Culinology - June 2021 - 27

Born to be
a COOK
For Corporate Executive Chef Sandy Cook, developing flavors for
customers of Firmenich Inc. gives birth to a whole new culinary universe
by Susan Malovany
editor@sosland.com
W
hat's in a name?
For Sandy Cook, corporate executive
chef for Geneva-based Firmenich Inc., the
answer to William Shakespeare's famous
question is his destiny and a career that he
described as the perfect fit.
" Every positive memory I have from the past
has food in it - it's a food universe to me, "
Mr. Cook said. " From my earliest memory
of baking an oatmeal raisin chocolate chip
cookie to my first job in the industry running
a food concession stand on the beach,
becoming a 'cook' was written in the stars. "
In his case, it's Michelin stars, of course.
Mr. Cook, who has worked out of
Firmenich's Plainsboro, NJ, Taste & Beyond
division headquarters since joining the
company in 2004, said his job responsibilities
vary but they all challenge him creatively.
" Globally, Firmenich is the largest privately
held fragrance and taste company with more
than $4 billion in annual sales and introduces
thousands of new products every year, " he
said. " I work with a wide spectrum of foods
and beverages for both retail and foodservice
clients. We specialize and excel in alternative
proteins and plant-based flavors - the
market is still super-hot for these - and meat
and chicken flavors, as well. Firmenich is both
a custom and collection flavor house. "
Mr. Cook spends most of his time
developing savory flavors for soups, sauces,
plant-based alternative proteins, ready meals,
grain and vegetable bowls, chicken, beef and
pork.
" Firmenich flavors the world one bite at a
time by making it taste wonderful, " he said.
26 | Culinology | JUNE 2021
" We also follow the trends and have amazing
salt- and sugar-reduction tools and non-GMO
flavors and a large collection of masking
flavors. Clean label and all natural have also
become a major initiatives in both North
America and globally. Our culinary team
is responsible for creating gold standards,
executing culinary demos and pursuing
creative culinary solutions. "
Mr. Cook employs " culinary anthropology "
- a proprietary-design thinking tool that
enables the company to creatively imagine a
concept with the client and bring it to life.
" We often do ideations and bring concepts
or prototypes to a large survey audience with
consumers to determine purchase intent, "
he said. " We've done in-home consumer
research for the flexitarian challenge in
2019, for example, where we invited our
customers to eat dishes from other countries.
Flexitarians are consumers who are trying to
eat less meat in their diets - they may be
omnivores, vegetarians or vegans but every
so often eat chicken, for example, like myself. "
For plant-based products, Mr. Cook
regularly delves into the soy ingredient arena,
and also with lentils and beans, to name just
a few ingredients. He likewise develops plantbased
burgers and sausages.
" We have a lot of different approaches
with plant-based proteins, and we have also
worked with algae, " he said. " Sea bacon,
a type of algae, is delicious when sautéed
because it is smoky and crunchy but has a
short shelf life. We also work with spirulina,
a high-protein, blue-green algae filled with
nutrients. New customers and startups
Culinology - June 2021

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