Episode 13: Hannah Bae of Noona's Ice Cream + Korean-Inspired Flavors

It's warming up in New York City, so there's no better time to talk about ice cream! Hannah Bae, founder of Noona’s Ice Cream, joined Iris and Lynda in the studio to talk about the flavors from Korea that inspired her ice cream, as well as the food entrepreneurship and mentorship side of her business.

We start the episode by asking Hannah to tell listeners about the inspiration behind Noona's Ice Cream. We talk about four flavors in particular that remind her of her culture and family: Toasted Rice (inspired by Noo-Roong-Ji), Golden Sesame (inspired by Bokkeun-Kkae), Little Miss Sunshine (inspired by Ppopgi), and as Sweet as Bae (inspired by Bae & Sujjeongwa).

3:40 "The idea came to me when I created the toasted rice flavor - when I wanted to create a flavor that communicated my love and appreciation for my family and growing up in a Korean household. And I just wanted to incorporate my culture into the flavors that I was making." - Hannah on how she came to create Korean-inspired ice cream flavors.

We then talk about the other side of what Hannah does. Noona's means "older sister" in Korean. Aside from making ice cream, Hannah has a Big Sister mentorship program for employees and other food entrepreneurs. With a former background in psychology, Hannah combines her love of food and giving back to the community with Noona's.

Finally, we talk about being a small food business owner, what advice she would give to people who want to start a business in the current food landscape, and what's next for Hannah and Noona's. 

There's just one episode of Feast Meets West left for our Winter season! Make sure to subscribe to the show on iTunes and Stitcher so you don't miss any episodes when we come back.