60-second interview with Mahala Le May

Picture from Mahala’s site of the sugar skull workshop

Hi Friends,

The Young Innovators Challenge deadline for entries is NOON on May 31st, which is currently… 60 hours from this very minute (Thank you Siri). As The YIC has a Food & Drink category, here is a sweet interview with Mahala Le May to keep your Idea-Machines running!

Mahala is a designer based here in Scotland who creates beautiful and delicious eating experiences.  She was kind enough to share her joy and passion with me, and so I am happy to share it with you too.

I met her at The Mini Makers Faire in Edinburgh last month where she was hosting an excellent workshop decorating Mexican Day of the Dead Sugar Skulls! Check out this video of the skulls made that day, they were excellent.

 

• Your site mentions you create eating experiences – What was your inspiration?

I’m really interested in how food brings people together, how everyone is effected by it and that everyone has a relationship with eating. And I love food.

 

• Of your creations and events to date, do you have a favorite?

Create: Eat was an incredible event to be involved with, 25 collaborators – from chefs to lighting designers and mixologist all worked together to put on a only night only dining extravaganza. It was brilliant to meet and work with so many talented people. The piece I made for it ‘canopy of canapés’ turned out exactly how I hoped, it was wonderful to see peoples’ reactions too it.

 

• Did you get any business advice/assistance from anyone/any group that helped you?

I’ve had business and financial support from Starter For 6 – a programme that helps innovative businesses and from PSYBT, I found business mentors particularly helpful . Also Cultural Enterprise Scotland – who run S46 – arrange lots of courses, advice sessions and had a website packed full of endless help-sheets and resources.

 

• Do you feel you’ve had errors or failures that you’ve learned from?

Yes of course, it’s part of the process, you almost learn more from what doesn’t work and even though it’s disappointing at the time, experiences -good and bad-  allow you to develop and strengthen as a business.

•  What gave you the idea to create Mexican sugar skulls?

I originally made the some sugar skulls to decorate a friend’s cake at their Mexican themed wedding. It been really successful as a workshop with both adults and children. I’d like to do an adults only mexican night with tequila, I’d love to see how the skulls would turn out. I want to make my events hands-on and accessible to encourage as many people as possible to get involved and have fun.

 

• How is the Food and drink industry in Scotland doing in your opinion? A good area to be involved or could it use some shaking up?

There’s a lot about the food industry in general that needs to change, but people are becoming more aware of these issues. In Scotland there are lots of amazing producers and people doing exciting things with food, there’s going to be lots to look forward too as long as everyone keeps communicating.

 

• Do you have a future dream project you would love to create?

I’ve got lots of ideas and a few projects coming up so I don’t want to give too much away.

•  A piece of advice you’d give to a budding edible entrepreneur?

Get out and speak to people, get them tasting and trying out what you make, the best way to know what works and it will give you confidence to grow your business and build up a network of fans – word of mouth is key to your food reputation. Good luck.

 

Mahala has worked on a variety of projects in the UK and in the Netherlands with Edinburgh University, Jelly and Gin and the Makers Faire among others. She combines a sense of delight with the visual and tactile pleasures of food to produce events, workshops and tastes with a joyful flair. Her creations look gorgeous and extremely tasty!! Eating is such a pleasure, it was delightful to meet someone who has as much fun with it as possible.

I will be very keen to attend the adult mexican-night. My attempts at making sugar skulls at The Makers Faire were trounced by the amazing skills of the children sat next to me – my skulls were somewhat geometric and spartan by comparison to the creativity on display! A second round (And perhaps a little tequila-based courage) and a chance to gobble some treats would suit me fine!

Thanks again, Mahala!

 

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/58667046″>Sugar Sugar boogie woogie</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user15810950″>Mahala Le May</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

*Videos and picture taken from http://www.mahalalemay.co.uk

Scottish Food and Drink Industry exports

Hi friends,

As we’ve got The Young Innovators Challenge on over at Scottish Institute for Enterprise, I thought you could use some interesting facts to keep your idea-machines going! The YIC has a food and drink category – And as something of a “foodie” (the only polite way I can think of to say that a dozen Krispy Kremes never make it home in my car), I’ve been really excited learning about this, the most delicious of all industries.

So what does the food & drink industry in Scotland sell, and to whom? Well, I started typing out a bunch of facts and figure here, but it wasn’t too exciting! So I’ve made a wee little infographic of the figures instead. As you might expect, our major drink export is whiskey, and our major food export is salmon! Enjoy!

*Note: I’ve spotted an error – The value of food and drink exports to The USA is 817 million or 0.817 billion, NOT 8.17 billion! The figure is correct and the text is not, an extra zero makes a big difference!

Your Upgraded Lunch – Competition Winner!

I said I’d create a wordcloud of the responses I received, and boy did you deliver – You all had such terrific responses.

