum. “We chose these specific fiber sources because of their known prebiotic benefits,” Swette says. “They also don’t change the texture or taste of the products, which was important to us.”
“Grains are good sources of fiber, so when you stop eating them, you lose that. If you’re cutting out a fibrous source, you need to think about what you’re going to replace it with.” —Brynn Foster, founder of Voyaging Foods
Voyaging Foods is another brand rising in the high-fiber space. Their products get their fiber from taro, a root vegetable native to Hawaii. “I started the company as a mom who needed something that was not only gluten-free, but healthy gluten-free for my children,” founder Brynn Foster says. She explains that in Hawaii, one of the first foods babies are given to eat is pureed taro because it’s so easy to digest. But when she went to the grocery store when her son was teething, all she could find were biscuits made of either corn or potato starch, which are much lower in nutrient density than high-fiber taro. She started making her own taro biscuits, and has since expanded the line to include flours and other baked goods.
While everyone could benefit from fiber, Foster says it’s especially important for people who don’t eat gluten to seek it out. “Grains are good sources of fiber, so when you stop eating them, you lose that,” she says. “Typically, most gluten-free products are made with corn or potato, which are not high in fiber. If you’re cutting out a fibrous source, you need to think about what you’re going to replace it with.”
And just like how adding protein to food is as easy as tossing in a scoop to a smoothie or pancake mix, Bulletproof is coming out with InnerFuel, a high-fiber powder that can be added to food. “InnerFuel is a blend of three clinically-backed prebiotics: acacia fiber, guar fiber, and larch arabinogalactan,” Karen Huh, Bulletproof’s vice president of product management and strategy says. Again with the prebiotics! “Like acacia, guar fiber and larch arabinogalactan selectively nourish the good bacteria in your gut and are easy on the digestive system.” She adds that guar fiber helps keep you full longer, blood sugar steady, and supports regularity. And the larch arabinogalatan is a natural immune-booster that comes from the bark and heartwood of the Larch tree, whose fibers contain free-radical fighting polyphenols.
Of course, fiber is good for you—but going overboard in one sitting can lead to some unpleasant side effects. That’s why Wells and Youkilis say that when increasing fiber, it’s also important to increase the amount of water you’re drinking. “Foods like leafy greens and fruit have the water right in with the fiber, but a lot of packaged foods don’t,” Youkilis says. Adds Wells, “Not getting enough water when you increase your fiber can lead to gas, bloating, constipation, or diarrhea.” Yeah, not fun.
Both experts all say when experimenting with new types of fiber—such as ones popping into the products hitting shelves—to do it slowly. “If you’ve never had phyllium for example, I would start with a tiny amount—seriously half a teaspoon—to see how your body reacts. Don’t just start by reaching for a product with a cup of it,” Youkilis says.
The bottom line is, most people need more fiber, so the fact that it’s becoming easier to get and more convenient is great news. The key is to increase your uptake slowly—especially when experimenting with new sources—and to stay hydrated.
Here’s how to know if you’re getting a little too much fiber in your diet. And if you’re still worried about protein, here’s what to keep in mind to ensure you’re getting enough.
Six creative and dynamic Native Hawaiian wahine will share their stories about starting a business in Hawai'i and breaking into their respective industries in a conversation led by our panel moderator and Mana Up co-founder, Meli James.
Afterwards, we'll open up the floor for a Q+A session with panelists and attendees.
This event is open to all — anyone who supports to the growth of women in business.
Join us for an evening of networking, pupus, and good conversation with a panel of successful Native Hawaiian female founders.
Six creative and dynamic Native Hawaiian wahine will share their stories about starting a business in Hawai'i and breaking into their respective industries in a conversation led by our panel moderator and Mana Up co-founder, Meli James.
Afterwards, we'll open up the floor for a Q+A session with panelists and attendees.
This event is open to all — anyone who supports to the growth of women in business.
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Hawaii is situated at the crossroads of East and West where a confluence of Pacific peoples, cultures, and ideas have been mixing for centuries. Hawaii’s unique cultural environment and transnational ties make it a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship."-Hawaii Venture Capital Association
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IslandWyse is a series of webisodes that aim to demystify wellness and look closer at examples of healthy lifestyles.
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IslandWyse is a series of webisodes that aim to demystify wellness and look closer at examples of healthy lifestyles.
How Voyaging Foods got started....the aha moment!
The entire interview here
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