It’s late July, which means the Orange County Fair is in full swing with livestock, exhibits, carnival games, and tongue-wagging food.  Some of the new innovations this year: 

• Funnel Cake Fried Chicken Sandwich

• Birria Burger

• Pickled Dr. Pepper

I wanted to take a look at the Hot Cheetos-Crusted Chicken Potstickers.

Here’s a description, courtesy of the Orange County Register:

“The pulverized snack chips make a pleasantly spicy coating that help cut through the finger food’s richness. Comes with a side of pineapple teriyaki sauce.”

I find fair food interesting. While it seems that every year there’s some distributor who is trying to capture the attention of anyone within earshot by producing the quirkiest food, they still have to approach the challenge with the research and rigor of the most diligent talent development analysis. 

I wanted to explore the opportunity of any link between fair food innovation and talent development, and I believe I found a few.

1. Creative problem solving

2. Understanding design

3. Techniques for improvement

4. Methods for reducing over-indulgence

1. Creative problem solving

Food Development:

Experimentation: Innovating new foods often requires experimenting with different ingredients, techniques, and combinations to create something unique and appealing.
Iteration: Similar to product development, food innovation involves testing and refining recipes based on feedback and results.

Talent Development:

Innovative Solutions: Creating effective training programs involves identifying new methods and tools to address specific learning needs.

Adaptability: Like chefs, instructional designers must adapt and iterate their approaches based on feedback and changing requirements.

2. Understanding design

Food Development:

Flavor Harmony: Successful dishes balance flavors like sweetness, acidity, bitterness, and umami to create a cohesive experience.
Complementary Ingredients: Pairing ingredients that enhance each other's flavors leads to a more enjoyable dish.

Talent Development:

Learning Harmony: Effective training programs balance different instructional methods to cater to diverse audiences.
Complementary Activities: Using a mix of lectures, interactive sessions, and hands-on activities can enhance the overall learning experience.

3. Techniques for Improvement

Food Development:

Texture Contrast: Using techniques like pulverized snack chips for coating creates a satisfying textural contrast between the crunchy exterior and soft interior.
Mouthfeel: Attention to the mouthfeel, or the physical sensations in the mouth produced by food, is crucial for creating an enjoyable dish.

Talent Development:

Engagement Contrast: Combining various training methods can keep learners engaged and cater to different preferences.
Learning Experience: Focusing on the "feel" of the training experience—making it engaging and interactive—helps retain learners' interest.

4. Methods for reducing over-indulgence

Food Development:

Balance Richness: Techniques like using spicy coatings can cut through the richness, making the food feel lighter and more palatable.
Flavor Offsetting: Balancing rich ingredients with lighter elements prevents dishes from being overwhelming.

Talent Development:

Content Offsetting: Avoiding information overload in training by balancing dense material with lighter, more interactive elements.
Balance Engagement: Ensuring that training content is digestible and well-paced helps learners retain information without feeling overwhelmed.

Bonus:
Marketing Strategies for Novel Food Items and Training Programs

Food Development:

Appeal to Curiosity: Novel foods attract attention by offering something unique and different, leveraging the curiosity of fair-goers.

Talent Development:

Engaging Promotion: Novel posts that encourage readers to consider parallels between talent development and other professions. Say, advertising?

What do you think? Is this a bit of a stretch? Or can we learn something from the creative process behind fair food that can be applied to developing effective training programs? Let us know your thoughts!