February 13, 2024 • 17 mins
Join us for an exclusive peek behind the curtain of one of the University of Georgia's most beloved events – the Flavor of Georgia food contest. In this episode, we sit down with Laurel Dunn, assistant professor and Extension coordinator in the Department of Food Science and Technology. From the initial product submission to the final judging round, Laurel explains the contest process to listeners, highlighting the categories available for contestants. Products submitted showcase the breadth of Georgia's culinary landscape, from savory snacks to delicious confections. From taste and texture to innovation and market potential, every aspect is scrutinized to ensure that only the finest products rise to the top. Listeners will learn about the rewards awaiting the winners, from invaluable exposure and networking opportunities to titles and recognition within Georgia's vibrant food industry. Whether you're a seasoned food entrepreneur or simply passionate about Georgia's gastronomic delights, this episode offers a glimpse into the heart of the Flavor of Georgia, illuminating the path to culinary success in the Peach State.
Resources
Flavor of Georgia's website
Other food science-related episodes:
- Episode with Manpreet Singh, food science and technology department head: Serving up the facts: Food science and safety
- Episode with Kevin Mis Solval: From jellyfish to pomegranates: Revolutionizing food processing in Georgia
- Episode with Carla Schwan: Healthy holidays: Food safety tips for gifts and gatherings
Produced by Jordan Powers and Emily Davenport
Edited by Jordan Powers
Music and sound effects by Mason McClintock, an Athens-based singer, songwriter and storyteller who creates innovative soul-pop music that transcends traditional genre boundaries. Hailing from small-town Southeast Georgia, Mason's influences range from the purest pop to the most powerful gospel. Mason is a former Georgia 4-H'er and University of Georgia graduate! Listen to his music on Spotify.
Almanac is an annual publication that provides a window into the work being done at CAES to make the world increasingly healthy, equitable and sustainable. We are pleased to announce that the 2024 edition is now available online. Explore stories of science in service of humanity and the environment.
Get social with us!
Follow CAES on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn and check out UGA Extension on on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest updates.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sound Effect (00:00):
[music]
Emily Davenport (00:01):
Welcome to Cultivating Curiosity, where we
get down and dirty with theexperts on all the ways science
and agriculture touch our lives,from what we eat to how we live.
I'm Emily Davenport.
Jordan Powers (00:12):
And I'm Jordan Powers. And we're from the
University of Georgia's Collegeof Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
Sound Effect (00:19):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (00:20):
We are here with Laurel Dunn, assistant professor
and Extension coordinator forthe CAES Department of Food
Science and Technology. Laurel,thank you so much for coming in
with us today.
Laurel Dunn (00:30):
Thanks for having me on.
Jordan Powers (00:31):
Before we get started on talking about Flavor
of Georgia, one of our college'ssignature events, can you tell
us a bit about your backgroundand how you first got started in
food science?
Laurel Dunn (00:40):
I actually got into food science kind of naturally.
My mom was a family consumerscience Extension agent and my
dad was a high school chemistryteacher. So the two kind of got
melded together, my mom withthat food safety background and
then my dad always explainingthe science behind everything.
So when I was exploring careersin college I went to the
University of Tennessee, I wasin the College of Agriculture,
(01:00):
but really had trouble findingwhat I wanted to do. So I kind
of stumbled upon Food Science,got my bachelor's degree in it,
got a little exposure to thefood industry, actually worked
for Bush Brothers, Bush's bakedbeans, for a little bit,
realized I really liked FoodScience and went back to UT to
get my master's degree and myPhD. Both of those were focused
in food safety. My PhD startedto focus a little bit more in
(01:21):
produce safety and I continuedthat, did a brief postdoc at
University of Florida, again inproduce, and then got hired on
here. So I've been with UGAsince 2018, really focused in
the area of fresh producesafety.
Jordan Powers (01:32):
That's incredible. I feel like a lot of
times people immediately defaultto salmonella and E. coli and
all of the things in meat anddairy. But I can say speaking as
a mainly plant-based person athome, the produce safety is just
as important and sometimes veryeasily forgotten. So it's really
exciting to hear about.
Emily Davenport (01:50):
It's really cool that you had a family
influence, too, to get you onthat path. I like that. Well, we
are excited to dig into moreabout Flavor of Georgia, which
is a food product contest that'smanaged by the Department of
Food Science and Technology, forestablished or market-ready
foods and beverages made in thestate. Can you tell us more
about the contest and thesignificance of it being within
(02:12):
the Department of Food Scienceand Technology?
Laurel Dunn (02:13):
If you're unfamiliar with food science,
it's different from nutrition.
It is really focused on how thefood industry makes food and how
we get it from the field topeople's homes to the grocery
store. It involves newtechnologies for processing
food, innovative strategies forimproving growing and
production, producing safe food.
So we have specialties withinfood science or disciplines that
(02:34):
involve food safety, which is myarea, but then things like food
chemistry. So how can youincrease shelf life of things?
