The Official Fooditude Blog

Fun Filled Future Plans for Fooditude!

You've seen the mission video, you've seen the website, but what's next for Fooditude? 

Ideally we'd love to see Fooditude appear on a national network (you know who you are) today.  However, we are still young, and although this baby is crawling at a pretty good pace, it won't be long before we are up and running at full speed. In the meantime, we are diligently working on some exciting projects that'll keep you and your kids coming back for more.

First, we are developing a new and improved, kid friendly, educational and interactive website! The revamped kids' site will let your kids share food ideas, green ideas, and it'll feature games, quizzes, recipes, and gardening tips, to name a few.  We are also focusing on more video content, and will be launching Fooditude webisodes. Each webisode is basically one segment of the show, and will feature the kids learning about food history and culture, gardening and what it means to go green, food science, nutrition, and cooking.

After all of these webisodes are complete, we will combine them into full episodes of Fooditude for future viewing. Our new and improved fun filled Fooditude website will be launched this spring, and soon after, you will be watching webisodes on the site.

Stay tuned!

Kerry


 

A Call For Fooditude

What a difference a call makes. One recent phone call made to the White
House by a Fooditude supporter, and the White House called back and wanted
to know more about us!

While we have been blogging, Facebooking, and Twittering away to keep you
informed and to raise Fooditude awareness, the call from the White House
this week has shown that it is your voice, the voice of our supporters,
that needs to be heard as well.

We are closer than we’ve ever been to making direct contact with the
Office of the First Lady, and in this exciting time, we ask that you make
a call (or two!) in support of Fooditude.

1. A call to your Governor. Michelle Obama spoke to Governors about Let's Move, her national initiative to combat childhood obesity, at the annual meeting of the Governor's Association on Saturday.  Fighting childhood obesity and Let's Move are on their radar.

2. A call to the White House.

This is a chance to express your personal support for Fooditude and to
share why Fooditude plays an important part in the fight against childhood
obesity.

Thank you and we will continue to keep you posted!!

Elise, Kerry, and Jodi

Dear Mrs. Obama. . . Fooditude Writes the First Lady!

Almost one week ago, Michelle Obama launched Let's Move, an initiative to fight childhood obesity.  Fooditude decided NOW is the time to reach out to Mrs. Obama and let her know who we are and what Fooditude stands for. With Fooditude being based in both Chicago and DC, two towns she knows quite well, we can grab her attention, right?  To make sure we do, please tell everyone you know online about this letter. . . maybe Mrs. Obama's administration will catch wind of it!

Dear Mrs. Obama:

Fooditude Media LLC is a Chicago and DC based company committed to fighting childhood obesity. The creators of Fooditude are three women, including a Registered Dietitian from the DC area, and two Chicago based television producers. Combining professional expertise with a personal passion for good food and healthy kids, has led to the creation of Fooditude Media, a company whose mission is to educate and advocate for a healthy future generation.

The Fooditude project is a reality based television series that empowers Tweens to make healthy choices. The premise of the show keeps kids at the core, as Tweens venture to cook a recipe together, and discover nutrition, the food system, gardening, food science, culture, and food history, in the process.

Fooditude will launch a series of webisodes this spring, in conjunction with an educational interactive website. The Fooditude educational website will serve as a “Go Chew” place for Tweens, and a resource for parents and educators. Recipes, games, quizzes, DIY food projects, and other web content, will take Fooditude to its intended destination: into the lives of Tweens, into the homes of families, and inside the classroom.

But it doesn’t stop there. The ultimate goal is to grow Fooditude into a nationally televised show.

Fooditude uniquely provides kids with an opportunity to voice their opinion about the foods they eat, encourages families to actively become involved in what is eaten at home, and redefines eating together and cooking together, as a positive and fun activity that can be done with friends and family. 

