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Mushrooms are suddenly everywhere. Products ranging from functional beverages to mood-changing supplements have popped up in media, online, and in-market. What’s the difference between functional mushrooms and adaptogens? Do they really work? On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Charlotte Cruze, Co-Founder and COO of Alice Mushrooms, a functional mushroom chocolate, and Ben LeVine, Co-Founder and Chief Herbalist of Rasa, an adaptogen coffee alternative, about how mushrooms work and what consuming them can do. Interested in the mushroom trend? Listen to Tech Bites Episode 286 with Meati Foods, the mycelium mushroom root steaks. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Mushrooms are suddenly everywhere. Products ranging from functional beverages to mood-changing supplements have popped up in media, online, and in-market. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Tyler Huggins, CEO and Co-Founder of Meati Foods, about their debut product line of cutlets and steaks made from mycelium mushroom root. The whole-food protein meat is cultivated using a modernized version of ancient and natural processes, with thew intention of helped preserve Earth's ecosystems. Interested in the mushroom trend? Listen to Tech Bites Episode 287 with Alice Mushrooms and Rasa Coffee-Alternative. Photo Courtesy of Meati. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Are you a content creator looking to impact change and support Black owned businesses? There’s an app for that. Spicy Green Book. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with returning guest Danilo Batson, about the success and growth of Spicy Green Book, a directory of Black-owned food and hospitality businesses. The non-profit organization uses volunteers, like photographers and designers, to work with business to create the content and listings. Currently Spicy Green Book is in more than 35 states, with an app for both the Apple App and Google Play stores. Photo Courtesy of Spicy Green Book. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

It has been said on this podcast that we are in an unprecedented time of investment in the food tech space. Companies that get funding today make the products you will see in stores tomorrow. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talk with Fazeela Abdul Rashid of Revolution Growth about how she evaluates companies for investments. Revolution Growth, a venture capital fund investing in growth-stage companies around the country that are leading disruption within their industry including Meati, the Boulder-based alternative whole-food proteins company, and Curbio, a proptech platform for pre-sale home renovation. Fazeela sits on the board for each company. Photo Courtesy of Revolution. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

We care deeply about where our food comes from, scrutinizing how it’s grown to who prepares it and the values of the companies along the supply chain. Do we care about the person who takes it the last mile, delivering it to your door? In 2020 delivery workers in NYC created Los Deliveristas Unidos demanding five essential rights: a living wage, essential protection from theft, violence, wage theft, and safety hazards. They are still essential and unprotected. On this episode, host Jenifer Leuzzi talks with Ligia Guallpa, executive director of the Worker’s Justice Project (WJP), and Josh Wood, delivery driver and leader of Los Deliveristas Unidos (LDU) about how the current ecosystem of delivery apps de-humanizes workers, and the real world costs of convenience. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Meet the Forbes 30 Under 30 Food & Drink class of 2023. The annual list identifies and applauds young innovators and entrepreneurs who are redefining the way we eat, drink, and think about food. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Forbes Under 30 editors Chloe Sorvino and Kristin Stoller about the trends and companies on this year's list. One of this year’s winners, Téa Ivanovic, talks about her company Immigrant Food, gastroadvocacy, and the impact of being on the list. Photo Courtesy of Forbes. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Following Tech Bites tradition, the last show of the year is a look forward into the next year. What’s the trend we’re predicting for 2023? Food tech for mindfulness. On this episode, Tech Bites host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Bryan Litman, co-founder of Hasu Flower, a 3D-printed micro-meditation tablet that engages your senses to “pause, smell and (mouth) feel.” During the pandemic he developed Hasu, a dissolvable meditation tablet to center your mind and cultivate a moment of mindfulness. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Following Tech Bites tradition, the penultimate episode of the year is always a look back. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks about 2022 with returning guest Krystle Mobayeni, founder and CEO of BentoBox. She brings a first look at the just released BentoBox 2022 Restaurant Trends Report, an analysis of critical data from more than 14,000+ restaurants worldwide. Spoiler alert: the big five includes restaurant tech, search engines, and online ordering. Photo Courtesy of BentoBox. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Virtual reality engages our senses of sight and sound. But what about taste and smell? If you could eat art and music… what would it taste like? On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with artist Mattia Casalegno and Kathleen Forde, senior curator of Superblue, about Aerobanquets RMX, the world’s first mixed reality, immersive gastronomy experience. Inspired by the Futurist Cookbook, the (in)famous Italian compendium of surreal recipes and fantastical dinners published in 1932, the experience takes participants on a multi-sensory journey that combines virtual reality, fantasy, and food with a menu created by award-winning chef Chintan Pandya. Aerobanquets RMX is presented by Superblue and Meta Open Arts as a special activation during Miami Art Week, from November 28 to December 4, 2022. It is produced by Flavor Five Studio. Photo Courtesy of Aerobanquets RMX. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Where’s my cheese? The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium is currently testing food-safe, digital labels on its cheese wheels. The p-Chip micro transponders deliver previously unseen levels of traceability, inventory tracking and control, product authentication, quality-assurance testing, product serialization, and consumer safety. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Riccardo Deserti, Director of The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, and Massimo Baio, Director of Business Development EMEA - p-Chip, about merging a 900-year old cheese tradition with cutting edge digital tracking technology. Photo Courtesy of Parmigiano Reggiano. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

