Food after Colgate

If you've checked your mail anytime this week, I'm sure you've received the Autumn 2013 edition of the Colgate Scene. Though in my formative years I usually wrote off this bulky publication, precariously shoved into my tiny mailbox, recently I've taken to actually reading the articles (instead of placing the zine on the growing stack by the recycling bin). Coincidentally, inside the covers adorned with enticing photos of Colgate's students and campus is an article titled, "Feel Good Food" by Aleta Mayne. I don't know about you, but since taking this class I have a heightened awareness for articles about food, the food industry or other global aspects of food as a commodity. So I paused, read the six-page spread about young Colgate alumni in the food industry and realized what this meant.

Here at Colgate, it can be easy to forget that there are other fields to pursue outside of finance or business. Many are concerned with securing a high-reward job immediately upon graduation. These alumni were no different; many had solidified jobs in areas that aligned with their major. However, most abandoned or took a break from their fast paced jobs to realize another passion--food.

We all know Frava. The bottled, caffeinated beverage sold in mass from the C-Store (especially around exams) that has become iconic on our campus and received almost a cult-like following; and the company behind the colorful bottles that employed countless rising juniors & seniors this past summer. But besides this successful start-up story, the article examined two San Francisco/Bay Area ventures making gourmet popsicles and trendy cream puffs, Pop Nation and Pacific Puff (respectively) as well as a Greek yogurt company, Maia, which boasted 50 billion probiotics per cup or yogurt (50x as many as any leading competitor) and a company, Health Warrior, obsessed with the nutritional and medicinal benefits packaged in the tiny Chia seed. Laslty, closer to home, the article evaluated Hamilton's very own Good Nature Brewing Company, a farm-to-glass approach to making beer started by a 2008 alumna. At the end of the article there was even a link (www.colgate.edu/feelgoodrecipes) where one could find recipes to make foods, which would incorporate these tasty treats. Really, a must read.

So what did I realize? I realized that after college you don't have to end up where you think you should end up--these alumni definitely didn't. And that if your dream is to enter the food industry, it doesn't have to be as a farmer, or conversely as a policy-maker/regulator, you can be making the products that shape the industry and trends of food's consumer markets!

(Seriously, don't get rid of your Scene before reading it)