Mosaiko

A Taste of Good Nutrition and Success

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Iranian-American woman goes from Harvard degree to Harvard Cookie Girl

Bibi Kasrai is thinking of changing her name.

Not her real name, but the nickname that someone handed her and that became the name of her food-education business: Harvard Cookie Girl. Sure, it’s catchy, and it does capture the humor of the situation: She is an accomplished professional with a master’s degree from the thoroughly prestigious Harvard Business School, and her new career involves baking cookies with children.

“Harvard Cookie Girl is cute, but I thought Harvard Cookin’ Girl would show more of a kitchen studio and the healthy cooking, which ‘cookie’ does not,” she said, “but on the other hand, people argue that the name is good and has stuck.”

So the question is one of marketing, and Kasrai, an Iranian-American, is a trained entrepreneur. Harvard Cookie Girl is the latest of the businesses to which she has applied her expertise, but it’s different and especially satisfying because this one is her own venture. It also lets her devote herself to a subject she cares about — nutritious and tasty food — and teach children about it.

Kasrai, 43, grew up in Tehran, the daughter of prominent poet Siavash Kasrai. Five years after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the family was forced to flee Iran — by foot into Afghanistan and eventually settling in Russia, where Bibi Kasrai graduated from Moscow State University. She came to the United States to work for the World Bank in Washington for four years before heading to business school, thinking she would continue her career in international development.

“As is usual, life takes a different turn,” she said.

After a move to California, jobs in marketing in the high-tech sector and in fundraising for nonprofit organizations, Kasrai wanted to try something different. As a lifelong baker and cook, and as a mother of two children, she decided to develop classes to teach children about cooking and good nutrition.

“Why not give it a try and let’s do something that I enjoy, my kids enjoy, my kids’ friends enjoy,” she said. “I don’t make as much money as I used to make, but I’m hoping to really make a change. I really think, as small as this little project of mine is, it’s going to make a dent.”

The subject is food, but the approach was the same as in any other business Kasrai might have built, beginning with product development. “I just took a few months off and started writing the curriculum for this, and called a couple of people — very entrepreneurial,” Kasrai said. She approached schools in San Diego County, California, where she lives, and they allowed her to start offering her after-school classes in December 2009. The response from children was enthusiastic. She has since hired and trained part-time workers to present the classes in schools throughout the county, which has about 500,000 students.

Although the focus of the classes is on nutrition and fun, Kasrai said the schools know that the children learn other things as well. “What a great way, for example, not only to teach them healthy eating, but about measurements and fractions,” she said. “It’s not enough when you tell a kid what’s half plus half. Well, half a cup of flour and half a cup of flour makes one cup, and it’s easy to grasp.”

“Reading and following directions is part of the curriculum at school. And reading and following recipes: same thing.”

Although her students get the chance to bake — and eat — treats such as chocolate chip cookies and lemon-nut cookies, Kasrai said, they also learn the basics of nutrition. She has adapted recipes to make them more healthful, sometimes substituting canola oil for butter, for example, and using less fat and sugar generally.

She doesn’t pretend that what she teaches the kids to make is entirely healthful, but she shows them that it is far better for them — and better tasting — than the packaged snack food and fast food most of them eat in great quantities.

And the lessons, she said, should spread. If the kids learn good eating habits, they will share those with their parents. The goal is not just healthier children but healthier families.

Once children started attending her classes and learned about the different types of cholesterol, or the beneficial polyphenol and flavonoid compounds in plants, Kasrai said, “parents came to me and asked, ‘How do we learn about these things?’”

Kasrai’s next step comes in September, when she will open a store: a “kitchen studio” where families can come for classes, where children can celebrate birthdays with their friends, and where everyone can create and eat good food.

Kasrai said her cooking reflects her eclectic interests in food: Persian, of course, plus French, Italian, Thai, Russian and other cuisines. Her recipes also are adapted to American taste buds. In Persian food, for instance, “we use a lot of orange blossom water and rose water,” Kasrai said. Many Americans love those flavors, too, but Kasrai will substitute vanilla, more familiar to American palates, for the rose water. “So I do make changes like that, which are not really changing the integrity of the recipe.”

Kasrai praised U.S. first lady Michelle Obama for her campaign promoting better nutrition, fresh foods and exercise to combat childhood obesity. She also said Americans are willing to expand their food horizons.

“I think Americans are really opening themselves up in terms of culinary tastes,” Kasrai said. “I think as they travel more, they live abroad more, they get more courageous about trying other things. They also get more aware of their own eating habits.”