Mrs. Obama, your wonderful efforts have brought the issue of childhood obesity to the table, and with Fooditude, kids are invited to become part of this conversation. As plans for both Fooditude and Let's Move develop, we humbly ask you to endorse Fooditude, and consider Fooditude to be a key player in the fight against childhood obesity.

Our Mission Video was launched in Chicago last November. Please visit www.fooditude.tv to view the Fooditude Mission Video and to learn more about us.


Thank you,
The Creators of Fooditude

 

Connecting with Those Who Share Your Mission!

For those of you out there who have started your own business, you know there are many challenges facing you that can be enough to stop you from even pursuing the new endeavor.  Unless you are one of the lucky ones that jumped ship from a company with a few big-ticket clients, you know how tough it can be to build up your own client base.  Sometimes it means playing a little dirty, throwing old colleagues under the bus, or using and abusing people because they can offer what you can’t.

While Fooditude is in fact a business, it comes with a very different set of challenges than the above.  It’s less about finding clients and more about creating a fan base and reaching out to others that can help spread our message. Most importantly its about passion, advocacy and education.  On our path to creating that fan base, we’ve encountered numerous organizations and businesses with similar missions and goals: to educate children about health and nutrition while fighting obesity in a smart and creative way. 

It is food that connects all of us.  Well, food and people like Melissa Graham from Purple Asparagus (www.purpleasparagus.com) who brought together over 20 organizations and businesses to participate in the first “Growing Healthy Kids” event at Logan Square Kitchen (www.logansquarekitchen.com) in Chicago, IL. We got the chance to meet so many amazing people and become a part of a community that understands our goals and wants to help us achieve them. We know that all of us together can truly change the minds of children in a positive way and Fooditude is so proud to be a part of this revolution!

Elise

To read more about the others who participated in the event see the list below

  Seven Generations Ahead
  After School Matters/Growing School Gardens
  Chicago Botanic Garden
  Cardamom Kitchen
  Chartwells
  City of Chicago Department of Community Development
  Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC)
  Common Threads
  Fooditude
  Food Ateliers
  Fresh Connections
  The Good Food Project
  GourmetGorilla
  Green City Market
  Growing Power, Inc.
  Healthy Schools Campaign
  Jane Addams Hull House Association
  NURTURE
  Purple Asparagus
  Organic School Project
  Slow Food
  School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education
  The Kids Table
  OrganicLife
  Urban Worm Girl
   We Farm
  Green Sugar Press




 

On the Right Trail to Healthy Snacking

A wonderful perk as Nutrition Director at the Capital Area Food Bank, is that I get to attend large community health events. Here is a highlight from the latest NBC4 Health & Fitness Expo a few weekends ago. . .

 Two girls, roughly ages 7 and 10, came up to our booth to see what we were up to. They were intrigued by the samples we were giving out: small cups of homemade trail mix.

 Both girls closely inspected the contents of the cup they were holding, naming each ingredient out loud.

 “EWWW, I don’t eat raisins,” one of the girls adamantly exclaimed. 

 “Have you eaten raisins like THIS before?”  I questioned.

 Silence.

 Both girls looked into their cups again and started slowly and silently eating their snacks. As they continued to eat, all hesitation went out the window.

 “Do you think you like raisins now you have tried them in a different way?”

 Small nods and two large smiles said it all.

 As a cooking teacher, I learn over and over again that kids need the space to decide for themselves whether or not they like certain foods. Sure there is resistance at first, but aren’t we all resistant to trying new things sometimes? The best I can do as a teacher is give kids the respect they deserve to voice their opinion about foods they taste, but at the same time place an expectation that they are considerate of new foods and are willing to try new things.  Most important, I notice that, for kids, making healthy food fun also makes it taste better!

 As for the trail mix, it was SUCH a hit. Multigrain cheerios, sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts, raisins, craisins, and mini chocolate chips. Throw everything into a bowl and enjoy.

 In class, we call this a “cooking by looking” recipe, if it looks right, it IS right!

May we all be on the right trail to healthy eating!

Jodi B