Author Archives: Michelle Paratore

About Michelle Paratore

Management consultant obsessed with food justice, food politics, food start-ups, food sustainability, and eating food too...

Mighty Wild: Bringing the Acorn to Your Pantry

Posted on November 5, 2014

Over the years, I’ve been intrigued and excited by food startups that introduce consumers to a unique ingredient through a tried-and-true form factor. Great examples are Exo’s cricket flour bar and Kuli Kuli’s moringa bar. Last week, I sat down … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Love with Food and the Disruption of Focus Groups – Takeaways from the Mixing Bowl Food IT Conference (continued)

Posted on July 8, 2014

Note: This is the second post covering takeaways from The Mixing Bowl’s June 20th conference on Food IT: Soil to Fork. The first post focused on Pantry Labs and the potential for smart refrigerator technology. A particularly interesting afternoon session … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pantry Labs and the Promise of Smart Refrigerators – Takeaways from the Mixing Bowl Food IT Conference

Posted on June 25, 2014

On Friday, June 20th, the Mixing Bowl, in partnership with the FEED Collaborative, held a conference entitled, “Food IT: Soil to Fork.” The event featured an impressive collection of speakers and food and agriculture startups. I’ll be sharing my takeaways … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Flying Bird Botanicals: Tea with Integrity

Posted on February 26, 2014

The tea industry has been pulling the wool over consumers’ eyes. Unbeknownst to most drinkers, many of whom are choosing to drink tea for healing and soothing benefits, teas can be packed with pesticides, toxins, added flavors, and GMO ingredients. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Rising to the Food Waste Challenge: Panel Recap

Posted on February 18, 2014

In December, Local Food Lab and Edible Startups hosted a panel highlighting innovative approaches to food waste entitled, “Rising to the Food Waste Challenge.” It was a fascinating conversation and, given it felt like we barely scratched the surface, is … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Kuli Kuli: The Next Superfood, and a Way to Support Women in West Africa

Posted on December 4, 2013

Nutrition bar startup Kuli Kuli has been on quite the ride over the past six months: launching on indiegogo in May, raising over $50K via the campaign, enlisting a co-manufacturer and perfecting the product, shipping over 9,000 bars to over … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

Stanford Food Summit 4

Posted on November 25, 2013

Stanford hosted Food Summit 4 on October 30th with the caption of “growing pathways to careers in food systems.” Below is a quick recap of the most interesting nuggets I gleaned from the event, following four main themes. 1) Growing … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment