You started your career as a cook before delving deep into the roots of nourishment and one of the essential components of most foods: fermentation. Were these realms always your vision?

I wouldn’t say so. I feel like as a child I was always deeply curious, and always had a penchant for the sciences. The problem was that I was also fairly allergic to schoolwork, which is kind of paradoxical, but then again, academia isn’t always the best place to foster one’s curiosity, even if it is a great place to demonstrate how obedient you can be while simultaneously memorizing facts by rote. It wasn’t until I got into kitchens, as I needed to go the practical route post high school, that learning engaged different parts of my brain and body. But cooking, even while you have to constantly think about what you’re doing, isn’t necessarily intellectual work. And that lack for me after years on the line, forced me to fill my curious hunger for knowledge in other ways.

Silhouette focuses on the concept of lightness in eyewear design. To what extent does lightness play a role in your culinary creations, and how do you incorporate this concept into your work?

In cooking, lightness is key. It’s a way to bring dynamism and dimensionality to the food you cook. If you paint everything black with a heavy-handed palette, you lose all chance for contrast. It takes a deft hand to demonstrate restraint, and not overwhelm your diner with a bludgeon of what you think they should taste. It’s in the zones of liminal tension that complexity can shine, engaging your audience and captivating them, and that rarely happens through the use of weighty overtones.

How does sustainability factor into your approach to fermentation, and are there specific aspects where it holds particular relevance?

I’d say in food science all the work I do factors sustainability into the picture. Whether that’s crafting great recipes for plant-based salamis, or dairy-free yogurts or breakfast foods, fermentation plays, has played, and will continue to play a huge role in the continued success of our species. I’d say one of the most promising prospects for a sustainable future lies in precision fermentation, whereby custom-built microbes can at a molecular level, through fermentation, produce everything from animal protein to fertilizer. Microbes were the first beings to colonize the earth, and they’ll be here long after we’re gone. It’d be wise to harness their power and learn something from them as we begin to wake up to the impacts of having wandered down a path without them for so long.

Can you describe what you see that others can’t see?

Rhythms. The rhythms of the natural world, simultaneously large and small. The ebb and flow of nutrients, the competition and cooperation between species for space and resources, the cycles, patterns, and rhythms all jump out at you in slow motion over protracted lengths of time.

An innovation that is needed for the future?

The idea of ‘enough.’