How can you make things tastegood? How can you improve
texture of things, because youknow, if you get a carrot and
can it, after that process, it'snot the same as when you pull it
out of the ground. So how can weprocess things and still make
them taste good, that's reallythe focus of food science. And
so in food science Extension, itreally made sense to be involved
(02:57):
with the Flavor of Georgiaproduct competition, because so
much of what we do is helpingthese people who have recipes
that might be a family heirloomrecipe that they have made
forever in their kitchen, andthey want to take it to the
community, they want to take itto the world, they want everyone
to taste their grandfather'sbarbecue sauce. And so it's kind
of promoting that legacy for alot of our people. So there's a
lot of passion behind a lot ofthe recipes and a lot of the
(03:18):
communities that we work with.
So the product competition isreally helping those small- to
medium-sized, kind of beginningentrepreneurs. I say beginning.
We have folks who have been inthe food industry for
generations. A lot of our farmsthat have been around forever
still participate as they'redeveloping new products. We
really get a lot of excitementfrom a lot of our new
entrepreneurs or farmers as theydevelop something and it gives
them some exposure. So it givesthem, I guess, some visibility,
(03:41):
they're in this competition. Andif they win it, then they get
this marketing opportunity tokind of show, like, not only do
we have this product on ourshelf when you come into our
family store or see it at thegrocery store, but this was
award winning, and the judges atUGA approved this product and
thought it was quality. We'vereally tried to use it as an
opportunity to promote beginningbusiness and helping foster that
(04:01):
creativity and entrepreneurshipfor our food industry throughout
the state.
Jordan Powers (04:06):
Yeah, it's really amazing to watch the
participants get so excitedabout kind of that seal of
approval or stamp of approval ontheir products. It's a lot of
fun.
Emily Davenport (04:15):
You mentioned the transition of Flavor of
Georgia to the Department ofFood Science and Technology and
specifically UGA Extension. Canyou tell us more about that?
Laurel Dunn (04:23):
So the event hasn't always been with food science.
Our first year hosting it was in2022. We actually started
getting involved, though, summerof 2021 because it is a big
event to put on. So the summerof 2021 is when we started
getting involved with planning,getting all of the notes from
the previous department that hadhosted it and kind of getting
their cheat sheets. Fortunately,they were very organized and
(04:43):
provided a lot of support andassistance. And so I think the
powers that be decided that afood product competition really
belonged in the Department ofFood Science, and particularly
in the Extension unit of thatjust because our whole mission
is supporting the food industry,helping with product
development, helping with foodsafety. The really cool thing
about it is, the Extension staffinvolved in it are also the ones
(05:04):
who are answering the phone whensomeone calls us for a question
not related to Flavor ofGeorgia. It's kind of cool
because we're able to funnelpeople in when they call and
have a question and have aproduct that we're able to try
in the office and then say like,hey, we have this food
competition, why don't yousubmit it?
Emily Davenport (05:18):
Flavor of Georgia is highly competitive
and has lots of categories. Ithink a dozen categories if I'm
not mistaken. And you mentionedmultiple rounds of judging. So
can anybody submit a product?
Laurel Dunn (05:30):
There are some basic rules for entry, the main
thing being you need to be afood producer in the state of
Georgia. We do have people who,you know might have part of the
process happen out of state, andthat's perfectly fine. But it
needs to be you know, theorigins need to be a Georgia
food company. The other thingis, we have a food safety focus.
So you need to have a businesslicense, or a commercial food
license, or a cottage foodlicense in the state of Georgia
(05:53):
in order to submit a product.
Jordan Powers (05:54):
And we know that there are a lot of other
different rules and thingsinvolved in the process of
submitting a product. So we willbe sure to link that full list
in the show notes for companieswho may be interested in doing
so. What does the process looklike for contestants from the
time that they submit thatproduct early in the year to the
final judging, which typicallytakes place in the spring?
Laurel Dunn (06:14):
It could be about a five month process from when
someone starts. The way we'vebeen doing it lately is opening
up registration, usually towardsthe end of the year. That's the
opportunity for people tointeract with our office, get
clarification on how is myproduct categorized? How do I
submit a product? Soregistration goes on December
through January. During thattime, someone just gives us a
product description. We likecreative descriptions, but also
(06:37):
description on just what it is.
Creative names are great, but atthe end of the day, we need to
know what the product actuallyis. So after registration
closes, we meet virtually withall the attendees and give them
the next steps which usuallyinvolves submitting two of their
products. They submit them to apartner, Gourmet Foods in
Atlanta. They have about a threeto four day period where their
product arrives. And then westart with our judging week. So
that's the week that we'recollecting all the samples,
(06:59):
they're being mailed to us,they're being dropped off to
Gourmet Foods. Then towards theend of that week, we have a full
day where we do a photoshoot ofthe products. And so that's
probably our busiest day becausewe're just unwrapping products,
getting a photographer there,making sure everything looks
pretty, the way they want themarketing materials to look, and
spending a lot of time workingwith that photographer to make
sure everything looks good. Wewant to show off the products as
(07:19):
best we can. This second day iswhen the judging actually
happens. Gourmet Foods gives usa beautiful conference room
linked up to one of their prepkitchens. And they'll loan us
one of their chefs for the day.
