From the category archives:

Consumeristic

Marketing, shopping and buying

Tell McDonald’s: Back off our kids

May 8, 2013

I’m always up for a day of action, especially when the target (McDonald’s) uses marketing purposely designed to get kids to nag parents to death. And that marketing is everywhere: on TV, in movies, on computer games and websites, on children’s products, even in school. “Pester power” or “the nag factor” is how marketers describe [...]

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The truth about the aspartame and milk petition (and why errors hurt food activism)

March 14, 2013

Chances are you’ve heard about the dairy industry petition addressing artificial sweeteners in milk. And chances are that what you’ve heard is wrong. Here are the facts: 1. Food producers already can add artificial sweeteners to milk and other dairy products. 2. The petition, from the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) — which was submitted in 2009, [...]

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Power of the pen: Let’s rock this food-dyes petition from 100 Days of Real Food and Food Babe

March 5, 2013

I’ve written at length about the travesty of artificial food dyes (in short: all risk, no benefit). And about how U.S. food manufacturers have substituted better ingredients overseas while still using artificial, non-nutritive and even dangerous ingredients here. Why have they cleaned up their act elsewhere? Because of public pressure, government support and something called the precautionary principle: the idea that if something could harm the public [...]

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National Girl Scout Cookie Day: Money Counts

February 8, 2013

I’m sure the Girl Scouts of the USA didn’t intend to be so, um, honest, when it chose this image to represent the first “National Girl Scout Cookie Day” (today). But check out the sash around that Thin Mint. See the “Money Counts” badge? Yeah. It sure does. But it doesn’t count for the wee Daisy who earns [...]

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A Halloween PSA

October 31, 2012

  Spoonfed is on Facebook. You’ll find links to blog posts, news and commentary on raising food-literate kids, questions and comments from readers, the works. Stop by, like the page, chime in, spread the word. (Thanks.) Also please consider subscribing by e-mail or RSS feed (which you can do at the top of the blog). Tweet [...]

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October Unprocessed guest post (on candy, natch)

October 28, 2012

Just in time for Halloween, I’m guest-posting over at Eating Rules as part of October Unprocessed, a month dedicated to celebrating and learning about real food. Eating Rules blogger Andrew Wilder (motto: “healthy eating doesn’t have to suck”) started October Unprocessed in 2010 with 415 people pledging to skip processed food for a month. This [...]

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It’s OK. Limiting candy won’t ruin childhood.

September 27, 2012

My almost 9-year-old trick-or-treats. She roams the neighborhood with friends. She collects candy. She eats a couple pieces. But after the fun is done, we have another Halloween tradition: Divide and conquer. Anything with artificial colors, fake sweeteners, trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup and chemical preservatives gets tossed. Right in the garbage. What’s left (and [...]

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Real Food Road Test: The Round-up

September 11, 2012

As I wrote two weeks ago, we decided to finish summer with a road trip. And I decided to microblog along the way, using Facebook posts to show that it is possible to eat well on the road, even when you have no idea where you’re going or where you’re staying. This was road-tripping old-school style. With an iPhone [...]

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Real Food Road Test:
The Spoonfed Guide to Vacation Food

August 27, 2012

‘Tis the season for back-to-school posts. But Tess doesn’t start until Sept. 6, so we’re road-tripping for the next week, to points south but otherwise unknown. No reservations, no set plans. Just the three of us in a car with an itch to meander, and an iPhone loaded with lodging apps. And food, of course. We always bring food when we [...]

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Girl Scout cookies and… a locavore badge?

November 11, 2011

Girl Scout cookie season starts early where I live. No sooner had school begun than it was time to prep legions of little girls to peddle cookies with ingredients that no kid should be eating, much less selling. (And just in time for Halloween, too. Yay.) Your council might not start until January or later, but that [...]

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