The rate of restaurant tech evolution seems to get faster and faster, with consumers adopting new behaviors and desires with every new app they download. How can restaurants keep up with market demands and use tech to make their business more efficient and profitable? On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks to Meredith Sandland and Carl Orsbourn, the authors of Delivering the Digital Restaurant. Using first- hand accounts of food industry veterans and start-up entrepreneurs innovating the future of food, the book explores the massive disruption facing American restaurants today and a roadmap to successfully navigate today’s digital environment. Photo Courtesy of Delivering the Digital Restaurant. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Thinking about getting one of those magical microwaves that can also air fry, bake, and broil, but you’re not sure which one is worth the investment? The staff at the Good Housekeeping Institute just tested more the 200 products for their annual Kitchen Gear Awards, so you don’t have to. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Nicole Papantoniou, Director of the Good Housekeeping Kitchen Appliances & Innovation Lab, about this year’s winners and the new coffee awards. Photo Courtesy of Good Housekeeping. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Fish and seafood are the only kind of commonly consumed animal protein that are still caught in the wild. When we think about plant-based or lab-grown substitutes for animal products, most of the conversation focuses on the environment. For fish, there’s also consideration for the environment impacting the quality of the natural product, with increasing levels of heavy metals and micro plastics. Overfishing and endangered aquatic-populations are also a concern. An ocean without fish, is not an ocean. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Carrie Chan, CEO and Co-Founder of Avant, a cultivated meat company focusing on growing nutritious, tasty fish and functional marine proteins directly from fish cells at economically viable costs. She is part of the Bloomberg New Economy Catalysts Class of 2022. Photo Courtesy of Avant. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Sugar Lab is billed as the world’s first digital bakery offering a fanciful array of sweet and savory treats all produced on 3D printers. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Sugar Lab founder and CEO Kyle von Hasseln about inventing the technology as an architect student a decade ago and how that led to his building the only NSF-certified commercial-scale 3D food printer. Working with a team of traditional pastry chefs and digital designers, Sugar Lab is inventing new confections and ways to disrupt commercial food manufacturing. Photo Courtesy of Sugar Lab. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Being a new mom breastfeeding her baby has it challenges. Being a new mom working in a restaurant is almost impossible. But there’s an app for that. Pumpspotting, the online baby feeding and lactation support platform, specifically designed a version of its app to accommodate the fast-paced environment of the restaurant industry. A new partnership, between Kalamata’s Kitchen, Resy, and The Lee Initiative is covering the cost for all working mothers in the restaurant industry to gain premium access at pumpspotting.com/restaurants. There’s also a business version for restaurants that want to support and retain parents by offering breastfeeding benefits. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Derek Wallace, co-founder of Kalamata’s Kitchen and Beverly Kim, chef/owner of Parachute and Wherewithall restaurants and the founder of The Abundance Setting, about why it is critical to pioneer ways to make it easier for women and mothers in the culinary industry to feed both their families and careers. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Funding is perhaps the key element to a successful food tech start-up. Typically, an entrepreneur has an idea and takes it to investors. The Production Board, based in California, has a very different approach. TPB is the entrepreneur, identifying problems and production issues that need to be solved across agriculture and food, human health, life sciences and biomanufacturing, and then build a team and company up around them. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with TPB’s President and COO Bharat Vasan, Chief Branding Officer Rachel Konrad, and General Manger Risa Stack about how the process of foundry funding works with their mission to reimagine earth. Photo Courtesy of The Production Board. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

How’s your gut microbiome? Are you feeding your microbiota a healthy dose of prebiotics and probiotics? Using functional foods to build a healthy digestive system for overall better health is one of the top food tech trends today. With that comes a lot of new scientific terms and concepts to try and figure out what it is and if it’s right for me. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Marc Washington about how he founded Supergut in honor of his sister, who died of complications of metabolic syndrome. Supergut products focus on prebiotics and resistant-starch to improve metabolic and gut health. Photo Courtesy of Supergut. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

The latest appliance fighting for space on your kitchen counter is the composting machine. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Nicole Papantoniou, Director of the Good Housekeeping, Kitchen Appliances & Innovation Lab. Good Housekeeping has been on newsstands since 1885. The Institute was created in 1900 to test home products, with the first Good House Keeping Seal in 1909. Today in 2022, consumers are interested in recycling food waste back into the soil as another piece of the healthy ecosystem puzzle. Composting can be easy if you live on a farm or in a home with outdoor space. In a small urban apartment, it can be challenging on many fronts, including the smell. This new crop of kitchen tech aims to eliminate the issues and the orders. Photo Courtesy of Mike Garten and Good Housekeeping. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

When we hear the term “plant-based” we often think the product is better nutritionally and environmentally than the animal counter-part. But plant-based is not always better, given that most products are highly processed using a litany of highly processed ingredients. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Isabel Fernández, Science & Technology Director at Heura Foods, Europe’s fastest-growing plant-based meat company. Her team is woking on Good Rebel Tech (G.R.T.), a new approach to holistic food technology with the goals of producing macro- and micro-nutrient dense foods in a more sustainable way. Photo Courtesy of Heura Foods. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member! Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

Want a free custom soft-serve ice cream pie on your birthday at Hanoi House in NYC? That’s one of the perks that you get when you buy a Hanoi House digital collectible at FOH. NFTs and digital collectibles are the hot trend in the food tech space offering restaurants a way to create a community of supporters with fun perks and generate passive income. FOH is a new platform collaborating with restaurants to mint and sell, with 80% of the profits going back to the restaurants. On this episode of Tech Bites, host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with Hanoi House owners Ben Lowell and Sara Leveen, and FOH partners Colin Camac and Phil Toronto about their off-menu digital collectibles. Photo Courtesy of Sydney Gautier. HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we’re asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate. Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.