And they work with communitychefs to come in and serve as
our judges. And so we will setout all the products and the
judges just go down the line andrate all of the products. There
(07:42):
are a lot of characteristicsthat they're looking for. So
it's not just do I like thisone? Do I not like this one? But
if it's a category, say forsauces, there will be, yes, that
quality. But then how creativeis the product? We're interested
in what makes this productunique for Georgia. Are they
using Georgia peaches to makethis product? Or is there
something that really driveshome that this is a Georgia
product. They go through each ofthe categories and give us our
(08:05):
scores, and usually by the endof the day, we have an idea of
who's going to be invited forthe final competition. We notify
the finalists and again meetwith them and spend some time
discussing what that finaljudging is going to look like.
So that everyone's reallyprepared for the day of. And the
day-of event is when the magichappens. We've recently, the
past few years, done it in theClassic Center in Athens. It's
(08:26):
really a full day event whereour finalists for each category
go through, they do almost likea Shark Tank sales pitch. They
have some time to prepare theirproduct, and then they have
three to five minutes in frontof our judges that we've
selected from the community. Andby the end of the day, we have
our category winners and afinalist for the overall
competition.
Jordan Powers (08:46):
It is definitely a jam packed day.
Emily Davenport (08:49):
Yeah.
Jordan Powers (08:49):
And I only come for part of that day. And it is
jam packed. You mentioned thatthe judges are community
members. How are the judgesselected? And what kinds of
backgrounds do they have?
Laurel Dunn (08:58):
Yeah, we actually have people fighting over those
judge spots because peoplereally like serving as judges
for the competition. We havefood entrepreneurs who've been
successful at the local ornational levels who get
involved. We have individualswho are involved in small
business development. That's areally critical piece,
especially for a lot of ournewer entrepreneurs. Because
there's that question of howmarketable is this product?
(09:20):
We've had local chefs involved,local farms involved. We have a
good cohort of community memberswho support our department and
just support the college and wereally try to pull those in that
have that business or that foodexpertise to be our judges for
the day of that final event.
Jordan Powers (09:34):
That's really exciting, turning it into an
event not only that the collegebenefits from, not only that
these food companies benefitfrom, but really a
community-focused event at theend of the day is something
really exciting to see comingtogether.
Emily Davenport (09:46):
All this talk about food's making me hungry.
Jordan Powers (09:48):
No kidding.
Emily Davenport (09:49):
Can you tell us more about some of the product
categories? What are peopleentering?
Laurel Dunn (09:54):
I will say, our biggest category tends to be the
confections category. So if youhave a sweet tooth, Flavor of
Georgia is where it's at.
Everyone (10:01):
[laughter]
Laurel Dunn (10:02):
I think going forward, we might start doing
some subcategories with that,too. So confections really
really run the show. We have acategory of sauces, of barbecue
sauces, yum, yum sauces, we seeall those get submitted. Meat
categories, dairy categories.
Actually two years ago, ouroverall winner was a chocolate
milk, which you think, thatsounds pretty basic. It was an
(10:24):
amazing chocolate milk.
Jordan Powers (10:26):
It was so good.
Laurel Dunn (10:26):
Oh my gosh.
Jordan Powers (10:27):
It was so good.
Laurel Dunn (10:30):
These products don't have to be the most
innovative. This was a localfarm that was using local milk
and made an amazing product.
Salsas, pickles, that tends tobe my favorite category to be
involved with. So we get a lotof pickled jalapenos, pickled
cucumbers. Salsas, we have asnacks category, um...
Jordan Powers (10:48):
And we can link to the full list in the show
notes.
Emily Davenport (10:50):
Yes, we will link all of that.
Jordan Powers (10:51):
This is not a pop quiz.
Laurel Dunn (10:53):
Oh man, I need my notes.
Jordan Powers (10:56):
We're not going to do that to you Laurel, we
promise we will absolutely linkto the full list of categories,
because there are quite a few.
Emily Davenport (11:01):
I don't even know all the categories.
Miscellaneous. Anything that'snot in one of those categories
just goes in there, right?
Laurel Dunn (11:06):
Yup.
Jordan Powers (11:07):
That's like "other duties as assigned."
Laurel Dunn (11:09):
Yes, exactly. For foods.
We talked a little bit aboutthis, but dive a little bit more
into some of the benefits ofparticipating in the contest for
Georgia food and beveragecompanies.
One really cool thing I founddriving down I-75 this past
summer was our overall finalisthad taken out a billboard, and
one of the things they hadadvertised was your Flavor of
(11:30):
Georgia winner so it's, themarketing is huge. If I wasn't
driving, I was going to try toget a picture that billboard.
Obviously the marketingopportunity. We also provide
some opportunities, a freeconsultation with FoodPIC. So
FoodPIC is our food productinnovation and commercialization
center. It is part of ourExtension team and Food Science,
but they're located on theGriffin campus. What that center
is really involved with is thatcommercialization of products.
(11:52):
So it gives these winners justdirect access to use FoodPIC.
