industry thoughts from Clarteza

My Clarteza team always strives to make a difference. We look for opportunities to contribute. We care about communities where we live in. All of our team members volunteer at our children’s schools, non-profit organizations, soup kitchens and more. We are passionate about our causes.

One event I’m particularly proud of, is the event that I helped to spearhead and organize with Whole Foods and Chef Gale Gand. The idea started, when I observed that lot of kids are not eating very healthy meals. They are either asking for processed meals or sugar filled items.

Personally, I am a believer that “You are what you eat”, and healthy eating can keep you healthy. With that in mind I reached out to Chef Jamie Oliver, a Chef who also wants to make a difference and has created a program that inspired me. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear back from his team even after couple of follow ups. Perhaps my emails got stuck in spam?

Meanwhile, my children were being prodded and teased at school by their peers about the food they eat. The other children teased that my kids eat so healthy and have a lunch bowl of berries that has more berries than their peers have eaten in their entire lives. They didn’t mean it as a compliment. This was disappointing and the last straw for me.

I reached out to my friend, Chef Gale Gand. Her children go to the same school with mine and she was excited about the idea. She also cared about this cause and has done some workshops for kids in the past. My first thought was to have a cooking class or a workshop at the school our children’s school, but I quickly learned that it’s not that easy and it can take a while to arrange the logistics. Instead, I reached out to the local Whole Foods in Deerfield, IL where both Ruben, the store manager, and Kristin, a marketer  responsible for the Midwest decided to join the cause. I was thrilled!

My team created the flier and helped organize the logistics. Within 10 minutes of sending out the flier below, we had 50 interested parents and only 18 seats!

On April 14th, we had our first cooking class: “Kids in the kitchen: Inspiring Healthy Student Bodies”. The event was very successful.  The event was a great success. Kids cooked 2 amazing recipes doing everything from scratch. They were engaged, collaborative and happy. One even said she wants to do this for a living! Of course that made Chef Gale Gand happy.

My favorite comments were: “This is so much fun, I’ve never done anything like this!” or “I have never tasted a blueberry!”. Parents after the event wanted to know when the next one will be held. We have another event scheduled for next week, this time through a local park district, so this will be our next opportunity to get kids involved “in the kitchen” and learn about healthy food.

I also met with Whole Foods to plan more events, maybe with themes. I’m hoping to spread the word and have as many kids involved as possible.  I believe it will make a difference in their lives by creating a new understanding of ingredients, and they will be more open to try new fruits and veggies. Most importantly, with time, they will hopefully learn about the importance of healthy food and its overall impact on health and well-being.

Thank you Chef Gale Gand for creating an amazing cooking experience to elementary school children and Whole Foods Market  for sharing their facility and providing all ingredients!