Rachel Zemser

RACHEL ZEMSER, CCS
KAGOME, INC., FOSTER CITY, CA
MANAGER, CULINARY DEVELOPMENT
AFFILIATE MEMBER

I started off my career as a strict food microbiologist and realized that it was not quite as exciting as I hoped it would be. There was a certain element that was missing, but I could not quite figure out how to include that element into my job. When I started seeing ads for the Research Chefs Association in 1998, I realized that I had always wanted to have more culinary experiences incorporated into my career. The next three years were difficult, going through culinary school, working in restaurants, being an intern (again) and taking a major pay cut.

In the end, the results were well worth the efforts. I entered back into the food industry with the capability to work and relate to both scientists and chefs. I understood the analytical and precise detail necessary to be a scientist, but also appreciated and loved the creative angle coming from the chefs. I obtained a better understanding of speed and urgency, but could also focus on repeatability. Having spent years in both fields, I am comfortable on either end of the bench.

In the future, I don’t think students will have to double up on their education. More efficient programs are being developed that allow students to study and get degrees in both food science and culinary arts at the same time. This is a great time-saving opportunity, and will get more of the much-needed professional culinologists into the field.

BIRTHPLACE: Newton, MA;

SCHOOL DAZE: B.S., Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1994); M.S., Food Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1996); Culinary Degree, New York Restaurant School (2001);

CAREER MOVES: Cashier (at a restaurant), food microbiologist, caterer, chef, culinary scientist and sauce developer;

WHY I’M A FOOD SCIENTIST: I lived overseas between the ages of 8 and 18: I saw fufu (cassava plant pounded into a starch ball) made in Liberia, drank shelf-stable pouched milk in Israel, and ate a salt-covered fish in Spain that was not salty at all ... what I saw led to questions, and food science gave me the answers;

PRODUCT I’M MOST PROUD OF: A shelf-stable Spanish-style romesco sauce;

GREATEST MISCONCEPTION ABOUT MY JOB: That I try to put as many chemicals into food as possible;

MOST-CHALLENGING PART OF MY JOB: Developing a perfect match to a gold-standard product made by a customer in their kitchen, from scratch, without any weights, measurements, formulas or industrial ingredient lists to work from;

BEST PART OF MY JOB: Seeing a product I developed make its way onto a restaurant menu—then I can tell my friends, “I did that!”

CAREER HIGH POINT: Right now—I have a job that is the perfect blend of food science and culinary arts, which is exactly what I want to do;

EARLIEST FOOD MEMORY: Eating our neighbors’ wild Concord grapes off the vine in Massachusetts ... to this day, they are my favorite grape;

FAVORITE FOOD PRODUCT AT THE GROCERY STORE: Currently I am a big fan of Greek fage yogurt;

FAVORITE RESTAURANT: The house of any person who cooks me a meal;

FAVORITE FOOD CITY: Strasbourg, France;

IF I WEREN’T A FOOD SCIENTIST, I’D BE: A herpetologist;

FAVORITE MOVIE: “Back to the Future” (the first one);

PETS: A Pacific tree frog and two African dwarf frogs;

CURRENTLY READING: “The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation” by David Kamp.