Back at it Again! CIA Students Join Food Media’s Finest at Foodie Con 2025
Author Sarah Rolph ’22/’26 is a Culinary Science major.
Immediately upon arriving at FoodieCon my friend Emily Arellano ’29 and I were greeted with perfectly shiny bon bons and cotton candy art unlike any I’d ever seen. The edges of the room were lined with booths serving truffle pasta out of a parmesan wheel, ube waffle with fried chicken, Lafayette pastries and so much more!
The center of the show were panels of our favorite voices in food. I particularly liked hearing from Nadia Caterina Munno (@the_pastaqueen) and Jesha Stevens (@jeshastevens) during the “From Content to Commerce: Selling the Dream” panel where they spoke about their journeys, as I had seen their catchy videos on social media but didn’t know about their outside businesses, strong base knowledge, and their path to success. I had no idea Jesha had already launched her sourdough products in grocery stores long before she blew up on social media. Normally we see it the other way around.
For me, the most entertaining panel (especially for the Food Business Management majors out there) was “the Ultimate Pitch: Foodie Edition” where creators had 30 seconds to give an elevator pitch for a product they’d just come up with. I’m not sure if we’ll see any of these products hit store shelves anytime soon, but it was fun and impressive to see everyone thinking so quickly on their feet.
What amazed me most about this gathering as a Culinary Science major was the wide range of product and development options represented; they had everything from salt and corn starch to pasta and spirits. There were also arepas made from a box mix, which got me thinking about other products that could make fresh, bakery-quality food accessible to everyone—no pastry background or hours in the kitchen required. Since the typical lens into the food system is through restaurants, it is so easy to forget the endless possibilities for jobs in this industry; who’d have thought cotton candy artist could be a job title!
Calling All Foodies!
Take a look at last year’s FoodieCon!