2017Issue4_Alabama_v3_COVER_Proof

1 5 MINUTES WITH…

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With that in mind, are you focusing on healthier meals? “Definitely. We’re all about family food using healthy ingredients – not kids’ food like mini-hot dogs. A lot of the stuff that’s marketed to kids isn’t real food. We’re helping them make dishes like hummus made with beets. It was bright pink and a lot of kids who loved it had never eaten beets before. “Kids might not be excelling in school at math or extracurricular activities like dance classes or piano, but cooking is a great thing for them and a life skill they’ll have forever. If we can get to them early, they can feel successful by doing something for their families.” Who’s coming up with the recipes? “We have a great team of developers who come up with themes six to eight months in advance. There’s usually a different theme every month and we’re always testing recipes for them. For example, we just did a Spanish Kitchen where the kids made paella and homemade churros. At the same time they were also able to learn something about the geography and culture of Spain. We’ve also got a pool party theme in July that includes fun summer foods. We’ve had Asian themes with potstickers, egg drop soup, and beef and broccoli. Other themes have had the kids making dishes like spring risotto with peas and even blueberry muffins.” Tell me about the subscription box program for food? “We don’t send ingredients, we send shopping lists with boxes to check off. It keeps kids and their parents organized when they go to the grocery store together to get what they need for the meal. The monthly kit also includes three laminated recipes in 12 easy-to-follow steps, an embroidered patch for the kids’ aprons, table talk conversation cards for the kids and their parents, a kitchen tool, and an activity card such as a science project.”

Samantha Barnes and her family.

I suspect all this will have a positive impact on supermarkets as well as the kids. “I would think so. I love the idea of getting kids into the supermarket. If it’s a chore for parents and kids to go to the store, they don’t learn skills like couponing, budgeting and how to find the items they need in different aisles.” Have you talked to any supermarkets about working with Raddish? “Not a lot. We worked with Whole Foods for a while when we first started, but didn’t pursue it. We had too many other things we wanted to accomplish.” Would you be interested in pursuing it now? “We have been approached by several brands like Campbell’s who talked about their initiatives and we are looking at the possibility doing partnerships over the coming years. But all that takes time to develop.” ■

But all the recipes are geared to kids? “Yes, but they are designed to appeal to their parents and siblings. We don’t do anything with weird ingredients that are hard to find, or super high end. We have families subscribing across the country so we need products that are available to everyone, everywhere and easily sourced at their local grocery stores.” There also seems to be more to Raddish then just cooking. “We talk about where food comes from and the process by which it gets from the farm to the grocery store to the table. We also manage to incorporate a science lesson into it as well. For instance, we recently had a recipe for a chocolate soufflé cake that required whipping egg whites. We talked about the science and process for whipping egg whites. There are just so many things you can teach kids in the kitchen.” What’s the scavenger hunt about? “Each month we produce our Bonus Bites – free content that supports the Cooking Kit’s monthly theme. Our Grocery Store Scavenger hunt can be downloaded from our website and it makes learning about new and seasonal ingredients fun and exciting.”

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