And that involvescommercialization assistance,
there are pilot facilities,beautiful pilot facilities in
that facility. And so ifsomeone's been making this in
their kitchen, and then now theyhave an opportunity to try to
make it at the pilot scale andtry to increase their
production.
Jordan Powers (12:09):
When I feel like a bit of a broken record, but we
will link, there are so manybenefits, that we will
definitely link some of them inthe show notes. I know that the
finalists receive a personalizedpress release. I know this
because I make the template.
They get a personalized pressrelease that they can send out
to their local media announcingthem as a finalist in the
competition ahead of that finaljudging round. Like you
mentioned, the FoodPICcomponent, which is really
(12:30):
exciting. And we did an episodewith Kevin Mis Solval and he
touches on the commercializationof foods, so we can absolutely
link to that as well.
Laurel Dunn (12:39):
And the Department of Agriculture is a really big
sponsor for this program. And sowinners get a free year of the
Georgia Grown membership aswell.
Emily Davenport (12:47):
And they also get to use the logo on their
product.
Laurel Dunn (12:49):
I think that's the one that people get most excited
about.
Emily Davenport (12:51):
Yeah.
Laurel Dunn (12:52):
The participants.
Jordan Powers (12:53):
Absolutely.
Emily Davenport (12:53):
I get excited when I'm in the grocery store
and I'm like, hey! That's theFlavor of Georgia!
Jordan Powers (12:58):
That's us!
Emily Davenport (12:58):
This is so fun.
Can you tell us your favoritepart of the contest? That's
probably trying all thoseconfections.
Laurel Dunn (13:05):
I was gonna say, my real answer or, like, my selfish
answer?
Emily Davenport (13:08):
No, the real one.
Jordan Powers (13:10):
Like, but, your real selfish one.
The real selfish one, yes.
Laurel Dunn (13:13):
So that initial round of judging is almost like
Christmas, because we have allthese boxes that have arrived.
And we have about two hours toget set up before the
photographer gets there. And soit's a lot of fun. Everyone just
grabs their stack of boxes andis trying to get organized and
unpacking. And probably I guessthe next best part is that first
day of judging, because that'swhen tops are popped. And we are
(13:33):
sampling things after the chefsgo through and figuring out our
favorites at that time. So Ienjoy it too, because I see a
lot of food products in thegrocery store that are local
food products. But then whenthey get submitted, it's like
oh, I've seen that and I'vealways wanted to try it. So it's
kind of your day to stick afinger in a jar and try
something before the day of.
Jordan Powers (13:51):
With clean hands.
Everyone (13:52):
[laughter]
Laurel Dunn (13:52):
With clean hands.
Emily Davenport (13:52):
Uh-huh.
Laurel Dunn (13:54):
That was a joke, we use test spoons. Unless we fight
over something and pick ourfavorite jar. Definitely that
initial round of just theexcitement of seeing what's been
submitted and getting to trythings out after the chefs have
gone through and try to see toif we agree with the chef's when
they make their decisions.
Jordan Powers (14:09):
There you go.
Well, in that initial round ofjudging is a lot of products. I
mean, at the end of the day,we're looking at a dozen
category winners, one overallwinner, but that initial round
of judging is anywhere from100-plus products?
Laurel Dunn (14:22):
I think last year we had about 150 products.
Emily Davenport (14:25):
That's a lot.
Bring your appetite.
Jordan Powers (14:27):
Exactly. Well, and we know that the contest
goes beyond the companies thatare participating. Selfishly one
of my favorite parts of thecompetition is getting to come
to that final round of judgingwhere it opens up into being a
community event that's open tothe public. What can attendees
expect to experience at thatfinal event?
Laurel Dunn (14:45):
So the final event is a blast. The open to the
public event usually happenslater in the evening. All of the
attendees have spent their daysetting up, preparing their
products, talking to judges,talking to other contestants,
because it's a great opportunityas well to network with other
contestants who might haveproducts that you can use as
ingredients. Or you can docollaborations. And we have had
(15:06):
some very successful contestantsactually come in subsequent
years collaborating with otherpeople that they interacted
with. That time isn't open tothe public, but you know,
everyone's been working so hardpresenting their products, going
through, I guess the stress ofthe sales pitch, when they
actually get judged, then in theevening, that's kind of the
downtime to interact with thecommunity. We love seeing people
(15:26):
come in from the college, peoplecome in from the community, and
just go around and try products.
So it's the opportunity to tryevery one of the finalist
products. And this is a lot offun, we have a People's Choice
Award where during the time theevent's open, you go around, you
try every product, and then youvote for what your favorite
thing on the floor was. And soat the end of the day, someone
goes home with whatever theaward is that year, just on what
(15:47):
the community's favorite productwas. There's also that component
of it. So it's a really funevent. You get a chance to not
only try these products, butthen meet the faces behind
creating them. And thesecontestants love sharing their
stories and love sharing whythey're here, who was with them,
who isn't with them, but whoinspired their product. You
might have seen a product atPublix or the grocery store and
(16:08):
not had the opportunity to getthe story behind it. And so this
is really an opportunity to dothat.
Jordan Powers (16:14):
It really is such a blast. I know I never plan
dinner that night, because thereis just, there's so much food.
