The Culinary Scoop

Free and open to the public on August 26th and 27th, The Creative Kitchen Kids Food Festival will provide a weekend of flavorful, family fun by offering hands-on cooking classes, sampling, and family-friendly activities and entertainment.

Westfield is thrilled to announce the Oculus at Westfield World Trade Center as the host of the 7th annual The Creative Kids Food Festival taking place on August 26th and 27th from 10am – 4pm.

The Creative Kitchen Kids Food Festival is a celebration to educate families about making balanced food choices that help create wholesome lifelong eating habits for both kids and parents. The weekend-long event will offer a host of family-friendly activities including cooking classes in the James Beard Foundation Future Foodies Pavilion, hosted in Épicerie Boulud, food demonstrations, musical performances, a Balanced Plate Scavenger Hunt for kids with goody bag prizes, food sampling, and more!

Featured chefs and restaurants in the James Beard Foundation Future Foodies Pavilion include Épicerie Boulud, Elizabeth Falkner, Aaron McCargo Jr, and Eataly Downtown. Featured programming in the Community Performance Area includes contestants on MasterChef Junior Season 5, FunikiJam, The Pineapple Explorers Club, and Karma Kids Yoga.

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Between 2013-2016, McDonald’s USA distributed 54M books to kids with plans to distribute 20M more books during the upcoming promotion

In celebration of National Literacy Month in September, McDonald’s USA is inviting families to celebrate the joy of reading with the launch of the latest Happy Meal Books promotion. Happy Meal Books will return to restaurants nationwide from September 5-18 helping spread the gift of reading to families across the U.S.

In celebration of its 200th anniversary, HarperCollins Publishers, one of the leading publishers of children’s books, is joining forces with McDonald’s USA to bring families a collection of four Happy Meal-sized books featuring popular titles – “Pete the Cat’s Got Class” by James Dean, “Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School” by Herman Parish, “Just A School Project” by Mercer Mayer and “If You Take a Mouse to School” by Laura Numeroff. Books are available in English and, in select restaurants, in Spanish.

“HarperCollins is pleased to be part of McDonald’s Happy Meal Books promotion again this year to place beloved books in the hands of millions of children,” says Suzanne Murphy, President and Publisher, HarperCollins Children’s Books. “Reading has a profound impact on the educational development of a child and through this program along with our donation to Reading is Fundamental, we hope to make book ownership for children more accessible.”

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Meal Kit Company Uses Data to Redesign Family Plan That’s Kid-Friendly, Family-Approved

HelloFresh, one of the world’s leading meal kit delivery companies, has released the results of a new survey on the latest food trends among families in the United States.  HelloFresh consulted the experts – parents and kids – in addition to analyzing over a year’s worth of customer recipe feedback, finding that pork is the #1 protein, kids love customization, and Mexican cuisine is the most popular among families. As a data-centric company, HelloFresh looks to constantly evolve and improve its products, which is why they are using this data to launch a revamped Family Plan, available starting August 19.

The nationwide survey conducted in May 2017 polled a total of 1,168 respondents, including current HelloFresh customers and non-customers about their preferences on types of cuisine, techniques and ingredients. This, combined with analysis of over a year’s worth of Family recipe feedback including more than 17,000 unique data points, resulted in a revamped product, and a “cheat sheet” for parents to make quick and easy weeknight dinners for the whole family.

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Retailer Pilots Delivery Service in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas

The new partnership allows customers to conveniently complete their grocery shopping by ordering award-winning ALDI products for delivery in as little as one hour. Starting later this month, ALDI will launch the service in Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles, with potential for future expansion.

“Our partnership with Instacart is another example of ALDI expanding our commitment to customer convenience and value,” said Jason Hart, CEO of ALDI. “We know customers are looking for new ways to save time and money. Instacart provides easy access to our low prices at the click of a button.”

The Instacart experience is as easy to shop as an ALDI store. Customers fill their virtual carts by visiting instacart.com or downloading the Instacart App. At checkout, customers can choose a delivery window that works best with their schedule, anywhere from an hour or up to a week later. Instacart’s personal shoppers do the rest.

“From their unique assortment of goods to their low price commitment and high standards, the ALDI and Instacart partnership aligns on delivering excellent value and convenience to consumers,” said Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Instacart. “There’s a clear demand for quality grocery delivery, and ALDI and Instacart are working together to meet it.”

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New Special K survey reveals women spend 61 minutes second-guessing their food choices – every day

Most women admit to questioning what they should or shouldn’t eat, but it’s surprising to know just how much time they spend doing so. In fact, new research¹ commissioned by Special K shows 90 percent of women in the United States question or doubt their food and spend 61 minutes second-guessing their choices – every day.

• That’s an hour trying to decide what you “should” eat, regretting what you eat, wondering if a bad choice was “worth it,” or figuring out how to balance an “indulgence”
• It’s 15 days a year spent feeling uncertain about your food choices – more time than most Americans receive as paid vacation
• And, 51 percent wish they didn’t think about food as much as they do

Special K is on a mission to change that, and has teamed up with Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson to rally women to ditch the doubt, feel good about their food choices and #OwnIt.

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