The Founders
Flutist Claire Noelle James
Claire is currently pursuing a Master's of Music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she is combining a few of her favorite things-- creativity, music, research, and collaboration. She is fascinated by pairing food and music together. Sound Bites was born out of these fascinations and passions
Chef Ben Slovek
A recent graduate of the Culinary Institute at Metro Community College in Omaha Nebraska, Chef Ben has a passion for making delicious and creative dishes. His unique background allows him to innovate and connect food to abstract inspirations, like sounds, to create fascinating and delightful dishes
The Story…
Listen to Claire speak about the backstory and key inspirations at the first Sound Bites event:
After deciding on the project Claire reached out to Metropolitan Community College Culinary Institute, one of the top culinary programs in the country, and was connected with Chef Ben.
Ben, like Claire, is interested in creative, out of the box, collaborative projects and was excited to work together on what would become Sound Bites. Claire and Ben designed the event, working hard on the research, testing, and development.
Ben and Claire won first place in the Graduate Music category of the 2023 Research and Creativity Fair and presented the full Sound Bites culinary concert in Spring of 2023
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Another important aspect to Sound Bites is community involvement. Claire and Ben love hosting events in local restaurants and businesses and for local events. The food in Sound Bites local ingredients whenever possible. Thanks to the Service Learning Academy at University of Nebraska Claire and Ben were able to work with a local high school, Blackburn, and mentor students in the culinary program.