Becky Taylor's Story

I have always been passionate about food. From insisting on a from-scratch crust for my "Chemical Apple Pie" in high school chemistry to waking up ridiculously early to make vegan cinnamon rolls for a friend's birthday to creating a cupcake that tastes uncannily like a Hot Tamale. No challenge too farfetched, no recipe too daunting.

My kitchen adventures began as soon as I was deemed old enough to operate my parents’ oven, and have continued ever since. Throughout my childhood I learned to appreciate my mom's commitment to whole and natural foods, savored my grandmother's belief that you should enjoy what you eat, and studied my grandfather's willingness to experiment with flavor and composition.

As a young'un I followed my love of food to Cornell where I majored in Food Science, a perfect combination for the lab geek and nascent chef I was. I started to apply what I was learning in class to the desserts I was creating. That, of course, wasn't enough for the scientist in me, so I headed to Ohio State to a Sensory Science lab to research how people perceived flavor, what made foods so darn mouthwatering. Once I unearthed some tasty secrets I headed back to Cornell to get my Masters, this time focusing on Food Allergens, as opposed to traditional Research & Development.

Once I graduated, however, I decided to take a break from R & D and try my hand at a more practical application, helping to open the first Whole Foods in Hawaii. Though I served as Team Educator, I spent the majority of my time hands-on in the kitchen, learning the secrets of commercial baking. I soon realized that despite my love of food science, I much prefer the kitchen to the lab or, more precisely, I prefer to use the kitchen as my lab. And that's when The Beckery was born.