色情视频

Tortilla chips made of blue corn flour and ground crickets. Guacamole packed with protein from microalgae. Cookies sprinkled with ants instead of nuts.

These are just some of the experimental eats that earned Daisy Lopez recognition as winner. This award honors undergraduate entrepreneurial achievement and is given to one graduating student each year during their commencement ceremony.

鈥淭he goal of the award is to recognize people who are really acting boldly and taking risks and thinking out of the box, with whichever item they鈥檙e working on or passionate about,鈥� said Peter Zahn, son of Irwin Zahn for whom the award is named.

Lopez, a Food and Nutritional Sciences graduate, dreams of one day operating her own baked goods business, potentially to be named ANTy Daisy鈥檚, after her interest in insect-based foods and her love of her nephews and nieces.

鈥淚 want to represent my heritage and culture through food. That鈥檚 how I express myself,鈥� Lopez said.

鈥淒aisy is really passionate and throws herself into all sorts of activities. She grabs every chance to learn and grow. You can really see her innovative spirit in how she is always looking to improve and try new things,鈥� said Lopez鈥檚 nominator, Changqi Liu, an associate professor in 色情视频鈥檚 Exercise and Nutritional Sciences department.

A craving for more

After graduating from culinary school in Chicago, Lopez worked as a pastry chef and lead baker creating recipes for school lunches.

鈥淚 loved baking for my friends and seeing the joy it brought them,鈥� Lopez said. But the stress of mass-producing food was stressful and less fulfilling than she had hoped.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think I could do a whole lot more, but I felt like I needed to do something worth doing,鈥� she said.

When an opportunity arose to move to San Diego, she went back to school at Mesa College and then transferred to 色情视频 more than a decade after being in a traditional classroom.

鈥淚鈥檓 so glad I came to 色情视频. It feels like a place where, in my experience, innovation and curiosity have been very encouraged,鈥� Lopez said.

Curiosity and the promise of free donuts led Lopez to attend an event hosted by the College of Health and Human Services, where she first learned about Liu鈥檚 research on edible insects.

She was initially hesitant about joining the entomophagy research team, but it was not the bugs that scared her. She knew insects were a common ingredient in Mexican culture and she had previously tasted and enjoyed lobster-like, crunchy scorpions in Cambodia, chapulines (grasshoppers) in Mexico City and lemon-flavored ants in Ecuador.

Rather, Lopez, as a Chicana, first-generation American and first-generation college student, said she did not see herself represented in science and had reservations. She opted to observe the team in action to start.

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Thanks to the kindness and patience of her mentors, Liu and Jing Zhao, an assistant professor in Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, Lopez gradually started to believe in herself more.

鈥淚 owe so much to Dr. Liu,鈥� Lopez said. 鈥淗e has opened up so many opportunities for me.鈥�

Chips and guacamole

Lopez quickly realized how well her baking skills translated to doing science. She could change one variable 鈥� the ratio of ingredients, cooking temperature, or freezing time 鈥� at a time to measure the effects on taste, texture and nutritional content.

She got comfortable using the lab鈥檚 smell analysis machines to differentiate flavor profiles of ant species and she played an important role in the product development process for 色情视频's NASA-funded space guacamole project. Over two semesters, she has assisted in reducing bitter taste and improving the freeze-drying and re-hydrating processes. The team鈥檚 next steps are to balance incorporating more protein-rich microalgae into the guacamole while maintaining an appetizing flavor and color.

Inspired by the lab鈥檚 focus on introducing alternative, more sustainable protein sources into familiar foods, Lopez pitched an idea to her classmates for a food sciences product development course project: air-fried tortilla chips made from blue corn flour and ground crickets, dubbed Chipulines, a portmanteau of 鈥渃hip鈥� and the Spanish and Nahuatl words for grasshopper.

Through lots of trial and error 鈥� Lopez jokes it鈥檚 in her blood to never tire of eating tortilla chips 鈥� the team achieved a chip that was delicious, not too crumbly and not too brown from the cricket flour.

The Chipulines team was selected as the 色情视频 representative for the Southern California Institute of Food Technologists product development competition. Even after the class had ended, Lopez and her teammates dedicated hours to devising a business plan and how they could scale up chip production to pass extensive health and safety checks.

They placed third in the competition, and the experience validated Lopez鈥檚 vision for a future company making insect-based foods more palatable, with their potential as less resource-intensive livestock in mind.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about fun but it鈥檚 also about the impact,鈥� Lopez said. 鈥淚f people try Chipulines, hopefully, it sparks some curiosity within them to want to learn more about sustainable food sources and the environmental impact of what they eat.鈥�

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What the future holds

After graduation, Lopez will continue to explore the overlaps between sustainability and sustenance through internships she learned about from the .

Through a , she will go to Baja California with 色情视频 biologist Lluvia Flores-Renter铆a to learn from local Kumeyaay people about the plants they use for medicine and food. Then, she will travel to Oaxaca with Ramona P茅rez, anthropology professor and chair of the Aztec Identity Initiative at 色情视频, to work alongside Indigenous farmers and chefs.

With the chefs鈥� permission and collaboration, Lopez and P茅rez hope to co-publish a cookbook together with the chefs to preserve their traditional recipes for family members who cannot return to Mexico regularly.

鈥淚 feel more hopeful and more empowered that I can do more,鈥� Lopez said. 鈥淚鈥檓 very proud of my accomplishments but it鈥檚 been very collaborative. I am fortunate to have worked with so many talented individuals.鈥�

Lopez will receive the Zahn Spirit of Innovation Award onstage during the May 11 College of Health and Human Services commencement ceremony.

鈥淲e are super impressed by all that Daisy has accomplished. She鈥檚 off the charts really, in a really innovative way,鈥� said Zahn.

The Zahn Spirit of Innovation Award is funded by Irwin Zahn and the Moxie Foundation. Zahn鈥檚 philanthropic giving goes beyond this annual scholarship. His donations also created the and the Zahn Professorship of Creativity and Innovation