On episode 55 of the FoodGrads podcast we interviewed Kirsten Sutaria, Co-Founder and Head of Curious Creation at Wonderlab’s Doozy Pots. They are a family owned, female led, curious bunch dedicated to creating wholesome indulgences that are kind to the earth (yes, it’s possible!). They have combined their love of delicious things, our passion for invention, and our food science savvy to craft delightful plant-based pleasures you can’t live without – whilst keeping a careful eye on the impact on have on the world around us.

On this episode Kirsten and Veronica talked about her career journey spending over 13 years developing and launching products for iconic brands such as Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever across North America and Europe. They talked about the creation of Doozy Pots, how it came to be and the hemp based plant space in general. I didn’t know much about hemp space but Kirsten explained to me how hemp is processed, it’s health benefits and why there are so many regulations surrounding it. Veronica also loved that in this episode Kirsten and her could geek out a little bit talking about ice cream science how Kirsten was able to figure out a solution to a very unique processing problem.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Youtube, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show Notes

Timestamps

[2:15] What is Doozy Pots and how it was started

[4:05]  Kirsten talking more about hemp and why they choose it as the base for Doozy Pots

[8:45] How Doozy Pots is Marketed

[12:08] How Kirsten got to where she is today in her career journey

[18:07] Kirsten’s advice for young people on finding a job you love

[18:54] How has it been being a new product in the hemp-based space

[23:04] Kirsten’s talks about the hemp industry banning together

[27:07] How has your diet changed since you got into this space?

[32:16] Kirsten talks about how she solved a problem of dots of fat in product

[28:22] Kirsten and Veronica talk about how inclusive the food industry is and how they are willing to help

Links

Kirsten’s LinkedIn

DoozyPots

Ben and Jerry’s

Grounded Foods

Catalyst Creamery

Let there be hemp

Saponification

Kirsten Sutaria Interview Quotes

I just see so much potential in plants. We don’t necessarily need to create new fats. We don’t need to create new proteins. We eat, you know, humans eat about a dozen things, a dozen crops, a dozen plants. There’s a lot more room for kind of biodiversity and for us science runs through, you know, the science of what’s in our raw ingredients and understanding that. – Kirsten Sutaria

And a lot of times younger people will ask me you know, how do you find a job that you love? Think about what’s in your pantry, what do you love? And you know, what are your beliefs and what drives you in life and like find products and seek out those types of company. – Kirsten Sutaria

But that can be scary because we are so tied into what we eat and why we eat it and how we eat it. What are your family rituals and what does your culture bring to the table? It can be really hard make changes to what you’re eating and how you’re eating. But I think going into things with an open mind and an exploratory nature will help us as we move forward and try to navigate, you know, how to eat for the future. – Kirsten Sutaria

Because as a scientist, you’re like, I see something that’s happening. And I dunno why, but I need to know why. So I will go to the ends of the worth to figure out. Why is this happening? And we figured it out, but it was I was really pulling my hair out. But now that I have that kind of story, I was like, that was so fascinating. – Kirsten Sutaria

I hope you love food. And you’re a very curious person because those are two things that I think are, are really important in this industry is maintaining that curiosity of what is this, why is it happening? How do we create new things? And I think we’re, we’re in a point of how do we you know, feed people in the future and, and we need lots more creative minds and forward thinking people to get into the industry. – Kirsten Sutaria

If you’re growing up and, and you’re in high school or you’re getting ready to go to college or even if you’ve you’re in college and food’s something that you’re passionate.

Definitely pursue it. I think the food industry also just has such a great network of fun, smart, dynamic people. It’s amazing community to be a part of. So working in the food industry it is never dull. – Kirsten Sutaria