#20ate - Let's Celebrate Real Food this February!

Have you eaten any #realfood today?

rogerdoiron — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:36:38 -0500

Have you eaten any #realfood today?

#realfood for #realpeople Help us “outlike” the...

rogerdoiron — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:58:18 -0500

#realfood for #realpeople Help us “outlike” the Cheese Puff page on facebook!

#realfood don’t settle for anything less!

rogerdoiron — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:31:24 -0500

#realfood don’t settle for anything less!

#realfood rules! Make sure you eat some today.

rogerdoiron — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:49:34 -0500

#realfood rules! Make sure you eat some today.

Photo

rogerdoiron — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:54:58 -0500

Photo

rogerdoiron — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:41:13 -0500

Real food rots…and rocks. Can you help us win the facebook...

rogerdoiron — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:14:41 -0500

Real food rots…and rocks. Can you help us win the facebook “like-off” against the Cheese Puff page? Nice. You rock too!

Does your snack pass the “great grandma test?”

rogerdoiron — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 06:06:00 -0500

Does your snack pass the “great grandma test?”

Facebook’s unhappy meal. Help us make it a bit more...

rogerdoiron — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:57:28 -0500

Facebook’s unhappy meal. Help us make it a bit more balanced and appetizing by liking KGI’s fanpage.

Yesterday, Kraft’s Oreos brand broke the Guinness Record...

rogerdoiron — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 02:47:20 -0500

Yesterday, Kraft’s Oreos brand broke the Guinness Record for most liked post on facebook within a 24 period with 114,619 likes. The victory celebration featured in the photo above proved short lived, however, as rapper Lil Wayne dethroned the 55 calorie cookie a mere 5 hours later with 588,243 likes. Message: snack food brands are going all in with their social media marketing, but their fan bases are not as large, loyal and motivated as creative brands.

Can a Healthier Diet Cost Less?

rogerdoiron — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:19:00 -0500

Can a Healthier Diet Cost Less?:

Since switching over to a healthier, home-made diet, Christian Science Monitor blogger, Trent Hamm, estimates that his family’s food budget has gone down by 15%. The catch: the time spent preparing food has gone up. But aren’t our families’ health and well-being worth it?

If this is the type of “fruit” you’re giving...

rogerdoiron — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:08:46 -0500

If this is the type of “fruit” you’re giving your child as a snack, we need to talk!

Photo credit: Schtumple

Actress Alicia Silverstone Digs Real Food & #20ate

rogerdoiron — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:49:33 -0500

Actress Alicia Silverstone Digs Real Food & #20ate:

Thanks, Alicia, for the mention in your blog and on twitter!

Teens struggle to find time to eat during school

rogerdoiron — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 03:17:38 -0500

Teens struggle to find time to eat during school:

One of the main reasons young people opt for unhealthy snack foods is that they are pressed for time. How do we reorganize the school day to allow for healthier eating?

Riddle: what makes your body fat & your IQ skinny?

rogerdoiron — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 05:45:05 -0500

Riddle: what makes your body fat & your IQ skinny?:

If you answered “junk foods,” you clearly don’t have a skinny IQ which may have head something to do with what you were fed as a child. According to a new study by the University of Bristol, intelligence may be lowered by a processed food diet in childhood:

The results showed that a predominantly processed food diet at the age of three was associated with a lower IQ at the age of 8.5, irrespective of whether the diet improved after that age. Every one-point increase in dietary pattern score was associated with a 1.67 fall in IQ.

On the other hand, a healthy diet was associated with a higher IQ at the age of 8.5, with every one-point increase in dietary pattern linked to a 1.2 increase in IQ.

Michael Pollan on how to navigate a modern grocery store. Hint:...

rogerdoiron — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 05:33:51 -0500

Michael Pollan on how to navigate a modern grocery store. Hint: stick to the perimeter. #realfoods #20ate

Pepsi to increase snack food ad spending in 2011

rogerdoiron — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:12:16 -0500

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal sheds some light on Pepsi’s snack food marketing strategy this year. In a nutshell, it’s going to do more marketing and do it less honestly:

The company, which cut ad spending in 2009, has increased it in its snack division and should add more in 2011….Pepsi has repackaged many snacks with an emphasis on “all natural” ingredients, often without making significant changes to the products themselves. The change is probably well-timed, as price increases by the industry later this year could lead consumers to compare products more closely.

So be watching for those “new” and “all natural” snacks that aren’t either.

So what is "real food" anyway?

rogerdoiron — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:54:10 -0500

Here’s a nice way of answering the question from the good folks at the Real Food Challenge:

food [food] n 1. something that nourishes, sustains, or supplies.
real [ree-uhl, reel] adj 1. true and actual; not artificial

So what is a real food? It is food which truly nourishes producers, consumers, communities and the earth. It is a food system—from seed to plate—that fundamentally respects human dignity and health, animal welfare, social justice and environmental sustainability. Some people call it “local,” “green,” “slow,” or “fair.” We use “Real Food” as a holistic term to bring together many of these diverse ideas people have about a values-based food economy

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food Rules, defines real food by telling you what it’s not:

Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. “When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can’t pronounce, ask yourself, “What are those things doing there?” Pollan says.
Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can’t pronounce.
Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.
Don’t eat anything that won’t eventually rot. “There are exceptions — honey — but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren’t food,” Pollan says.
It is not just what you eat but how you eat. “Always leave the table a little hungry,” Pollan says. “Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, ‘Tie off the sack before it’s full.’”
Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It’s a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. “Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?” Pollan asks.
Don’t buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

So what is “real food” for you?

Beating swords into plowshares and coca-cola cases into herb...

rogerdoiron — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:26:54 -0500

Beating swords into plowshares and coca-cola cases into herb planters!

Photo Credit: katmere

Good News and Bad News about Super Bowl Snack Food Advertising

rogerdoiron — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 06:06:15 -0500

First the bad news: According to the USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter, snack/junk food companies’ ads claimed 5 or the top 10 slots in terms of popularity with a Doritos ad tying for first place. The air time for the 5 ads is estimated to have cost $3 million per 30 second slot or $15 million total. The good and empowering news is that ad was produced by a 31-year-old part-time web designer of at a cost of $500. Why is this good? Because it points out that creativity trumps deep pockets when it comes to marketing. So who are the most creative forces in the realm of “real food” marketing and how do we help them get their message out to a larger audience?