In this episode of the Food Tech Talk podcast, host Lydia Adams speaks with Eden Butvinik, a business owner, food scientist and photographer. Eden works for themself through Eden Butvinik Consulting, and in this conversation, they share how their work in the food industry works in tandem with their creative tendencies. Their grasp of the consumer-led trends moving through the industry with regards to flavor and product development gives us a thought-provoking insight into not only the food technology landscape today, but how it may shape up going forward.

Eden’s background in art and photography offers them a uniquely visual perspective into product development that they use to help their customers envision their product as it will look at the end of the product development process. They note that the rise of AI could impact the work of food scientists as food business owners look for AI-designed recipes for inspiration – how up to scratch these recipes will be in terms of handling and compliance is an area of concern for Eden. But they are clear about how they see the future of development going, with an ever-increasing move to inhibiting ingredients that are seen as unhealthy – sugar for example, which Eden almost assumes their customers will not want in their products at this point.

The conversation concludes with Eden's advice for individuals in the food industry, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the inherent instability that working for yourself creates. Listen to the full episode now for more sage advice from Eden.

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