Dame Marilyn Carlson
Profile by Dame Karen Binder
Dame Marilyn Carlson can’t remember not wanting to be in the kitchen. She is the eldest of five children raised by an Oregon State policeman and a mother who never enjoyed cooking. Marilyn quickly settled into the role of family cook, which became an underlying theme of her life’s work. A love of both cooking and math/science led her to apply for the Institute of Food Technologists scholarship at Oregon State University, which she won!
She majored in food science in the College of Agriculture while the scientist in her sought a second major in microbiology in the College of Science. With two degrees in hand, she followed her husband’s career move to Hartford, Conn., where she found her way into food manufacturing with Weight Watchers Frozen Meals.
Much like her double college major, Marilyn doubled up on career paths at Weight Watchers pursuing R&D/Product Development, as well as learning the regulatory side of the business. Driven by her love for learning, Marilyn nabbed a new product line opportunity and became the “dessert queen” at Weight Watchers, developing several new dessert capabilities, including unbaked cheesecake, chocolate mousse, and filled cakes. Who knew the scientist in her would need to think about shear forces in machinery harming her product when the products did so well larger mixing machines were needed? And how to create a recipe meeting all the parameters set by Weight Watchers while creating a delicious product that could be frozen and maintain its integrity when thawed?
With her knowledge of two usually disparate areas of the food business, Marilyn created a career excelling in both. Her decade working at Weight Watchers spanned managing nutritional analysis, developing nutrition databases, and conducting product development, as well as training younger food technicians and technologists. Her product development efforts won her two Ore-Ida Technical Excellence awards, and two industry New-Product-of-the-Year awards.
Once back in the Pacific Northwest, Marilyn became active in Res earch Chefs Association (RCA). She served on multiple committees for this association, on its board of directors, and was the first elected Chair of the Certification Commission, recognizing Culinology® professionals who successfully merge culinary arts and food technology into their skillset. As the resident expert in the field, she co-authored the Commercialization chapter of RCA’s text “Culinology.”
After a stint at Nestlé USA understanding flavorings and working with food product developers, she joined Seattle’s Oberto Sausage Company as senior manager. There, she was responsible for all product development activities as well as ingredient documentation and technical packaging information ranging from ingredient statements and nutrition facts to claims. She is convinced that understanding regulatory impact on new products makes product development more efficient and quicker to market.
The past decade has found Marilyn heading Dogwood Solutions, her own contract/consulting business, where she provides technical and regulatory (label) support to multiple manufacturing and product development clients. She especially enjoys helping food product developers find their way through the complex challenges of making the best possible product while still meeting the customer’s goals for nutrition, clean label statements, and health claims.
Marilyn is also a long-standing member of the Les Dames d’Escoffier Seattle chapter where she has served on several committees and on the 2020 board of directors. We’re delighted to include her representing a special dimension of the culinary universe.
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