Emily Davenport (16:21):
Yes, so much food.
Jordan Powers (16:22):
And it's all so delicious.
Emily Davenport (16:24):
It is
Jordan Powers (16:24):
I mean, obviously, it's been judged
twice at that point. So you knowyou're getting quality products.
And we will absolutely includesome links in the show notes
about how the public can getinvolved in the event or in that
final event that rounds out theFlavor of Georgia competition.
Emily Davenport (16:36):
Well, thank you very much, Laurel, for joining
us today. We had a great timelearning about Flavor of
Georgia. It was a deliciousepisode.
Jordan Powers (16:44):
Look at you go, being so punny.
Laurel Dunn (16:46):
Thanks for the invite.
Sound Effect (16:47):
[music]
Emily Davenport (16:48):
Thanks for listening to Cultivating
Curiosity, a podcast produced bythe UGA College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Aspecial thanks to Mason
McClintock for our music andsound effects. Find more
episodes wherever you get yourpodcasts.
[music]
Emily Davenport (00:01):
Welcome to Cultivating Curiosity, where we
get down and dirty with theexperts on all the ways science
and agriculture touch our lives,from what we eat to how we live.
I'm Emily Davenport.
Jordan Powers (00:12):
And I'm Jordan Powers. And we're from the
University of Georgia's Collegeof Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
Sound Effect (00:19):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (00:20):
We are here with Laurel Dunn, assistant professor
and Extension coordinator forthe CAES Department of Food
Science and Technology. Laurel,thank you so much for coming in
with us today.
Laurel Dunn (00:30):
Thanks for having me on.
Jordan Powers (00:31):
Before we get started on talking about Flavor
of Georgia, one of our college'ssignature events, can you tell
us a bit about your backgroundand how you first got started in
food science?
Laurel Dunn (00:40):
I actually got into food science kind of naturally.
My mom was a family consumerscience Extension agent and my
dad was a high school chemistryteacher. So the two kind of got
melded together, my mom withthat food safety background and
then my dad always explainingthe science behind everything.
So when I was exploring careersin college I went to the
University of Tennessee, I wasin the College of Agriculture,
(01:00):
but really had trouble findingwhat I wanted to do. So I kind
of stumbled upon Food Science,got my bachelor's degree in it,
got a little exposure to thefood industry, actually worked
for Bush Brothers, Bush's bakedbeans, for a little bit,
realized I really liked FoodScience and went back to UT to
get my master's degree and myPhD. Both of those were focused
in food safety. My PhD startedto focus a little bit more in
(01:21):
produce safety and I continuedthat, did a brief postdoc at
University of Florida, again inproduce, and then got hired on
here. So I've been with UGAsince 2018, really focused in
the area of fresh producesafety.
Jordan Powers (01:32):
That's incredible. I feel like a lot of
times people immediately defaultto salmonella and E. coli and
all of the things in meat anddairy. But I can say speaking as
a mainly plant-based person athome, the produce safety is just
as important and sometimes veryeasily forgotten. So it's really
exciting to hear about.
Emily Davenport (01:50):
It's really cool that you had a family
influence, too, to get you onthat path. I like that. Well, we
are excited to dig into moreabout Flavor of Georgia, which
is a food product contest that'smanaged by the Department of
Food Science and Technology, forestablished or market-ready
foods and beverages made in thestate. Can you tell us more
about the contest and thesignificance of it being within
(02:12):
the Department of Food Scienceand Technology?
Laurel Dunn (02:13):
If you're unfamiliar with food science,
it's different from nutrition.
It is really focused on how thefood industry makes food and how
we get it from the field topeople's homes to the grocery
store. It involves newtechnologies for processing
food, innovative strategies forimproving growing and
production, producing safe food.
So we have specialties withinfood science or disciplines that
(02:34):
involve food safety, which is myarea, but then things like food
chemistry. So how can youincrease shelf life of things?
How can you make things tastegood? How can you improve
texture of things, because youknow, if you get a carrot and
can it, after that process, it'snot the same as when you pull it
out of the ground. So how can weprocess things and still make
them taste good, that's reallythe focus of food science. And
so in food science Extension, itreally made sense to be involved
(02:57):
with the Flavor of Georgiaproduct competition, because so
much of what we do is helpingthese people who have recipes
that might be a family heirloomrecipe that they have made
forever in their kitchen, andthey want to take it to the
community, they want to take itto the world, they want everyone
to taste their grandfather'sbarbecue sauce. And so it's kind
of promoting that legacy for alot of our people. So there's a
lot of passion behind a lot ofthe recipes and a lot of the
(03:18):
communities that we work with.
So the product competition isreally helping those small- to
medium-sized, kind of beginningentrepreneurs. I say beginning.
