letter of motivation
Dear FIPDes Consortium Program,
Since I was younger, in particular as an elementary school student, natural science subjects have always intrigued me. My passion towards natural science continuously has grown more eventually after I learned a fraction of knowledge how the nature works behind the scene, especially in food. Food, for humanity, is one of the essential things for life. The innovation of food has been improving in such of incredible way and it leaves me astounded. The certain event in my whole life that evokes my interest and grown into a passion for food innovation and design started when I struggled with overweight issue, which affected by unhealthy diet. Although it was an unpleasant moment, the link between how far food has undergone the processes and the nutritional value of the food itself has amazed me. From that moment, my curiosity and my desire to get in-depth understanding in food innovation and design getting bigger, even the small portion of a certain ingredient could make a big transformation to the final food product, especially in healthy food product.
Even I do not have a direct background in food innovation and design field, studying chemical engineering has equipped me a bit portion of food science and technology related knowledge, such as industrial microbiology and basic chemical engineering experiments that some of the course including fermentation, colloid and chemical component extraction in food product. Along with my enthusiasm towards academic, most of the courses I took got full marks and I graduated as the first class honor of Chemical Engineering Department, Universitas Lambung Mangkurat on the 97th Graduation Ceremony event. I also got an elementary knowledge that related with product development, which could lead me to my current interest in food innovation and design, which tailored with food science and technology.
Moreover, I did my independent research and small experiment in regards to healthy food product customization. I have read the relationship between the technique and the process we had chosen with the essential components in the product. I have a particular interest in bread baking science, since I started develop my passion towards food science, innovation and technology deeper after I made my first healthy homemade bread. Furthermore, I explored more about European breads and found the new stuffs that I do not even know it has existed before, such as rye, spelt, emmer, barley and the other grains that are not common in my hometown. I did some experiment regarding to rye, spelt, also barley malt and I suddenly astonished by the fact that these grains have distinctive flavor and unique properties, which differs them with the other grains and these grains could change the entire game of bread making process. My journey with bread making also taught me how important the accuracy of ingredients' proportion and the technique that used in bread making could give the impact to the final product. As well as the biochemical components in bread products, which well known as gluten, that different between grain to another grain. Some of people that have gluten intolerant, hence when they eat even a small portion of bread, they would have a problem with their digestion system. From that case, I searched the alternatives independently and found "gluten-free" that could be used as "wheat-based flour" substitute, for example buckwheat, which also mostly of Indonesia people do not even know this kind of grain exist. I was so excited and enjoyed to learn a new knowledge about what exactly behind the scene how European bread made. In addition, I also amazed how authentic and detailed the bread making process in Europe, and they care so much about the sustainability and the quality of bread ingredients. Sourdough bread, which dominating European bread types, has left the biggest impression on my interest. Sourdough that only made from flour and water and has undergone such of dedicated time of build its colony, in fact, healthier and easier to digest than a bread that made with commercial yeast. Which means this type of bread could make a slight but continuously positive effect to our health as well. That is why I want to foster how to design a certain variety of bread that healthy, versatile and everyone could eat this bread without any hesitation about nutrition content or gluten-related issue with enhanced its bread properties scientifically and technically.
As European Union is prominently known for its best higher education and the facilities for the future researcher, I am looking for the best program that could support and relate with my passion and objectives in food science and its development. After I checked about Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Degree, suddenly I surfed its catalogue and finally I found about FIPDes. FIPDes caught my intention the most and I read thoroughly about this program on the website, FIPDes is the best choice for me who is looking for the master program, which is focused on the development of innovative, sustainable and healthy food products. FIPDes consortium also has impressed me because these host countries itself are known for its high-end level for gastronomy sector and they have strong food culture (especially French and Italy), which means I can explore further about food knowledge. Furthermore, FIPDes also has a track for healthy food product design focused in UNINA, Italy, which I want to get in for my future career as healthy food researcher for research institution, such as EFSA that interestingly located in Italy. Therefore, I ended up choose FIPDes as the master program that could help me to gain integrated and foster knowledge of food science, innovation and technology as well as food safety and sustainability. I thrive upon challenging situations and enjoy the prospect of helping people with my research in healthy food product design, in particular related with sustainable healthy bread science and its production. Thus, I feel the future career in food innovation field will allow me to combine my hard working nature, creativity, big curiosity as well as my passion for academic sector, in particular for natural science.
Thank You
Best regards,
Novelia Ananda Fitrila