An "App"le a Day - Whole Foods App Available

Whole Foods Market has launched its Missions App now available on the App store. As a part of the company's ongoing mission to promote wellness and encourage healthier lifestyles, the Whole Foods Market Missions App will help users eat better and live better.


The app revolves around more than 70 challenges known as Missions, where users engage in a series of steps to earn badges and bragging rights. Each user creates their own profile to track the badges they earn and their favorite tips, which can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, and email.

In addition to challenging customers to earn badges like Organic Avenger, Local Yokel, and Nutty Ninja, the Missions App also provides a database of more than 300 tips to help them succeed. Tips include advice on nutrition, food selection, storage, and cooking. The app also includes a store locator, which works just like Whole Foods Market Recipes, the company's first app launched in June 2009.

The Whole Foods Market Missions App is available for free from the App Store on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch or at itunes.com/appstore.  For more information, please visit: wholefoodsmarket.com/iphone or e-mail cooklikejackie@gmail.com.

Kiddie Culinary - Safer Food and Beverage Options for Kids Emerge

Smiling Planet Dinnerware

Concerns about the safety of plastics and glassware for children have recently be in the headlines prompting product recalls and legislative action.  In 2009 alone, there were more than 100 recalls of children's products, and earlier this year the major recall of Shrek-themed glassware by the McDonald's Corporation over cadmium concerns has many parents looking for safe dining options for their children.
Thermos® brand, a producer of children's food and beverage container products since the 1950s, is setting a new standard in transparency by now offering parents a convenient way to access safety information on Thermos lunch boxes and popular stainless steel vacuum-insulated FUNtainer(TM) products.

The company has launched a dedicated website, http://www.thermos.com/cpsia where visitors will be able to download Certificates of Compliance for all Thermos products simply by entering the product UPC or product number. The downloadable Certificates of Compliance confirm that the children's products meet CPSIA standards (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) as proven by testing in independent laboratories.  To facilitate discussion and conversation about back-to-school safety, Thermos (@ThermosBrand) will host a Twitter chat with Drago and leading food safety expert, Donna Rosenbaum on Tuesday, August 10 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT. The discussion will focus on back-to-school safety tips for and from parents. Twitter users can participate using the "#ThermosBTS" hashtag to be automatically entered to win some of Thermos' newest lunch boxes and FUNtainer products.

Smiling Planet, a new brand of art-inspired, earth-friendly lifestyle products for all ages, recently announced that it has become a Trusted Partner of Healthy Child Healthy World. The partnership represents a joint commitment to raising awareness about preventing children's exposure to harmful chemicals, and also reinforces the high standards of safety, quality, and environmental consciousness that Smiling Planet sets for its children's dinnerware.

Made from 100% recycled and recyclable #5 polypropylene plastic, Smiling Planet's plates and bowls are specifically designed to be a safe and practical alternative to dinnerware containing melamine, BPA and other harmful chemicals. All products are CPSIA-compliant and use non-toxic inks.  Smiling Planet's eco-friendly dishes and bowls are dishwasher-safe, and virtually unbreakable. The company's whimsical artwork reflects their earth-friendly ethos with a message of peace, diversity, and respect for the environment.

The line of products are available at Whole Foods Markets and at baby, natural product, design, and yoga boutiques around the world, and online at http://www.smilingplanet.net/.

For more information please contact cooklikejackie@gmail.com.

New York Botanical Garden "Edible Garden" Open Through October 17th

The New York Botanical Garden recently opened its Edible Garden, an exhibition about growing and preparing good food. Set across the 250-acre Botanical Garden landscape and open to the public through October 17, 2010, the exhibition celebrates locally grown, seasonal food through demonstrations from food and gardening experts every day and teaches visitors how to grow the best food at home.

Appearances by Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, Rick Bayless, Daisy Martinez, Dan Barber, Sara Moulton, and others have been scheduled during four festival weekends.  Four kitchen gardens and cooking demonstrations will be held daily.  Proceeds benefit the Children's Gardening program.


Celebrity chefs narrate The Edible Garden Audio Tour through which visitors can discover where their food comes from and how it gets to their table. Listeners can also receive text messages with nutritional information, recipes, tips, and facts about growing food. The Audio Tour is sponsored by Bloomberg and accessible by cell phone.

Four festival weekends during The Edible Garden offer visitors the chance to discover the origins of food and learn about the plants and plant parts that they eat every day. The Edible Garden launched the Get Out and Grill, a summer grilling opening weekend on June 19 and 20. Celebrity chefs provide healthy cooking demonstrations in the Conservatory Kitchen featuring gourmet cookware and other kitchenware from Anolon®, a major sponsor, and state-of-the-art, outdoor kitchen equipment provided by Viking Range Corp. Food prepared in the Conservatory Kitchen is provided by Whole Foods Market. Visitors can also sample a selection of food and beverage products from vendors at the Tasting Terrace and learn about Garden scientists' research projects involving edible plants at Cafe Scientifique. Macy's is the supporting sponsor of the Tasting Terrace.

Additional festival weekends are scheduled for Fiesta de Flores y Comida, a celebration of Latin American and Caribbean food and flowers, on September 25 and 26; Family Harvest (Columbus Day Weekend), on October 9, 10, and 11; and the Fall Finale, October 16 and 17.

For more information, including admission pricing, visit nybg.org, call 718.817.8700 or e-mail cooklikejackie@gmail.com.