We have folks who have been inthe food industry for
generations. A lot of our farmsthat have been around forever
still participate as they'redeveloping new products. We
really get a lot of excitementfrom a lot of our new
entrepreneurs or farmers as theydevelop something and it gives
them some exposure. So it givesthem, I guess, some visibility,
(03:41):
they're in this competition. Andif they win it, then they get
this marketing opportunity tokind of show, like, not only do
we have this product on ourshelf when you come into our
family store or see it at thegrocery store, but this was
award winning, and the judges atUGA approved this product and
thought it was quality. We'vereally tried to use it as an
opportunity to promote beginningbusiness and helping foster that
(04:01):
creativity and entrepreneurshipfor our food industry throughout
the state.
Jordan Powers (04:06):
Yeah, it's really amazing to watch the
participants get so excitedabout kind of that seal of
approval or stamp of approval ontheir products. It's a lot of
fun.
Emily Davenport (04:15):
You mentioned the transition of Flavor of
Georgia to the Department ofFood Science and Technology and
specifically UGA Extension. Canyou tell us more about that?
Laurel Dunn (04:23):
So the event hasn't always been with food science.
Our first year hosting it was in2022. We actually started
getting involved, though, summerof 2021 because it is a big
event to put on. So the summerof 2021 is when we started
getting involved with planning,getting all of the notes from
the previous department that hadhosted it and kind of getting
their cheat sheets. Fortunately,they were very organized and
(04:43):
provided a lot of support andassistance. And so I think the
powers that be decided that afood product competition really
belonged in the Department ofFood Science, and particularly
in the Extension unit of thatjust because our whole mission
is supporting the food industry,helping with product
development, helping with foodsafety. The really cool thing
about it is, the Extension staffinvolved in it are also the ones
(05:04):
who are answering the phone whensomeone calls us for a question
not related to Flavor ofGeorgia. It's kind of cool
because we're able to funnelpeople in when they call and
have a question and have aproduct that we're able to try
in the office and then say like,hey, we have this food
competition, why don't yousubmit it?
Emily Davenport (05:18):
Flavor of Georgia is highly competitive
and has lots of categories. Ithink a dozen categories if I'm
not mistaken. And you mentionedmultiple rounds of judging. So
can anybody submit a product?
Laurel Dunn (05:30):
There are some basic rules for entry, the main
thing being you need to be afood producer in the state of
Georgia. We do have people who,you know might have part of the
process happen out of state, andthat's perfectly fine. But it
needs to be you know, theorigins need to be a Georgia
food company. The other thingis, we have a food safety focus.
So you need to have a businesslicense, or a commercial food
license, or a cottage foodlicense in the state of Georgia
(05:53):
in order to submit a product.
Jordan Powers (05:54):
And we know that there are a lot of other
different rules and thingsinvolved in the process of
submitting a product. So we willbe sure to link that full list
in the show notes for companieswho may be interested in doing
so. What does the process looklike for contestants from the
time that they submit thatproduct early in the year to the
final judging, which typicallytakes place in the spring?
Laurel Dunn (06:14):
It could be about a five month process from when
someone starts. The way we'vebeen doing it lately is opening
up registration, usually towardsthe end of the year. That's the
opportunity for people tointeract with our office, get
clarification on how is myproduct categorized? How do I
submit a product? Soregistration goes on December
through January. During thattime, someone just gives us a
product description. We likecreative descriptions, but also
(06:37):
description on just what it is.
Creative names are great, but atthe end of the day, we need to
know what the product actuallyis. So after registration
closes, we meet virtually withall the attendees and give them
the next steps which usuallyinvolves submitting two of their
products. They submit them to apartner, Gourmet Foods in
Atlanta. They have about a threeto four day period where their
product arrives. And then westart with our judging week. So
that's the week that we'recollecting all the samples,
(06:59):
they're being mailed to us,they're being dropped off to
Gourmet Foods. Then towards theend of that week, we have a full
day where we do a photoshoot ofthe products. And so that's
probably our busiest day becausewe're just unwrapping products,
getting a photographer there,making sure everything looks
pretty, the way they want themarketing materials to look, and
spending a lot of time workingwith that photographer to make
sure everything looks good. Wewant to show off the products as
(07:19):
best we can. This second day iswhen the judging actually
happens. Gourmet Foods gives usa beautiful conference room
linked up to one of their prepkitchens. And they'll loan us
one of their chefs for the day.
And they work with communitychefs to come in and serve as
our judges. And so we will setout all the products and the
judges just go down the line andrate all of the products. There
(07:42):
are a lot of characteristicsthat they're looking for. So
it's not just do I like thisone? Do I not like this one? But
if it's a category, say forsauces, there will be, yes, that
quality. But then how creativeis the product? We're interested
in what makes this productunique for Georgia. Are they
using Georgia peaches to makethis product? Or is there
something that really driveshome that this is a Georgia
product. They go through each ofthe categories and give us our
(08:05):
scores, and usually by the endof the day, we have an idea of
who's going to be invited forthe final competition. We notify
the finalists and again meetwith them and spend some time
discussing what that finaljudging is going to look like.
So that everyone's reallyprepared for the day of. And the
day-of event is when the magichappens. We've recently, the
past few years, done it in theClassic Center in Athens. It's
(08:26):
really a full day event whereour finalists for each category
go through, they do almost likea Shark Tank sales pitch. They
have some time to prepare theirproduct, and then they have
three to five minutes in frontof our judges that we've
selected from the community. Andby the end of the day, we have
our category winners and afinalist for the overall
competition.