Here is what we learned:

Everyone loves cheese, mayonnaise, salad and bread. A lot of you like chocolate, bacon, butter and champagne. Steak, chicken and honey mustard are also big winners. That is great taste in lunch right there.

We received entries via comments on the post, by email and also from twitter, and after sticking them all into a proverbial hat (AKA random number generator) the winner was…  Foz!

Congratulations Foz, you’ll receive a Black & Blum Box and Bag and a gift voucher from Real Foods to enjoy your cheesy pasta bake with!

Thank you very much for participating, you’re all so great 🙂

*(Wordcloud generated via www.JasonDavies.com/wordcloud)

Food & Drink Brands – SIE in Mexico

Hi Friends, here is the second to last post I’ll do about Mexico. Food and Drink style!

The SIE Young Innovators Challenge has a Food and Drink category. So what better time to talk about that which is best in all the world – Food glorious glorious food!

Where we are lends shape to our tastes and fuels the demand for the businesses we start. This is the same all over the world.

SO it’s easy to forget that entrepreneurship doesn’t *have* to be local or use local products – unless we want it to! We are not bound to the market on our doorstep, nor are we bound to produce or enjoy only that which is found on our own turf. IF we were then there would be FAR fewer coffee shops and chocolatiers indeed!

As corny as it sounds, the world is full of open doors, and the potential to go through one remains, who knows what the tastes on the other side will be. Corny like a Midwestern maize field, I know I am 🙂

BUT when it comes to food and drink this is especially true. In what other category are our tastes and interests so wide or so exploratory?

Here’s a few brands I spotted in Mexico that we don’t see as much in Scotland – Your food & drink idea might fly off the shelves there?

King Henry’s – Makers of trail mixes, confections and nuts. These are individual plastic spoons each with a scoop of tamarind paste. In Mexico you can tamarind as raw fruit, in dried salted snacks, in soda and in ice cream.

 

OK Bubba Gump is not Mexican, but it’s still something you don’t find in Scotland! A chain of seafood restaurants drawing its name from the movie Forrest Gump, with locations in Mexico, USA, Japan and Malaysia, among others. This one was in the departures area at Cancun Intl.

 

You’ll find Jose Cuervo in Scotland, but you might not find this special edition Frida Kahlo “The Broken Column” package. The painting was a self-portrait of the artist symbolizing the lifelong pain she suffered following an accident in her youth. Not the most cheerful advertisement, but certainly eye catching!

 

Charricos Banana Flakes. Not so much a flat dehydrated chip like we might find in Holland & Barrett, and more like a crisp! These were good:)

 

El Yucateco – XXXtra hot Chile Habanero. These can be bought in a pack with three other types of El Yucateco sauces. On the Scoville Heat Scale for hot sauces, this one gets a score of 11,600. For comparison, Sriracha hot sauce is rated as around 1000-2500. Don’t let it touch the sides.

 

Ron Zacapa – This limited release is an award winning rum from Guatemala and is marketed and distributed by Diageo (As many brands in Scotland are). Though Zacapa is not very widely found in the UK compared to Diageo’s others such as Captain Morgan.

 

Silver Patrón – Made by Patrón of Mexico using the piña (The heart) of the blue agave plant (Also the source of Agave nectar). You can find this one in Scotland in some select markets.

Upgrade your Lunch – Competition!

Hi Friends, It’s time for another competition!

How we eat, what, when, where and with whom all say a lot about who we are.

For a lot of people lunch is:

1. Eaten at lightning speed. Like not-chewing wins an award.
2. Eaten at our desks, in our cars, on trains, on the bus. 
3. OR maybe not eaten at all. Lunch might just be a coffee.

The Young Innovators Challenge has a Food & Drink category. You can read about it here! So with that in mind, can we try to bring a little bit more satisfaction to our midday meal? Would it help if lunch was a more pleasant experience?

Then how about you UPGRADE your lunch by winning this prize!

Black & Blum’s Box Appetit and Black & Blum Box Appetit Lunch bag  

The box lid has a dipping pot, there are removable sections for separate items, and it is easy to transport and clean. The lunch bag does double duty. Carry your lunch in it, then unfold it to reveal a checkered table cloth! It makes lunch easy wherever you go. It’s also very stylish.

I came across this while visiting the Librairie Filigranes bookstore in Brussels and it was a great find.

To get you started, your new lunch kit comes with £20 to spend at Real Foods

Real Foods have online shopping & UK-wide delivery as well as two stores in Edinburgh. They have fairtrade, organic and vegetarian products including many locally sourced goods, so you are guaranteed to find something you enjoy.

To Enter: Tell me what is your DREAM lunch? If you could have anything at all, what would it be? Thai Green Curry? Neeps & Tatties? Sushi? Mac & Cheese? Jelly Beans?

Send me your answer by:

1. Tweeting your response to @SIE_OU
2. Commenting on this post
3. OR send me an email at OU.intern@Sie.ac.uk

You’ve got until April 30th to get your answers in!

