We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Zhao & Annie Zhang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Michael & Annie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Sometimes we just get a craving that our minds can’t quite make sense of. Sometimes, our stomachs will tell us that a combo of sushi for dinner and maybe some olive oil ice cream for dessert go really well together when it’s in the mood for that. It’s moments like these that make our friends say, “your stomachs got a mind of their own.” Well, they’re not completely wrong – med school has taught Michael that the stomach and its friends can be a kind of “second brain.” This second brain can even act independently of the actual brain, so who knows if we in fact think with our stomachs first and mind second.

And that’s how the name of “Hungry Mind, Hungry Stomach” was born – through combos of friends, good times, and of course, delicious food. However, it’s important to note no one knows who is who in the name of Hungry Mind, Hungry Stomach. Many have speculated that Michael must be the stomach and Annie the Mind, but we might never know the truth. In fact, the name of Hungry Mind, Hungry Stomach is really an everlasting battle to figure out the identity of the Stomach as well as the Mind. But just know regardless of the outcome, we’re both hungry and ready to find (and recommend) the best meal!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Food is near and dear to us because it’s very much cultural. In Chinese culture, food is connection. We literally ask, “Have you eaten?” instead of saying “Hello.” Our food blog Hungry Mind, Hungry Stomach (or we like to call HMHS) began on a cold, wintry night in 2018 in Austin. We were enjoying the beautiful landscape and crisp, chilly air over at Mueller, and were dazzled by this quaint little Italian restaurant called L’Oca d’Oro. It had such a lovely contemporary vibe and lively flare, and the rest of the night was filled with heartening memories and of course delicious food.

Among the dishes there was arguably our favorite dish in the world — Beet Risotto, with a dollop of mascarpone and topped with short ribs that will melt in your mouth. It was that Beet Risotto, poorly lit but delicious, that marked our entrance on Instagram. From there, several hundreds of photos of amazing food–from the home kitchen to food trucks to world class restaurants–have made it onto our account.

Since then, we’ve launched our actual website to feature more high-quality pictures and in-depth reviews. We’ve started dabbling into publishing our recipes, like tasty Chinese pork belly to overnight oats to blueberry scones. Today, what began initially as our hobby has almost become a part-time of sorts. Companies have begun to reach out to us so we could share some of their products to our amazing audience. From local Austin companies to even Hershey, we put the spotlight on products we enjoyed.

HMHS is about creating good memories and eating good food with friends, family, and everyone who’s joined us on this journey. Food is a medium for our understanding of happiness, and we hope we can help everyone who joins us to feel this very way.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being a creative is two-fold for us: Hungry Mind, Hungry Stomach is an outlet to express ourselves as well as share meals we love with the people we cherish.

We stay busy in medical school and graduate school. Oftentimes, people in medicine and science are seen as boring, non-creative or only focused on their work, but this isn’t the case for so many people in these fields. By being creatives, we get to express their interests in not only food, but also the Dallas Mavericks, Texas Longhorns, and of course (for Annie), K-pop. Hungry Mind, Hungry Stomach is truly an outlet for us to illuminate some of the humanity of medicine and science.

On top of that, we get to recommend some food and travel spots you’d love to visit. We have been able to introduce delicious and delightful meals to our classmates, colleagues, mentors, and even more. From suggesting restaurants to coming up with our own recipes and introducing new cusines, we can always strike up a conversation to elevate the food experience of others. Hungry Mind, Hungry Stomach is a medium that allows friendships to blossom even more for us.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

We are both in traditionally thought-to-be non-creative fields. And compared to these fields, we find it’s relatively more difficult to make our own path as a creative. Overall, there’s no set-path or blueprint to becoming a “successful” creative. While that might be a challenge initially, we found the flip-side of this narrative to be more rewarding. If there’s no set-path for yourself, then you have all the opportunity and time to create yourself and your own path and success. We really had no initial plan as creatives, and yet, through our own creative process, we created something that’s worth being proud of in Hungry Mind, Hungry Stomach.

And to be honest, this kind of attitude is applicable to “non-creative” fields as well and can help just as much. Non-creative fields are believed to have a more outlined path, but who says you always have to take those pre-made plans for yourself? By marching to the beat of your own drum and committing to your own passions, you can be successful and happy in whatever you might choose to do with your life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hungrymindhungrystomach.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hungrymindhungrystomach/