With continued growth in the food and hospitality industries, there are still long-standing obstacles that women face, both in and out of kitchen and in business culture. Despite these roadblocks, many stay committed to using their platforms and businesses to sustain visibility and proactively create change.
In this conversation, chef and cookbook author Caroline Choe speaks with several women of NYC-area food businesses about their experiences and commitment to changing the status quo: Chitra Agrawal of Brooklyn Delhi, Lauren Tran of Bánh By Lauren, Irene Yoo of Orion Bar, and cookbook author and James Beard Foundation 2024 Impact winner, Abi Balingit.
Ticket includes admission to Flavor: The World to Your Brain from 6 to 7 PM.
CAROLINE CHOE is a chef, artist, teacher, and writer based in New York City, and is a proud daughter of Korean American immigrants. She is the creator of “The Exploratorians” illustration series, the founder of Create & Plate, a business devoted to helping create community through arts and food education, and the author of Banchan: 60 Korean American Recipes for Delicious, Shareable Sides. After a long career of classroom teaching, she truly believes that practicing the act of creating — whether through art, music, dance, writing, food, and much more, is what will connect people across all differences and timelines. Caroline and her work have been featured in Food & Wine, NPR, Food52, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, Eater, Cherry Bombe Magazine, Glamour, and NBC's Today Show.
photo by Kelsey Cherry
ABI BALINGIT is a baker and author based in Brooklyn. Her debut cookbook, Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed won the 2024 James Beard Emerging Voice Award in Books. When she’s not working full-time at a live music company, she is running a baking blog called The Dusky Kitchen.
CHITRA AGRAWAL is the founder and CEO of Brooklyn Delhi, a premium Indian food brand and the author of Vibrant India: Fresh Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Brooklyn. For the past 15 years, Chitra has specialized in Indian cuisine rooted in her family’s food traditions. She created Brooklyn Delhi in 2014 with the goal of expanding the conversation around Indian food in America to include the flavors she grew up loving. The brand quickly garnered a cult following at local New York markets and specialty stores across the country and now its award-winning condiments, sauces, and meals can now be found nationally at retailers such as Whole Foods, Wegmans, and Target. Chitra and Brooklyn Delhi have been featured in the New York Times, Saveur, Food & Wine, and more.
LAUREN TRAN is the founder of Bánh by Lauren, a Vietnamese-American and French bakery and cafe. This journey began in 2020 after being laid off from Gramercy Tavern because of the pandemic. She started baking and selling pastry boxes out of her apartment and eventually started doing pop-ups around NYC. In June 2024, Lauren and her husband, Garland Wong, opened a permanent location for Bánh by Lauren at 42 Market Street in New York City's Chinatown. They’re excited to showcase traditional Vietnamese desserts as well as introduce pastries/flavors that have been influenced by Lauren’s Vietnamese-American background.
IRENE YOO is a food writer, recipe developer, creator (Yooeating), YouTube co-host (KA KA Studio), and the chef and co-owner of Orion Bar in Brooklyn. Raised in Los Angeles and Seoul, she graduated from University of Pennsylvania and previously worked as a photo & video producer for Food Network. Her recipes and essays have appeared on the Food Network, Food52, and Food & Wine, and she has spoken about Korean culinary history at The Korea Society and The Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD). She has been featured in the New York Times, The Korea Times, and Bon Appétit. Irene's debut cookbook, Soju Party: How to Drink (and Eat!) Like a Korean will be published this fall via Knopf.