海角大神

10 young people who are making food better

From starting their own food companies to donating food that would be thrown away youths are undertaking many inspiring projects.

Innovations in agriculture don鈥檛 just come from veteran environmentalists or food industry heavyweights. In fact, many inspiring projects are the creations of youth around the world. Food Tank is excited to highlight ten young foodies who make us more hopeful about the future:

Nikhil Arora and Alex Velez, 26 and 27, graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, turned down offers to enter the world of consulting and investment banking to pursue mushroom cultivation. The pair had been experimenting with growing mushrooms on coffee grounds, and after a successful bucket of oyster mushrooms, they launched Oakland-产补蝉别诲听. They offer two main products: mushroom kits, which grow mushrooms in a cardboard box, and AquaFarm, a self-cleaning fish tank that uses the fishes鈥� waste to grow food. Their mission is to 鈥渕ake food personal again through the passionate development of tools that educate and inspire, one family at a time.鈥�

Nicky Bronner, 17, has a sweet tooth, but he found himself聽聽with his parents聽who didn鈥檛 want him filling up on processed candies and junk food. Unwilling to sacrifice peanut butter cups and chocolate bars, Bronner, then 13, worked with his father to found聽, which produces preservative-free candies. They are made with grass-fed dairy and fair trade cocoa. The products have made their way from the Bronners鈥� home outside Boston, Massachusetts, to major retailers such as Target, Kroger, and Wegmans.

Tyson Gersh, 25, is owner and founder of the聽聽(MUFI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to engaging community members in sustainable agriculture projects on vacant lots. Such projects produce nutritious food while raising community awareness of urban farming.聽MUFI engages 2,500 volunteers and grew more than 10,000 pounds of produce this year alone. 鈥淯sing agriculture as a platform to promote education, sustainability, and community鈥攚hile simultaneously reducing socioeconomic disparity鈥攚e hope to empower urban communities,鈥� Gersh writes.

Eve and聽Liam Knight, 12 and 13, are better known as the聽. When the duo moved from Ireland to Pensacola, Florida, they were聽disappointed聽by the lack of curry. To remedy the situation, Eve and Liam decided to introduce an easy-to-use spice packet to Americans. The pair won an entrepreneurship competition at the聽Young Entrepreneur鈥檚 Academy of Greater Pensacola; their product is now sold at a local store. "We want everyone in America to have curry for dinner," , "and we want them to have it once a week."

Emily Meko, 23, is founder and owner of聽, a vegan and gluten-free vendor of packaged and prepared foods. The company also provides consulting services, meal planning, catering, and menu development.聽The Ontario resident, a culinary student who has also studied food science and human nutrition, hopes to get people excited about organic, healthy food. 鈥淚t's where healthy meets delicious, and getting away from the idea that healthy food has to taste institutionalized and boring,鈥� . Meko鈥檚 products are already featured at a nearby wellness clinic as well as a yoga studio, and she hopes to continue expanding her range of vendors.

Benedict Mundele, 20,聽founded聽, a food take-away and catering business, the idea for which she developed when she was in high school. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) resident started off by giving free breakfasts to members of the聽Kuvuna Foundation, an organization dedicated to sustainable development, leadership development, and support for entrepreneurs. Mundele, who is studying social communication at the聽Catholic University of Congo, said that although her country has plenty of fresh food, it is often exported, processed, and imported again where it is sold at higher prices. She wants to keep the DRC鈥檚 fresh food fresh and hopes to soon supply her foods to local supermarkets. Mundele is a World Economic Forum聽Global Shaper聽and will attend the World Economic Forum on Africa in Nigeria this year.

Ben Simon, 24, is executive director and a founding member of the聽聽(FRN), a network of college chapters whose mission is simple: direct surplus food from their campuses to hungry Americans instead of to landfills. The University of Maryland graduate started the program with several other students; now three years later, the organization boasts more than 95 chapters across 26 US states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. Since 2011, FRN has donated more than 400,000 pounds of food, and Simon was awarded $10,000 by the聽Do Something聽campaign in 2013. FRN聽hopes聽to be on 150 campuses and have donated 610,000 pounds of food by May 2015. 鈥淎n amazing amount of food gets thrown into a trash can,鈥� . 鈥淚t evokes a very innate response to jump to action.鈥�

Remmi Smith, 14, has launched an聽聽and a spin-off, published a cookbook, and had her products sold at Whole Foods鈥攁ll before starting high school. The Tulsa, Oklahoma 谤别蝉颈诲别苍迟听聽her passion for food and cooking was sparked by the childhood obesity epidemic, and she hopes to inspire other kids to experiment with nutritious, tasty foods. Smith is also Sodexo鈥檚 student health and nutrition ambassador, participant in the聽Future Chefs聽program, and has given cooking demonstrations in front of Congress and the National School Board Association.

鈥� at , a think tank focused on feeding the world better. Food Tank researches and highlights environmentally, socially, and economically聽sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty and creates networks of people, organizations, and content to push for food system change.