The third annual Cornell Food Hackathon, a competition in which students propose product ideas to address food industry challenges, was held in Stocking Hall from Nov. 7 to 9.
At the weekend-long event, approximately 150 undergraduate and graduate students from across the Cornell colleges were split into 29 teams, where they developed product proposals to address one of four challenge areas: honey, dairy, post-harvest food waste and fermentation.
Each year, challenge areas are set by sponsors. This year, there were 18 sponsors, including the Cornell Institute for Food Systems, Dairy Management Inc., National Honey Board and SAN-J.
Teams competed to win various prizes, including a portion of a $10,000 cash prize, gift baskets donated by sponsors, tickets to Grow-NY conferences and membership to the Upcycled Food Association.
Student participant Jocelyn Blachar ’28 described her experience competing at the event.
“It was really interesting to actually see everyone’s projects come to life and see how we all sort of took these categories and brought in our own passions,” Blachar said.
Blachar's team proposed a product called Supplemental Sprinkles, a fermented and upcycled food seasoning high in calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B. The product would provide an easier way for adults 55 and older to support their bone health, offering a seasoning that can be sprinkled onto meals instead of relying on the traditional pill form for supplements.
“We saw that bone health is a really big issue, but also that lactose intolerance and dairy allergies are big issues,” Blachar said. “So our product was dairy-free to meet that consumer need of consumers who can’t consume dairy but need to be meeting their daily calcium.”
Before the weekend, team formation occurred on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5. On Friday evening, students participated in a fast-start workshop where they learned how to analyze the challenges set for the hackathon.
On Saturday, the teams received mentor training and were given advice on how to enact their ideas. The 30 mentors were comprised of Cornell alumni, faculty members and industry experts.
Rajni Aneja, managing director of the Cornell Institute for Food Systems Industry Partnership Program, co-led the event with Hackathons Director Ami Stuart. She spoke about the purpose of mentorship.
“The students can draw on the mentors' knowledge bases, but the idea is that we’re there as mentors and coaches, not as providing the solution,” Aneja said.
The next day, teams competed in two rounds. In the first round, teams were split into three rooms with judge panels made up of sponsors, faculty and mentors. Of the starting 29 teams, 11 were selected to present in the second final round.
Each of the 11 teams that presented in the second final round was recognized with a prize. But, team Dairi was the grand-prize winner of the event, winning $3000, tickets to Celebration Ezra in the spring and membership in the Upcycled Food Association for each team member. The winning team was made up of Eva Ho ’28, Ella Hufnagel ’29, Shirin Ghorbani ’28, Eric Ma ’28, Darby Sale ’29 and Kieri Keys ’28.
Dairi’s proposed product was a whipped cultured cottage cheese with a mousse-like texture that was high in calcium and protein. The product was designed to target premenopausal women struggling with symptoms like lower bone density, weight loss fluctuation and hot flashes.
For a few group members of Dairi, it was their first time participating in the Food Hackathon.
“It was such an amazing learning experience, having so many mentors and so many different industries,” Ghorbani said.
Hufnagel echoed a similar positive remark about the event.
“It’s truly accessible to all grades, no matter what you’re interested in,” Hufnagel, who participated as a first-year, said. “I think you can come at it from any perspective and still either win or just have a great experience with a lot of mentorship.”
Sophia Koman is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is a staff writer for the News department and can be reached at skoman@cornellsun.com.
