Bryan Quoc Le, Ph.D.

walk 2,000 miles from California to Louisiana back in 2012. During that period of my life, I spent every waking day eating the same food over and over again just to hit my daily +4,000-calorie needs - whether that was oatmeal, peanut butter, canned, trail mix, whatever I could get my hands on that was dense, portable, and long-lasting.

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And with so many hours on the road, eating the same meals over and over again, I kept pondering the same question:

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"What makes food taste good?"

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After six months on the road, I came back to enroll in a dual PhD (Chemistry)/MS (Medicine) program at Stanford University. But I eventually realized I'd come back with a different vision for my future. From hitting rock bottom, feeling lost attending graduate courses in biochemistry and anatomy, I realized I was no longer passionate about designing medicines and promptly withdrew from the two programs.

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I spent a few years dabbling in churning out banana ice cream, teaching high school chemistry, and conducting research at Caltech. But I kept thinking back to the original question. Again, what makes food taste good?

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I had to satisfy my curiosity. I eventually found a research journal on flavor chemistry that led me to discover food science as a field of study. I realized this was it - this was what I was meant to do. I quickly applied and enrolled in a PhD program in food science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where I studied the biological effects of savory flavors. And on the side, I just kept reading deeper and deeper into the fascinating science of taste and flavor. And I started writing all about the world of taste and flavor to share my newfound knowledge.

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I knew I was onto something when, in my last of graduate study, I was contacted out of the blue by a publisher to write a book on food science. I ended up publishing 150 Food Science Questions Answered a few weeks before I submitted my dissertation. That's when things really took off.

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With my doctorate in one hand and my book in the other, I began pitching my food science consulting services to venture-backed startups and companies in the food industry. I've since had the pleasure of working with some incredible organizations in the food space, including The Good Food Institute, Blue Diamond Growers, TurtleTree, Black Sheep Foods, and many others. I even got the chance to fly down to Mexico and work with an Emmy award-winning actress alongside her team on a beverage brand.

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Here are some of my biggest wins yet in the last five years:

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• Producing The Food Matrix, a documentary on the philosophy and science behind flavors, with Emmy-award documentarian Christopher Brannan and his wife, Emmy-award winning multimedia artist Diana Reichenbach.

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• Helped produce and provided a brief expert voiceover for an episode of Dutch food television show "Keuringdienst van waarde" (Vissaus, S23.E18).

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• Published a 75-page white paper report on producing alternative proteins from agricultural sidestreams in partnership with The Good Food Institute.

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• Published three patents (WO2024062275A1, CA3142690C, US20230138662A1) for inventions in the fields of food and agriculture.​​​​

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• Developing an undergraduate course on designing food systems with alternative proteins at Unity Environmental University.​

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I currently live with my wife and two dogs on the beautiful, rugged coast of Northern California in the village of Mendocino. And I'm still plugging away trying to answer that one question:

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"What makes food taste good?"

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(Psst, here's my CV.)

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Thank you for taking the time to read through my About page. I'm grateful for the chance to make a lasting contribution to your food business. Look through my offerings and reach out to see how I can help.

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I'd be honored to work with you to bring your food vision to life.