Women in Food: 10 Questions with Meryl from Six Food (Cricket Powder!)

You know what really makes my day? Witty people. And although this is probably vastly inaccurate, according to life as depicted by the BBC everyone on the other side of the pond is freaking ON THEIR GAME in the thought and verbalization department. Not so much here. Especially when you start watching some political debates... But then sometimes I get to read something where I am like "I really, really want to drink cocktails with this person" because I think we would keep each other highly entertained. And Meryl is one of those people. For evidence please see her responses related to a condiment called mustard and the thing that changed her life this year. 

In a sentence: Meryl works with bugs.  Meryl is a co-founder of Six Foods and way back she realized that Americans weren't using what many other cultures were: crickets. As food. And that's where Chrips Chips came in. 

I also recommend reading this great NYT article where Meryl and her cofounders are interviewed! 

Meryl Natow of Chirps Chips // Instagram: @chirpships // Facebook

Tell us about yourself and your business.

I founded Six Foods with two Harvard classmates (and friends) of mine, Rose Wang and Laura D'Asaro, the summer after we graduated.  The idea of eating bugs had been in each of our orbits for a while but it wasn't until that summer (2013) when the UN produced a report promoting the eating of insects as an alternative protein source that we ever thought to go into the bug business.  Now we produce Chirps Chips, tortilla chips made with cricket flour which are high in protein, high in flavor, and low in environmental impact.

If you could define your food philosophy in one sentence it would be….

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

What are your 3 must have foods in your kitchen?

Aside from Chirps (duh): Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds, honey goat cheese from Trader Joe's, and some sort of baked good, usually chocolate chip cookies!

It’s your birthday. What are you eating?

Homemade carrot cake.  Like this one, which I made for a friend. 

Signature cocktail?

Truthfully, I almost always order "something fruity with alcohol." Or a whiskey ginger.  I need to come up with a better answer to this for future asks, because, well, that's just a sad answer.

Food you can’t like no matter how hard you try?

Mustard. My parents have threatened to disown me if I don't start liking mustard, but I feel confident that that is an empty threat.

What are your go-to resources for all things food (websites/magazines/groceries etc)?

My grandmother was a nutritionist and author, so I often rely on her old recipes that have been passed down through friends of hers since she never wrote anything down (ironic for an author).  I also like Epicurious.  And I keep a few of my own recipes/renditions up on my blog! 

Food fad you wish would die a horrible death?

The Gluten Free Diet.  Either you're gluten intolerant/allergic or you're not.  Stop being on a GF diet but only sometimes and making life harder for those unfortunate souls who truly cannot eat gluten. 

Must have kitchen tool:

Cuisinart food processor.  And really, really good knives. 

What’s the one thing you learned this year that changed the way you think about food?

The Girl Scouts have a cookie finder app.