June Jo Lee is a food ethnographer, author, and cultural strategist who studies the emotional, social, and sensory dimensions of eating – what she calls our hungers beneath the bite.

Every bite carries more than flavor; it carries a story of who we are, what we long for, and who we are becoming.

Her research tracks generational shifts and early signals, with recent focus on how synthetic biology, AI, and K-Pop are impacting food choices. She has published a peer-reviewed perspective to integrate her ethnographic foodlife approach into patient care. She also works with K-16 education institutions to reimagine cultural menus through the lens of care, creativity, and climate.

From 2014 to 2024, June Jo served as Google’s first food ethnographer, advising Michiel Bakker and team on workplace culture, food systems, and global foodservice strategy across 57 campuses. Previously, as VP of Strategic Insights at The Hartman Group, she led research for Nestlé, PepsiCo, Whole Foods, Walmart, Starbucks, and more, shaping early frameworks for health and sustainability in consumer food behavior.

She is co-author of two award-winning children’s picture books, Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix (2017) and Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild (2022), both published by READERS to EATERS, the food literacy press she co-founded with her husband, Philip Lee.

Through her WUNDERLAND pop-ups, she offers immersive, multisensory experiences that use food ethnography and systems design to reimagine how we taste, listen, and care together. A frequent keynote speaker, she shares ethnographic stories that are wrapped around our plates.  

With academic training in East Asian Studies, Medical Anthropology, and the History of Medicine (Harvard, Yonsei, UT Austin), June Jo brings ethnographic rigor, cultural fluency, and narrative clarity to every engagement. For a taste of her work see her TED Talk, Nutrients paper, Understanding Modern Hungers, and How To Make Kimchi. She lives – and eats well – in San Francisco.