April Issue-min

Chef CHEVEN interviews Chef Joseph Yoon, Owner
and Founder of Brooklyn Bugs
What defines Brooklyn Bugs, and what is your motivation
and inspiration?
I am an Edible Insect Ambassador, Chef, and
Warrior—we work closely with universities, museums, Chefs,
and thought leaders to raise awareness and appreciation for edible
insects. Our work helps to explain why the UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) endorses them to address food security
and sustainability. The fact that we can disrupt the system to
address such important matters, and help to provide innovative
solutions to how we can sustainably reimagine what the future of
food can look like is of great inspiration and motivation to me.
How did you source/find your vendors?
I’ve been very fortunate to work with a close group of
vendors who have been extremely supportive of my mission from
day one. There have been events where I’ve fed thousands of
people at Purdue University, Montana State University, or the
American Museum of Natural History where we shared upwards
of a dozen unique samples to thousands of people throughout the
day. Through all this, my vendors have graciously donated their
products for our programming. We luckily found one another
through the web or “buzz” we generated
What’s the business model?
People tend to think of edible insects in terms of extremes
because they think of insects viscerally as a pest or an undesirable
that causes disease or ruins their garden. Our work focuses on
outreach and education to redefine and reimagine that *edible*
insects are sustainably farmed or harvested specifically for human
consumption, are nutrient dense, and most importantly, can be
prepared deliciously. We also offer business to business consulting
and R&D, and are looking to find partners to expand our operations
to include consumer packaged products in the near future.
How have you succeeded, and how has it “maninsectated”
(manifested)?
It’s been incredibly rewarding to receive numerous grants
to tour across the nation, be invited to share my work internationally
(sadly postponed due to covid), work with renowned artists
and scientists, and see our work validated with a tremendous
amount of global press (thank you guys)! As a chef, I never
thought I’d have an impact on global initiatives, and it has been
incredibly rewarding and humbling at the same time.