Meet My Menu: AI, Independence, and the Freedom to Choose

1. Episode Summary At 17, Avital “Avi” Drel heard a deceptively simple story: a blind diner could not independently find out what was on a restaurant menu. Instead of treating that as a minor inconvenience, Avi spent hours interviewing blind and low-vision people across the country. Again and again, he heard the same word: independence. In this episode of The Blind Chick, Penn and Moses talk with Avi about Meet My Menu, an AI-powered tool that can locate or scan a restaurant menu, organize it for screen readers, and let a diner explore dishes through a conversational voice agent. They discuss why reading a menu is really about choice, how accessible design often benefits far more people than its original audience, and where the same idea could go next, including conferences, theater programs, and other information that is still too often inaccessible. 2. Contact Info Guest: Avital “Avi” Drel, founder and CEO of Meet My Menu Meet My Menu: https://meetmymenu.com Web app: https://app.meetmymenu.com Avital Drel: https://avitaldrel.com Aftersight: https://aftersight.org 3. Show Credits Show: The Blind Chick Hosts: Penn Street and Moses Street Guest: Avital “Avi” Drel Producer: Jonathan Price Presented by: Aftersight 4. Chapter Markers 00:05 — Welcome to The Blind Chick 01:18 — Aftersight’s annual Colorado hike and sponsors 05:00 — Meet 17-year-old inventor Avital “Avi” Drel 06:49 — The restaurant experience that sparked Meet My Menu 08:24 — What blind diners said they wanted most: independence 09:08 — Learning that blindness is a spectrum 13:09 — Why traditional menu access still falls short 15:12 — Building and refining the first prototypes 16:36 — Searching online or scanning a printed menu 17:56 — Structured screen-reader access and the AI waiter 21:24 — How voice-first menus can help beyond blindness 23:20 — Where to use Meet My Menu 25:50 — From idea to working product in a matter of months 27:28 — Expanding accessible information beyond restaurants 28:23 — What audio description reveals about what is missing 31:00 — Accessible theater programs and conference information 38:10 — The student team behind the project 41:28 — Business, leadership, and building with AI 45:48 — How to find Avi and Meet My Menu 49:09 — Avi’s message: there is always something you can do 54:14 — Closing thoughts