Speakers & Guests
Tyler Malek
Tyler Malek, Head Ice Cream Maker
Salt & Straw Ice Cream, Portland, OR
Tyler Malek has worked as head ice cream maker for Salt & Straw Ice Cream in Portland, OR since the company’s inception in 2011. He has been instrumental in creating the farm-to-cone movement by using ice cream to highlight the best Oregon has to offer. He successfully experiments with a wide variety of top chefs, producers, artisans and local ingredients to create fun, unique and delicious ice cream flavors, to the delight of the inner child in us all. His memorable flavors have truly resonated with fans across the country. They have received editor’s pick by Food & Wine Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Martha Stewart, O Magazine, Saveur, GQ and Portland Monthly. They have also been featured in Time Magazine, The Cooking Channel’s “Unique Sweets,” ABC’s “The Chew” and the Travel Channel’s “Bizzare Foods: Portland.”
Since opening in early 2011 Malek and his cousin, founder and owner Kim Malek, have taken their ice cream from a cart to two brick and mortar locations, both of which have lines around the block in the middle of winter. In that time he has created more 100 ice creams, each with its own unique flavor profile. To further enhance his skills, Malek took part in Penn State’s highly reputable Ice Cream Short Course in January 2013. The program has been attended by many master minds in the ice cream business and “is the oldest, best-known, and largest educational program dealing with the science and technology of ice cream.” Based on his accomplishments, Malek was selected as one of the 50 Eater Young Guns Semi-Finalists for 2013.
Malek studied Chinese and business at Western Washington University, graduating in 2010. He discovered his passion for blending flavors together when studying abroad in Beijing, China and traveling throughout Vietnam and Cambodia.