{"id":29,"date":"2014-04-23T00:03:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T04:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/2014\/04\/23\/2014421the-story-of-foodstand\/"},"modified":"2016-03-30T14:28:28","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T18:28:28","slug":"the-story-of-foodstand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/2014\/04\/23\/the-story-of-foodstand\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Foodstand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style\">\n<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_2\"><\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_3\"><\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_4\"><\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"addthis_button_compact\"><\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_bubble_style\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_config = {\"data_track_addressbar\":true};<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/s7.addthis.com\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-535568050c38c898\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- AddThis Button END --><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_10_1_1_1398212087794_18547\"><span>Hello there \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/535530b1e4b0f59e9521ac2c\/1398212257316\/\/img.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">By now you may have heard one of us rant and rave about how eating well should be easier, or about how silly it is that millions of great food tips and stories are locked away in the hearts and minds of wonderful eaters and makers everywhere, just waiting to be set free. Well, if those tips and stories are little Rapunzels imprisoned in the towers of foodies\u2019 brains everywhere, consider us your prince! Y\u2019all are about to be rescued!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">But before we tell you all about how ridiculously awesome our app is and do everything in our power, short of knocking on your door, to convince you to download it (seriously it takes like 5 seconds), we wanted to share our own story: how we came together and how Foodstand came to be. &nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:16px\">We came together at the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/purpose.com\">Purpose<\/a> office in the summer of 2013, because each one of us was obsessed with the idea that it could be easier for busy people to buy, prepare, eat, and enjoy great food in a more responsible way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">At first, our operation consisted of nothing more than a whiteboard, a few laptops, and a metric ton of delicious coffee. As with any new venture, there were good ideas and bad ones. Just be glad we decided against \u201cJay Z does a rap\u201d. You\u2019re welcome.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/5356f963e4b0e846eb41c183\/1398208947247\/3634153932_acc99af31e_b.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:16px\">We reached out to a lot of people to find out what was missing from their lives when it came to eating well. People were desperate to know more about where their food comes from, and how to get more connected to the source of what they eat. So, we set out to create a space where it would be easy to do just that. Foodstand is the result of those conversations, a ton of nerdy data points, and, of course, a ton of blood, sweat and tears.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/535685b3e4b0d988ab9d0040\/1398179253297\/\/img.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:16px\">We\u2019re just about ready to hand Foodstand over to you! <a href=\"\/welcome2\">Sign up <\/a>to be one of the first to join the Foodstand community!&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-center\">~<\/p>\n<h2><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Meet some of the smiling faces behind the Stand.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span><strong>Rachna Govani<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/53555724e4b0e10db197dce0\/1398212288073\/rachna+cooking.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:16px\">I\u2019m in this because I believe in one simple and universal truism: food is brings people together. Ever since I was a little girl, food was always the common ground upon which my family and friends from incredibly diverse backgrounds came together\u2014celebrated, mourned, squashed a disagreement, or just enjoyed one another\u2019s company. It&#8217;s how my immigrant parents defined their &#8216;American&#8217; identity. It is from those experiences that I developed a passion for hosting and feeding others, sharing the joy that I have been lucky to encounter. And you should know, I whip up a mean pesto, breakfast burrito, and daal, sometimes all at the same time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">But somehow food is also the source of so much inconvenience, cost, and inequity. It\u2019s not our fault, but as a nation we have become less healthy, over-medicated, and undernourished. I joined the Foodstand team to make it easier for all people to make better food choices and love food again. This isn\u2019t just about eating greens I grew on my windowsill (though they are pretty delicious). It\u2019s about returning sanity to the food system as a whole and providing proper nourishment for all. &nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span><em>First food memory<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Standing on my favorite step stool helping my mom cook &#8212; at age 3. Most parents tell their kids to stay away from the oven. I did the exact opposite then, and still find my happy place in front of steaming pot of something delicious.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span><em>Snacker or meal-er<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Aggressive snacker. I feel like there are so many delicious options, that snacking allows me to try more amazing foods and maximize my happiness!&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><em>Most frequently purchased item (this season\/ right now)<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Apples on apples. You&#8217;d think one would get sick of them, but you can do so many amazing things with apples &#8212; sliced with peanut butter, upside down apple cake, muffins, kale and apple salad, apple cider donuts, apple ginger jam, and the list goes on!&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/535556ace4b049723f6e67d0\/1398211183229\/apples.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<h3><em>Thing you are excited to try next<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Making scallops at home and using my friend\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thermal_immersion_circulator\">immersion circulator<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span><em>Burning food question<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">When was the \u201cpocket\u201d food invented, and what is the history of it occurring in every cuisine? (e.g. empanada, dumpling, samosa, momo, pierogi, etc etc etc)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/535556e3e4b00e93e08b228e\/1398101734229\/\/img.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<h3><em>One thing you learned from building Foodstand thus far<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Every farmer has a wildly crazy \/ incredible \/ fascinating story and they deserve massive hugs<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Dan Shannon<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/535559f9e4b0d68d3cc554f2\/1398102521874\/DanShannon.