Fall 2011 - California State University, East Bay

Pureed and soft foods should still be
recognizably food, says Blossom Foods
Founder Sue Graziano Adams '90. Her
company brings fresh ingredients,
the right seasonings, and careful
preparation to specialty meals that have
earned a cult following.
swallow
easy to
business model
Sue Graziano Adams ’90 develops gourmet frozen meals
for people who have trouble eating solid food
features
BY Fred Sandsmark ’83
PHOTO Michael Winokur
As a speech-language pathologist working
in Bay Area hospitals a decade ago, Sue
Graziano Adams ’90 loved all the time she
spent with her patients — except mealtime.
“Sometimes I would put a patient on a puréed
diet because of swallowing problems,” she recalls.
“They’d get a tray with three balls of mush covered
with gravy. They’d say to me, ‘What is that?’ I’d look at
it and say, ‘Good question.’ I had no clue. It was all the
same color, and it looked terrible.” The unappetizing
food was hurting patients’ quality of life.
18 Cal State East Bay Magazine | FALL 2011 Cal State East Bay Magazine | FALL 2011 19