Neha Suresh, a high school senior from the Bay Area in California, is the creator of initiative ‘Tea Sesh with Suresh’, where she posts plant-based recipes inspired by her Indian heritage with the goal of promoting sustainable meals and reducing food waste.
Suresh has been in a variety of baking and business clubs, like FBLA and DECA, and has also had various internship and volunteer experiences within the food and business industry. Currently, she is in the process of creating her own healthy meal plan kits for people facing varying levels of food insecurity by partnering with food banks.
Girls for Business interviewed Neha and learned about her stance on the food industry, as well as her experiences in both the food and business industry.
Q: Why did you start your blog, Tea Sesh with Suresh?
Suresh started her blog at the height of the pandemic while in quarantine. As she was locked inside her house, this blog was a way for her to not only take care of herself mentally, but also a creative outlet to create content and connect with her friends.
Q: What inspired you to work in the food industry?
Her passion for food stemmed from her parents and grandparents, who all had a strong affinity for food, and she was introduced to various dishes through them. She first got introduced into the food industry when she visited India – her parents would volunteer at food shelters, cooking and baking for those in need. Watching her parents at food shelters made Suresh realize you can cook for good, and she started looking more into the industry and the business parts of it.
Q: Could you tell us about some of the internships you’ve had? What was the work environment like?
She started off by working with Sri L.V.B. Bakers, which is an Iyengar Bakery in Bangaluru that sells bakery items like khara buns, cakes, and sweets. She had reached out to these bakeries because she noticed a lot more food waste than pre-pandemic, and noted how the infrastructure had shifted from a more traditional and manual way of doing business to more influence of technology, with delivery systems, social media, and the creation of apps and websites. It was because of this influx of technological advancement that she thought she would find a place for herself.
At the Iyengar Bakery, Suresh helped create an inventory management system remotely, and was able to witness the process they had in their bakeries to create treats and make it fresh from the oven.
She also discovered numerous differences between markets in the US and India. For one, she found that India still mostly relies on manual processes, while in the US technology is incorporated into businesses more. She also noted the difference of flier use as promotion in the two countries, along with how India incorporates herbs and promotes health. In contrast, Suresh found that the US tends to push more fad diets. Lastly, Suresh noted that the bakeries she worked at had mostly male employees, although they were happy to have her work with them.
Q: Please tell us a bit about your volunteer work.
Currently, Suresh volunteers with Tricity Volunteers in California, which is a food bank and mobile pantry. She is working on developing recipe cards and healthy food kits, although Suresh describes that as still “a work in progress”.
Q: From all these experiences you’ve had in the food industry, which would you say were most memorable?
“Everything is memorable,” Suresh answered. When picking specific moments, she decided to talk about working with L.V.B. bakeries in India, and how that’s very nostalgic to her. She liked contributing to helping them improve, despite the fact that a lot of places were going out of business during the pandemic.
Q: Do you have any fun stories from working in the food industry that you’d like to share?
Suresh laughed when detailing an anecdote on driving to Tricity when she lost her way to the food bank. She panicked and parked a whole block away before messaging the workers who were extremely nice (“Shoutout to Marly!” Suresh exclaimed). The workers showed her through the entire facility, and taught her how to incorporate foods from the Department of Agriculture.
Q: What lessons have you learned from your work experiences?
“Big design and presentation matter for food banks,” Suresh explained, as they affect brand image and reputation. She also touched on some of the bad connotations food banks have, but added Tricity is both neat and hygienic. Lastly, Suresh talked about how important minimalism and clear instructions can be, both of which she uses in her meal kits and recipe cards.
Q: What advice would you give to a high schooler looking to go into the food industry?
The food industry is multifaceted, and people can enter it in a variety of ways, according to Suresh. “It’s a good thing for high schoolers to learn when they’re young”, she said, for an early start. She also talked about how business plays a large role in restaurants and bakeries, and to learn more about the industry it’s important to work and gain experience in it. She also advised to explore whatever you find fun, like making cool dishes or advocating, or even incorporating skills from favored subjects like STEM into the industry, even for nonprofits, and emphasized once more that “business plays a big role”.
Q: Was there any specific moment that caused you to realize how big of an issue food waste is?
Growing up, Suresh’s parents would always stress the importance of food, and she ate food based on how hungry she was. The pandemic made Suresh realize just how important not wasting food was - as well as how hard it was to not do it. Suresh figured out what tactics to use to make food last longer, including developing recipes with scrap ingredients, like extremely ripe bananas, as well as gardening and composting.
Q: Could you tell us more about the healthy meal plan kits you’ve created?
Suresh said that most of the recipes in her healthy meal plan kits first incorporate nutrition based on what’s best for the user, and represent the diversity of food in her specific area. She’s still making them, but her process is first getting a list of the foods coming from the DoA before coming up with how to make it into an interesting plan.
Q: What initiatives could a high schooler passionate about addressing food issues take?
Suresh said that it starts from self-realization, and thinking “where are you wasting food?” This helps people become more empathetic about food waste. “Don’t force [yourself], live through it”, Suresh said about eating sustainably. Researching and understanding your diet is important, and if you want to take an extra step, Suresh advises reaching out to food banks, stores, and restaurants. “Food banks are really open [to volunteers]”, Suresh said.
Q: Tell us more about how your blog also helps to address food insecurity and waste.
Tea Sesh with Suresh is focused on food sustainability. Her idea was to use food scrap in recipes to save food. Suresh loves using bananas in her recipes, detailing her numerous recipes with it, including banana bread, banana jam, and pancakes. She uses her blog to talk about recipes and her experiences in the industry.
Q: What steps should everyone take to help fight food insecurity and waste?
Food sustainability starts with yourself, according to Suresh. She also advised developing meal plans, which would include a list of things you know that you will eat, what you will cook each week, meal prepping, and whatever else works with you. Suresh also suggested creating lists of food in the house as well as their expiration dates so that you can incorporate them into dishes. Finally, Suresh talked about growing your own food and composting, both of which are good “stress relievers”.
Q: What are your favorite things to make? Is there any specific recipe you love?
Suresh enjoys making chai, a Masala tea recipe being her favorite. “When I was younger I used to think tea, coffee…[were] for adults”, she said. Now she loves drinking and making tea. What Suresh finds interesting about chai is the diversity of its recipes. Different regions and different families all have different recipes. Suresh also likes cakes - especially carrot cakes, and enjoys trying out new recipes all the time.
Q: Where do you get inspiration for your recipes?
Suresh’s parents and her culture are big inspirations for her recipes. She constantly draws inspiration from South India and Bangalore, experimenting with tastes, flavors, and spices, something “second nature” to her. Social media also influences her, and an account she particularly recommends following is @fitgreenmind on Instagram.
Q: What do you enjoy most about using your blog?
Suresh likes creating different things on it, as well as taking pictures. She finds it very satisfying and loves many different aspects of it. She enjoys writing for the blog, the hype that comes with it, taking pictures for it, as well as just “everything else”.
Q: What are your future plans with your blog?
Suresh hopes to add additional sustainable recipes for her blog, as well as making more original recipes. She also hopes to add stories to her blog.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your experiences?
Suresh re-emphasized the important role business plays in the food industry and stresses the importance of business education for students of all ages. She hopes to continue combating food waste and working on her blog in the future.
Neha is happy to elaborate on her unconventional experiences with business to inspire girls to apply their business skills to combat social issues, and is working on her blog, Tea Sesh With Suresh. Check out her website and Instagram!