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">To be honest I was never much of a \u201cfoodie.\u201d I think my favorite food in high school was Kraft mac and cheese. But I was always deeply engaged in social justice issues, and cut my teeth as a \u201ccareer activist\u201d running campaigns to get fast-food and grocery companies to make basic improvements to animal welfare conditions in their supply chain. This opened by eyes to the systematic problems in our food system, and in particular the intersections of these problems&#8211;animal rights\/welfare and sustainability, food insecurity and public health, etc.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Becoming more connected with the politics of food connected me more closely to what I was actually eating. So did marrying my wife. Together, we started writing a vegan lifestyle blog, <\/span><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/meettheshannons.com\"><em>Meet the Shannons<\/em><\/a><span style=\"font-size:16px\">, and wrote a cookbook called <\/span><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Betty-Goes-Vegan-Classic-Recipes\/dp\/1455509337\"><em>Betty Goes Vegan<\/em><\/a><span style=\"font-size:16px\">. No more Kraft mac and cheese for us.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/5355579fe4b0b8b0087720fa\/1398212166676\/betty+goes+vegan.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:16px\">I joined the Foodstand team to help build a place where people could help each other make more informed choices about what they were eating, and where together we could build a better food system simply by eating better. And most of all, I wanted to give other people the same experience I had&#8211;that connecting with food on a deeper level can actually help you love it even more.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>\u00a0<\/h3>\n<h3><span><em>First food memory<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Stealing veggies out of the salad bowl before dinner.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><em>Snacker or meal-er<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Meal-er, mostly because if you put snacks in front of me I literally cannot stop eating them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span><em>Most frequently purchased item (this season\/ right now)<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">I am an unabashed member of the kale bandwagon, breakfast lunch and dinner.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><em>Thing you are excited to try next<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Cashew-based hard cheeses! There are a ton of new artisans making these.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span><em>Burning food question<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Why did I ever think Kraft mac and cheese was delicious?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><em>One thing you learned from building Foodstand thus far<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Labels are confusing and unhelpful for consumers; understanding how food is actually produced is the antidote.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3>\u00a0<\/h3>\n<h3><span><strong>Allison Sheren<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/53555a88e4b04cbb6437e2bf\/1398212504588\/\/img.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:16px\">I\u2019ve always been around food and cooking. When I was young, we cooked all the time, especially for family functions. Most Jewish holidays revolve around big dinners with lots of people and I loved every second of it. As a Sephardic Jew, I spent hours watching specialty Middle Eastern food being made. I always wanted to help make the complicated Syrian recipes like lachamajin, kibbe, and sambusak I watched my grandpa spend hours making. Each dish was made with such precision and love and yet at the same time when it came to quantities the recipe read something like \u201ca little bit of this, a little bit of that and then taste until it seems right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">When looking at cookbooks, I got used to figuring out how to make non-kosher recipes kosher and how to experiment from the base recipe I was using. When I married my vegetarian husband, it became even trickier. Now I flip recipes from regular to kosher to vegetarian all the time, including vegetarian-izing some of our classic Syrian recipes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">I joined the Foodstand team because food should be fun, interesting, user friendly, and enjoyed with the community around us. I love seeing different people\u2019s perspectives and experiences with food and I LOVE seeing how things are made (hello Sesame Street Crayon Factory trip!).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span><em>First food memory<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Practicing with play-doh how to flute the edges of a sambusak before I was allowed to do it on a real one.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span><em>Snacker or meal-er<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">meal-er. I like meals, but like 6 smaller meals as opposed to three larger meals\u2026 so maybe big snacks?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span><em>Most frequently purchased item (this season\/ right now)<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Sugar. I bake\u2026 a lot and therefore I end up going through lots of sugar.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><em>Thing you are excited to try next<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Anything having to do with molecular gastronomy. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>      <img src=\"http:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/52c58dfae4b042338f2e2887\/53552ffde4b0c67c912fbd13\/535558ade4b0e846eb3ffec2\/1398102204216\/\/img.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<h3><em>Burning food question<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">What are some failed <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hybrid_fruit\">hybrid fruit<\/a> experiments?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><em>One thing you learned from building Foodstand thus far<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Coding and cooking are actually very similar both in how you develop and execute the result.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-center\">~<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned for more stories from the rest of the Foodstand team! &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Got a story to share of your own? Shoot us a note at <\/span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">foodstand@purpose.com<\/span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">. We look forward to hearing from you!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">Hello there \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size:16px\">By now you may have heard one of us rant and rave about how eating well should be easier, or about how silly it is that millions of great food tips and stories are locked away in the hearts and minds of wonderful eaters and makers everywhere, just waiting to be set free. Well, if those tips and stories are little Rapunzels imprisoned in the towers of foodies\u2019 brains everywhere, consider us your prince! Y\u2019all are about to be rescued!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53],"tags":[8,7,6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1168,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/1168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thefoodstand.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}