No matter where we live, what degree we earned, what our careers look like or what our cultural background is, Miner alumni have at least one thing in common: We all need to eat.

Mary Helen Stoltz, Engl’95

In this issue, we feature alumni with interests that are connected to food — some professionally and others for recreation.

Back in October, we asked our alumni “foodies” to step forward and tell us about their jobs in the food and beverage industry. And boy did they ever step forward. We could have filled two magazines with all of the responses.

We heard from a barista, a sous chef, a soybean oil producer, a dentist, two farmers, a personal chef, a fast-food worker and several home cooks. One of those home cooks is a dad who cooks for his family and compares cooking to a chemistry lab experiment you can eat. Of course, we also heard from a handful of readers who just like to eat.

It was a tough task, but we narrowed the group to seven alumni with unique stories. They include a chili cook-off competitor and the manager of a production plant for an international multi-brand corporation. It’s a fun issue. I hope you enjoy it.

I also want to thank those of you who helped us find Miners we’ve lost touch with. James A. Faletti, EMgt’71, MS EMgt’79, won our “Lost Miners” giveaway, featured on page 31 of the Spring 2014 issue. He received a 2015 St. Pat’s sweatshirt for his efforts. It’s not too late to help out. Alumni can still review a list of lost Miners under the “Alumni Connect” tab at mineralumni.com.