Jordan Powers (08:46):
It is definitely a jam packed day.
Emily Davenport (08:49):
Yeah.
Jordan Powers (08:49):
And I only come for part of that day. And it is
jam packed. You mentioned thatthe judges are community
members. How are the judgesselected? And what kinds of
backgrounds do they have?
Laurel Dunn (08:58):
Yeah, we actually have people fighting over those
judge spots because peoplereally like serving as judges
for the competition. We havefood entrepreneurs who've been
successful at the local ornational levels who get
involved. We have individualswho are involved in small
business development. That's areally critical piece,
especially for a lot of ournewer entrepreneurs. Because
there's that question of howmarketable is this product?
(09:20):
We've had local chefs involved,local farms involved. We have a
good cohort of community memberswho support our department and
just support the college and wereally try to pull those in that
have that business or that foodexpertise to be our judges for
the day of that final event.
Jordan Powers (09:34):
That's really exciting, turning it into an
event not only that the collegebenefits from, not only that
these food companies benefitfrom, but really a
community-focused event at theend of the day is something
really exciting to see comingtogether.
Emily Davenport (09:46):
All this talk about food's making me hungry.
Jordan Powers (09:48):
No kidding.
Emily Davenport (09:49):
Can you tell us more about some of the product
categories? What are peopleentering?
Laurel Dunn (09:54):
I will say, our biggest category tends to be the
confections category. So if youhave a sweet tooth, Flavor of
Georgia is where it's at.
Everyone (10:01):
[laughter]
Laurel Dunn (10:02):
I think going forward, we might start doing
some subcategories with that,too. So confections really
really run the show. We have acategory of sauces, of barbecue
sauces, yum, yum sauces, we seeall those get submitted. Meat
categories, dairy categories.
Actually two years ago, ouroverall winner was a chocolate
milk, which you think, thatsounds pretty basic. It was an
(10:24):
amazing chocolate milk.
Jordan Powers (10:26):
It was so good.
Laurel Dunn (10:26):
Oh my gosh.
Jordan Powers (10:27):
It was so good.
Laurel Dunn (10:30):
These products don't have to be the most
innovative. This was a localfarm that was using local milk
and made an amazing product.
Salsas, pickles, that tends tobe my favorite category to be
involved with. So we get a lotof pickled jalapenos, pickled
cucumbers. Salsas, we have asnacks category, um...
Jordan Powers (10:48):
And we can link to the full list in the show
notes.
Emily Davenport (10:50):
Yes, we will link all of that.
Jordan Powers (10:51):
This is not a pop quiz.
Laurel Dunn (10:53):
Oh man, I need my notes.
Jordan Powers (10:56):
We're not going to do that to you Laurel, we
promise we will absolutely linkto the full list of categories,
because there are quite a few.
Emily Davenport (11:01):
I don't even know all the categories.
Miscellaneous. Anything that'snot in one of those categories
just goes in there, right?
Laurel Dunn (11:06):
Yup.
Jordan Powers (11:07):
That's like "other duties as assigned."
Laurel Dunn (11:09):
Yes, exactly. For foods.
We talked a little bit aboutthis, but dive a little bit more
into some of the benefits ofparticipating in the contest for
Georgia food and beveragecompanies.
One really cool thing I founddriving down I-75 this past
summer was our overall finalisthad taken out a billboard, and
one of the things they hadadvertised was your Flavor of
(11:30):
Georgia winner so it's, themarketing is huge. If I wasn't
driving, I was going to try toget a picture that billboard.
Obviously the marketingopportunity. We also provide
some opportunities, a freeconsultation with FoodPIC. So
FoodPIC is our food productinnovation and commercialization
center. It is part of ourExtension team and Food Science,
but they're located on theGriffin campus. What that center
is really involved with is thatcommercialization of products.
(11:52):
So it gives these winners justdirect access to use FoodPIC.
And that involvescommercialization assistance,
there are pilot facilities,beautiful pilot facilities in
that facility. And so ifsomeone's been making this in
their kitchen, and then now theyhave an opportunity to try to
make it at the pilot scale andtry to increase their
production.
Jordan Powers (12:09):
When I feel like a bit of a broken record, but we
will link, there are so manybenefits, that we will
definitely link some of them inthe show notes. I know that the
finalists receive a personalizedpress release. I know this
because I make the template.
They get a personalized pressrelease that they can send out
to their local media announcingthem as a finalist in the
competition ahead of that finaljudging round. Like you
mentioned, the FoodPICcomponent, which is really
(12:30):
exciting. And we did an episodewith Kevin Mis Solval and he
touches on the commercializationof foods, so we can absolutely
link to that as well.
Laurel Dunn (12:39):
And the Department of Agriculture is a really big
sponsor for this program. And sowinners get a free year of the
Georgia Grown membership aswell.
Emily Davenport (12:47):
And they also get to use the logo on their
product.
Laurel Dunn (12:49):
I think that's the one that people get most excited
about.