Be honest! Don’t say “broccoli” if what you really want is to liquify krispy kreme donuts and and hook them up to an IV.* 

I’ll use the responses I get to make a wordcloud 🙂  Bon appétit!

 

*Not that I’ve given any thought to THAT, of course not. I love broccoli. 

SIE in Mexico! Mexico & Scotland.

Hi Friends,

A few weeks ago I wrote a bit about Scotland and Mexico, commenting on the views about Scotland expressed by Mexicans that I met while traveling. I took some photos for a blog post about things you don’t see in Scotland that I’ll post very soon (It’s mostly related to people enjoying being in the ocean and going into the water without being dared to do so). But it all got me thinking, just for fun, what do we have in common?  Quite a lot.

Here is some evidence – you be the judge.

• Scotland in Spanish is Escocia! Mexico in Scottish is “Ooh I bet the weather was lovely!”

• Bagpipes, meet your cousin the Mariachi band

• Complete this sentence: Scotland is to Mexico as Caber tossing is to… Luchador wrestling

• Did you imbibe a great deal of the alcoholic export of the land? Want the world to know? We have shirts for that.

• Feeling like expanding your palette? Both our countries have ominous yet intriguing foods.

One is poisonous, and the other looks like it has been weaponized.

• What are two of the most common products found in every house?

That’s right, incredibly outdated telephones!

• A thrillseeker are you? Check out this dangerous wildlife

!

And if you think Highland cows aren’t dangerous then you’ve obviously never seen the paint job on your car after they’ve tried to scratch an itchy ear against your side mirror.

• Or how about some rare creatures!
• 

Both majestic in their own special ways, you certainly wouldn’t want either in your trousers and they are both likely to run in front of your car.

• What else do we share?

We are sunset champions

 

We have awesome cultural events like Day of The Dead and The Torchlight procession

And we have distinctive artists:

 

We also share our number one export market (The USA)

AND both our countries are going into something of an entrepreneurial renaissance. Both have a big increase in interest in entrepreneurship and a subsequent increase in startups, AND increased funding and  investment.

So is it too early to start referring to myself as an English speaking Mexican señorita with wet-weather and a poor tolerance for habanero peppers? I guess it all depends on your point of view 🙂

60 Second Interview: The Chocolate Tree

Hi Friends,

They say variety is the spice of life, well how about the CHOCOLATE of life instead? Ali Gower one of the founders of The Chocolate Tree was kind enough to grant me a 60-second interview. Thanks very much Ali! This could be the first of many Food & Drink interviews to come!

* Disclosure: I have not been compensated by The Chocolate Tree in any way.

Ali Gower. Picture taken from The Chocolate Tree

• What inspired you to start your own business?

Hobby / Passion that turned into business

• Did any particular organizations or individuals help you start The Chocolate Tree?

Business gateway grant

• Did you do much research before you began your business?

Yes. Lots. Still do

• Do you feel you’ve learned from any failures or challenges you might have had?

Absolutely. Recognition of failure is the path to improvement

• What has been your favorite achievement to date?

Bean to bar chocolate making, Direct relationship with cacao growers

• What advice would you give to people thinking about starting a business today?

Be prepared to work a schedule beyond what would be deemed reasonable to make it succeed, miss out on many of the normal luxuries working for someone else can offer (ie. holidays, consistent pay), to take risks and lose sleep.

• Do you have a favorite Chocolate Tree product?

No… I have at least four:

Bar: Bean to bar Madagascar 72%*

Cake: tiramisu
Bonbon: coconut & passionfruit
Gelato: almond & honey

(*Note: I purchased two of the bean-to-bar Madagascar bars as Christmas gifts for a friend, I ended up giving him just the one… I have no regrets about this at all.)

Origami chocolate box. Picture taken from The Chocolate Tree

The Chocolate Tree was founded in Edinburgh/East Lothian, and has in just a few years grown from a hobby to one of the best  indulgences you can lay your hands on. With their emphasis on ethics, be it their banking partners or their relationships with cocoa farmers, their values provide a strong foundation for their business growth, with no signs of slowing down. The love they clearly have for their business shows through not only in their relationships but also in the high quality of their products.

The Chocolate Tree can be found on http://www.the-chocolate-tree.co.uk and their products are now sold in over 50 stores in Scotland, England and The Netherlands. They can also be visited in person at markets in Edinburgh and Haddington or at their cafe in Edinburgh. If you visit them in person I highly recommend the Peruvian hot chocolate, it is my favorite and if it disappeared from the menu I might do terrible things 🙂

If you are a student in Scotland and you have an idea you want to see become reality then you should enter the Young Innovators Challenge! With six categories to choose from (Including Food & Drink!) each with a prize of £50,000 investment + One YEAR of business support, you could see your business go from just an idea to the sort of thing that makes stomachs growl across the land. For all the info you need visit www.sie.ac.uk/YIC