July 2010 Archives

Last weekend, my husband, Jim, and I attended a Veggie U fundraiser to support farm-to-table nutrition education in school for fourth graders. Veggie U is the philanthropic arm of the Culinary Vegetable Institute (CVI) located in Milan, Ohio (which, by the way, is the birthplace of Thomas Edison). CVI supplies fresh vegetables and herbs - the most beautiful I have ever seen - to restaurants, most of which are high-end establishments, all over the country.

About 1,200 people attended this event. It was inspiring to see chefs in the classroom and hear what kids have learned about good growing soil and nutrition. All the tasting stations were filled with wonderful recipes incorporating vegetables, mostly organically grown.

CVI was established 20 years ago and very early on identified education as a strategy and need. I know we think gardens are a new way teach kids, but at places like Veggie U, the idea has been around for a long time. Our visit to CVI made me wonder what else is going on in communities across the country. I am a native Ohioan who's lived in this state all my life, and I wasn't aware of the institute or its mission until recently. Cathy Powers, MS, RD, formerly an associate dean at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, developed the curriculum along with chefs and a physician.

You never know what's going on in your own backyard. Find out what is happening in your community. Not everything needs to be built from scratch. Build on what's already there - and what's old is new again!

As a registered dietitian who worked in industry for many years, I really can't remember a time when nutrition advocates and the food industry truly "played nice" in the same sandbox. The tension has at times been palpable: When industry cited the role of personal responsibility in making food choices, nutrition advocates returned the volley citing the perceived excesses of the free market system. Not much has changed.

Today, however, there's no longer room for this tension; the stakes are too high. We must get ourselves on the same page by acknowledging that industry can in fact play a role that goes beyond engineering products to contain less fat, sugar and salt, more fiber, and fewer calories - while maintaining quality, taste and price. Although making such changes is not necessarily easy or inexpensive, doing so is what it means to be a food manufacturer. But food and beverage companies can do more - and we should welcome their help.

As consumers demand it, industry will produce healthier foods. That's just good business. Food and beverage manufacturers also recognize that becoming part of the solution to health issues like obesity by genuinely caring about their customers and helping educate them to make healthier choices is good business, too. 

Whether it's industry-supported national initiatives like the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, outreach to consumers through social media and interactive smart phone applications (Kraft's new iPad applications for kids comes to mind), homegrown employee wellness plans, targeted healthy couponing programs like that offered via Linkwell Health, or any number of other innovative ways to reach consumers, the bottom line is this: We no longer have the luxury of debate. It's time to join forces. Otherwise, we're throwing out the baby, the bathwater - and the solution to the obesity crisis.