This is Ozarks at Large. A team from the University of Arkansas will be competing for a national championship next month. The Institute of Food Technologists' annual College Bowl tests competitors on a wide range of food knowledge. Last year, the University of Arkansas team finished second. Yesterday, we talked with team members Andrew Maust and Maddie Shults. Andrew, the team captain, says this Arkansas team includes undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. candidates. The team qualified for the national finals by winning the South Central Region, competing against teams from schools like LSU, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
Andrew says these questions for these competitions cover a lot of ground.
Maust: Food science is an applied science and brings in elements of chemistry, microbiology, engineering. So we can have questions that are very technical and ask about multiple reaction steps in a biochemical pathway to understand important food analytes that are being created, to more broad, fun questions like what is the first name of the Pringles mascot? Which, if you didn't know, is Julius.
Kellams: Maddie, what drew you to the team?
Shults: I mean, you could just go ahead and do studies and research and experiments, but — what drew you to this extracurricular sort of activity? This was something that I actually began with Andrew years ago, back at a different university. And so I think that the passion for testing yourself and your food science knowledge and making anything into a competition makes it all that much more fun and all that much more exciting. So pushing ourselves to new limits of what we can learn and how we can apply that knowledge, especially in a career and in a focus that we appreciate so much, just makes it really, really fun. So it was a fun way to help quiz ourselves, to be better at our tests and our exams, but also went a little along the way.
Kellams: What drew you to food science as a career and a major? Andrew, I'll ask you first.
Maust: Absolutely. So this is actually a second career for me. I started my academic life as a political scientist, but after graduating, working for a few years in the restaurant industry, I found that food was really my passion and that I enjoyed learning more about how to see the world through the lens of food. I was always interested in chemistry, but never understood how it was practical or how to apply it to everyday life. But I could understand something like roasting a steak and the flavors that were produced, the colors that were produced. That is all chemistry, but it's chemistry in action that you can taste and smell and touch. So I found food science as a really interesting way to take these abstract science principles, but bring them into something that was more concrete. And everyone has to eat. So there's always going to be jobs available and a way to connect with people from across the globe through food. So that's what really drew me in. And I didn't think I was going to go as far as I did, but I fell in love with the field. And now I'm working on a Ph.D. here at the University of Arkansas.
Shults: I originally came into college as a nutrition major to go into med school, to follow the footsteps of my brother. And it was right when I was joining college that I was watching my brother take his MCATs. And I thought, I don't think I have the passion. I'm already not good with blood. I don't think that this is going to work with me. And luckily, the new student conference that I was with, it had nutrition and food science together, and previously I hadn't heard anything about food science or what it was at all. But at that introduction meeting, I was able to learn that this was the path that I'd always been looking for. It kind of combines my love for science as well as my appreciation for food. I always loved baking, but I always wanted to learn more about it. I'd always try to research it on whatever I would be baking — like, why is this happening? But I never fully understood. And so having a whole career where it's just focused on that, it was just kind of a miracle. And learning that there were different opportunities like College Bowl, like different product development competitions, it was really fun for me to kind of just feel that sense of home, because there's not that many food scientists. So you kind of know everyone. And it feels like a family.
Kellams: What I love about both of those answers is the realization that you don't have to stick with something you thought you wanted to do at one point in life, that you can find your passion after your undergraduate or after the first year.
Maust: Absolutely. And food science is full of students who didn't find out about it initially. It's not the most well publicized major. If you'd asked people on the street what you think food science is, most people are like, oh, are you a chef? Are you a nutritionist? But it is so much deeper, and it serves a vital role in our world, helping to create all the products you see on a grocery store shelf. People may think, oh, we have farmers, and that's how it gets here. But there's that intermediate step for anything that is further processed where a food scientist has touched it, made it taste good, made it safe. So finding out that this is a field that exists — we have a lot of non-traditional students who have come back to school to study it.
Kellams: Andrew, you're the team captain. Tell me about the other team members that couldn't be with us today.
Maust: Absolutely. So in addition to Maddie and myself, we also have Samantha Rolando Perez, who is a Ph.D. student studying microbiology. Then we also have three undergraduate team members, Jason Frisbee, who is a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas and is about to come back to start a master's in poultry science; Emily Longworth, who is a senior in food science; and Briana, who is a rising junior in food science.
Kellams: So will the national competition be much like the one that was the South Central, just with different teams?
Maust: It will. But the competition is going to raise even higher. This is actually our third year that we've been our regional champions and gone to nationals. And last year we were actually national runners-up, behind Cornell. Unfortunately, we didn't quite come away with a victory, but we were on the big final stage. So we now know what it takes. So we have some hopeful optimism. We understand, though, that the eight teams that have made it to the finals are the best of the best. And while we are proud to repeat as South Central Region champions, representing the University of Arkansas, we know we have our work cut out for us.
Kellams: If you were actors, I'd say break a leg. What are the good wishes that I would give this team?
Shults: Buzz quickly and guess correctly.
Kellams: I love that. Now, I know there is a bit of a monetary prize. Is there also a trophy?
Maust: We get a nice plaque if we make it. But the biggest thing that we can take away from this is job preparation. That is one of the highlights that I have. IFT is an organization that reps our discipline, likes to highlight and have seen it ourselves. This is a way to show off our knowledge. Potential employers are out in the crowd. Potential future coworkers are out in the crowd, so the networking aspect is almost just as valuable. But the cash prize is a nice reward for all the hard work that's been put in.
Kellams: Well, Andrew, Maddie, thank you so much for your time. Buzz quickly, answer correctly. Let us all know how it goes.
Maust: Thank you, Kyle.
Shults: Thank you so much.
Maddie Shults and Andrew Moss — Maddie Shults and Andrew Maust are two of the members of the University of Arkansas team competing in the national finals of the College Bowl at the Institute of Food Technologists' annual Event and Expo, taking place in Chicago next month. Our conversation took place via Zoom yesterday.