Emily Davenport (12:51):
Yeah.
Laurel Dunn (12:52):
The participants.
Jordan Powers (12:53):
Absolutely.
Emily Davenport (12:53):
I get excited when I'm in the grocery store
and I'm like, hey! That's theFlavor of Georgia!
Jordan Powers (12:58):
That's us!
Emily Davenport (12:58):
This is so fun.
Can you tell us your favoritepart of the contest? That's
probably trying all thoseconfections.
Laurel Dunn (13:05):
I was gonna say, my real answer or, like, my selfish
answer?
Emily Davenport (13:08):
No, the real one.
Jordan Powers (13:10):
Like, but, your real selfish one.
The real selfish one, yes.
Laurel Dunn (13:13):
So that initial round of judging is almost like
Christmas, because we have allthese boxes that have arrived.
And we have about two hours toget set up before the
photographer gets there. And soit's a lot of fun. Everyone just
grabs their stack of boxes andis trying to get organized and
unpacking. And probably I guessthe next best part is that first
day of judging, because that'swhen tops are popped. And we are
(13:33):
sampling things after the chefsgo through and figuring out our
favorites at that time. So Ienjoy it too, because I see a
lot of food products in thegrocery store that are local
food products. But then whenthey get submitted, it's like
oh, I've seen that and I'vealways wanted to try it. So it's
kind of your day to stick afinger in a jar and try
something before the day of.
Jordan Powers (13:51):
With clean hands.
Everyone (13:52):
[laughter]
Laurel Dunn (13:52):
With clean hands.
Emily Davenport (13:52):
Uh-huh.
Laurel Dunn (13:54):
That was a joke, we use test spoons. Unless we fight
over something and pick ourfavorite jar. Definitely that
initial round of just theexcitement of seeing what's been
submitted and getting to trythings out after the chefs have
gone through and try to see toif we agree with the chef's when
they make their decisions.
Jordan Powers (14:09):
There you go.
Well, in that initial round ofjudging is a lot of products. I
mean, at the end of the day,we're looking at a dozen
category winners, one overallwinner, but that initial round
of judging is anywhere from100-plus products?
Laurel Dunn (14:22):
I think last year we had about 150 products.
Emily Davenport (14:25):
That's a lot.
Bring your appetite.
Jordan Powers (14:27):
Exactly. Well, and we know that the contest
goes beyond the companies thatare participating. Selfishly one
of my favorite parts of thecompetition is getting to come
to that final round of judgingwhere it opens up into being a
community event that's open tothe public. What can attendees
expect to experience at thatfinal event?
Laurel Dunn (14:45):
So the final event is a blast. The open to the
public event usually happenslater in the evening. All of the
attendees have spent their daysetting up, preparing their
products, talking to judges,talking to other contestants,
because it's a great opportunityas well to network with other
contestants who might haveproducts that you can use as
ingredients. Or you can docollaborations. And we have had
(15:06):
some very successful contestantsactually come in subsequent
years collaborating with otherpeople that they interacted
with. That time isn't open tothe public, but you know,
everyone's been working so hardpresenting their products, going
through, I guess the stress ofthe sales pitch, when they
actually get judged, then in theevening, that's kind of the
downtime to interact with thecommunity. We love seeing people
(15:26):
come in from the college, peoplecome in from the community, and
just go around and try products.
So it's the opportunity to tryevery one of the finalist
products. And this is a lot offun, we have a People's Choice
Award where during the time theevent's open, you go around, you
try every product, and then youvote for what your favorite
thing on the floor was. And soat the end of the day, someone
goes home with whatever theaward is that year, just on what
(15:47):
the community's favorite productwas. There's also that component
of it. So it's a really funevent. You get a chance to not
only try these products, butthen meet the faces behind
creating them. And thesecontestants love sharing their
stories and love sharing whythey're here, who was with them,
who isn't with them, but whoinspired their product. You
might have seen a product atPublix or the grocery store and
(16:08):
not had the opportunity to getthe story behind it. And so this
is really an opportunity to dothat.
Jordan Powers (16:14):
It really is such a blast. I know I never plan
dinner that night, because thereis just, there's so much food.
Emily Davenport (16:21):
Yes, so much food.
Jordan Powers (16:22):
And it's all so delicious.
Emily Davenport (16:24):
It is
Jordan Powers (16:24):
I mean, obviously, it's been judged
twice at that point. So you knowyou're getting quality products.
And we will absolutely includesome links in the show notes
about how the public can getinvolved in the event or in that
final event that rounds out theFlavor of Georgia competition.
Emily Davenport (16:36):
Well, thank you very much, Laurel, for joining
us today. We had a great timelearning about Flavor of
Georgia. It was a deliciousepisode.
Jordan Powers (16:44):
Look at you go, being so punny.
Laurel Dunn (16:46):
Thanks for the invite.
Sound Effect (16:47):
[music]
Emily Davenport (16:48):
Thanks for listening to Cultivating
Curiosity, a podcast produced bythe UGA College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Aspecial thanks to Mason
McClintock for our music andsound effects. Find more
episodes wherever you get yourpodcasts.
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