Janet Midori Ikeda

Janet Ikeda was born in 1961 to Shizuwa and Saburo Ikeda. Her grandparents emigrated from Japan as farm workers in the early 1910s. As a younger Sansei (third generation) Janet grew up surrounded by grandparents, aunts and uncles, and a lot of cousins and friends. Life was centered around the culture of Japanese American farming in the Arroyo Grande Valley, with an emphasis on the importance of education. At a young age, she took to cooking, learning by watching her grandmothers, mother and aunts cook vegetables from the family farm with a Japanese influence. For example, she enjoyed meticulously making her Obachan’s (grandmother) futomaki sushi recipe. The science of cooking, attention to details, and determination to understand the essence of a dish set a seed in her. In 8th and 12th grade, these academic qualities were honored by being voted as a student ‘most likely to succeed’.

She attended UC Davis and received a bachelor’s degree in food science. This led to a job to develop food products bought in supermarkets and specialty stores based on the economics that drive their production. Over time, her desire to ensure food was a tool for the well being of communities, led her to pursue a master’s degree in education at Stanford University. Her thesis was set in Guatemala, with an emphasis on how to beneficially supplement food staples. She visited Guatemala, to become fluent in Spanish, and to see first-hand if her thesis was viable. As a true researcher, she determined it was not but recognized other more pragmatic community needs. She came back to California and trained at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at UCSF. Janet then went back to Guatemala on a Fulbright Scholarship and became a fellow at the CDC outpost at the Universidad del Valle studying the interrelationship of TB and HIV in rural Guatemala.

In Guatemala Janet met Dr. Cesar Lopez Tellez. Later they had their first child, Benjamin Lopez-Ikeda and got married. They settled in Quetzaltenango, built a home, welcomed their second child, Marisa Lopez-Ikeda, all while founding a non-profit organization called the Association for IDEI (Investigation, Development and Integral Education) which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Janet Midori Ikeda, please visit our floral store.