My advice; understand the foundations of cuisines and then take it from there. Whether a savory dish inspires a pastry or a cocktail inspires a desse… - Elizabeth Falkner

I would say that many women (and men) in the restaurant industry are, in fact standing up and have always run safe and professional kitchens and dining rooms. Let’s pay attention to those chefs and restaurants who have been doing so. This is an evolution into a new time of awareness and acceptance. Finally, women are getting closer to playing on the same playing field with the same rules if not changing the rules and the field altogether. When we clean up and move into a better workplace and support system for all, we will all more fairly get equity we deserve. (about sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse in the food and restaurant industry)

As a pastry chef, I never wanted to make super sweet dishes because that was not a driver for me. I like to look at classic themes and ask, “what else can we do with it?” We can’t just make and sell regular brownies. For example, instead of lemon cake, let’s make it with passionfruit. Often, it’s really about surprises in the familiar. My goal is to amplify certain tones while making others subtler, like sound design but in food. I enjoy remodeling aspects in pastries to create a new architecture for flavors, which also helps me in savory cooking. I also try to integrate a lot of spices and herbs into what I’m making and will look to different cultures, languages and people to understand the foundations of certain cuisines and dishes to re-interpret without being offensive. (her techniques of flavor pairings as a pastry chef and her process of incorporating unexpected ingredients)

I love cooking and learning more every day in cooking. I look at food as I would languages or art and my vocabulary and palate keep expanding. I continue to do pastry and have been doing savory all along and it's a beautiful marriage. (discussing her interest in both pastry and savory cooking)