The 5 Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink

3 minute read

The future of food is here, and it’s decidedly female. The editors of Food & Wine and Fortune magazines teamed up to spotlight women entrepreneurs, activists and leaders in the food world who’ve worked in the past year to transform the way people dine. Twenty earned a spot on their Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink 2016 list.

Here are five standouts from the report by Food & Wine and Fortune (which, like TIME, are owned by Time Inc.).

Emily Broad Leib

Courtesy of Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation

At the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, Leib is tackling the enormous problem of wasted food, which crowds landfills and leaves many hungry, by trying to change legislation around the way food is labeled. “We want to make labeling laws clearer, so when people pick up a yogurt, they know when it’s OK to eat it and when to throw it out,” she tells Food & Wine and Fortine. It may also make perfectly fine food easier to donate.

Betsy Babcock

Conor Harrigan Photography

From a quaint seven-chicken experiment at a B&B grew an empire of eggs. On the pasture of Handsome Brook Farm, Babcock raises chickens with organic feed and helps other small farms do the same.

The 5 Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink

Kavita Shukla
Fenugreen FreshPaper

The future of food is here, and it’s decidedly female. The editors of Food & Wine and Fortune magazines teamed up to spotlight women entrepreneurs, activists and leaders in the food world who’ve worked in the past year to transform the way people dine. Twenty earned a spot on their Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink 2016 list.

Here are five standouts from the report by Food & Wine and Fortune (which, like TIME, are owned by Time Inc.).

Monica Garnes

monica garnes
Courtesy of Kroger

Garnes heads up produce for Kroger, and under her leadership, the grocery chain bought from 27% more local farmers in the past five years. “Now we can tell our customers exactly who raises their vegetables, which is pretty darn exciting,” she tells Food & Wine and Fortune.

Kavita Shukla

Kavita Shukla
Fenugreen FreshPaper

Shukla helps fight food spoilage with her invention of FreshPaper, naturally antibacterial sheets infused with herbs to help produce last four times longer.

Mackenzie Barth & Sarah Adler

Mackenzie Barth Sarah Adler

The two college pals founded Spoon University, a recipe website and digital media training program for young people who want to make good food—and good content around it.

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Write to Mandy Oaklander at mandy.oaklander@time.com