Phloem llc

Founder's Story

The doctor's appointment landed at the worst possible moment. The company I'd spent four years building, feeding astronauts, soldiers, people in crisis, was closing down. I was in startup hangover. Then came the familiar list: no dairy, no soy, no tree nuts, no egg, on and on. Another round of elimination dieting, and I had no capacity left for a stripped-down plate.
I've been vegetarian since 1991. Food is my chance to nurture the people I love and create something beautiful. For many, elimination diets mean lists, meal kits, professional guidance, eating alone. That felt untenable. I'd always built my own menus, cross-checking nutrients with flavor, color, texture, keeping the table full of variety from a short ingredient list. Facing that load again was overwhelming, until I thought to build the system.
I wanted to feel abundant, creative, included, not restricted and excluded, so instead of fighting, I built the tools to make elimination diets easy and go withthephlo!

Business Description

Phloem is a plant-based food technology company building tools for people navigating elimination diets, food sensitivities, and mixed-diet households without giving up flavor, beauty, or ease. Drawing on a science background spanning agricultural crop research, nutrition data, and data science, Phloem’s recipe generation and nutrient planning systems translate real dietary constraints (Low FODMAP, AIP, Low Histamine, and other elimination protocols) into nutritious meals people actually want to eat.

Phloem is built on the idea that food systems like phloem, the tissue that carries a plant’s nourishment from leaf to root, work best without resistance. That philosophy shapes everything from how recipes are generated to how meal plans are structured for real households juggling different dietary needs. The goal isn’t restriction-first eating; it’s abundant, sensory, thoughtfully sourced cooking that happens to meet strict dietary requirements. Phloem draws on the founder’s prior work at Cosmic Eats, an ag-tech startup that engineered point-of-need crop and nutrition systems for astronauts, soldiers, and humanitarian relief, backed by DARPA, NASA, and NSF funding.