CPGs Taking Clues from Mom Life
It’s no surprise or any kind of epiphany that consumer package goods companies follow the lead of what its primary customers need and want. It’s a duh, I know. Every CPG I’ve ever worked with has female purchasers at the top of their target lists — complete with massive efforts like that of the WalMart Moms and the 1:1 online targeting from P&G and J&J. It seems than any company with an ampersand knows how important it is to target moms online. Marketing to moms is compelling, but its the history of moms directing the goods that fascinates me.
Last weekend I made brunch for a friend’s 40th birthday. I found a Sunset Magazine from the month he was born: August 1970. I was ready for quiche recipes, maybe some heavy sauces, I could slow roast or even make fondue. I was wrong. What I found was a clue to the way women’s changing lives 40 years ago shaped the future of the consumer packaged goods industry.
In the early 1970s, the Women’s Movement had moved from the Mad Men phase into a wide, strong, changing world, led by some of my icons that I was lucky enough to meet, including Betty Friedan and Shirley Chisholm. As middle-class women aggressively hit the workforce, consumer packaged goods had to scramble to modify their products in order to shift focus from June Cleaver to June Sells Cleavers for Equal Pay.
“I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan, and never let you forget you’re a man, because I’m a woman, W.O.M.A.N., ” sang Peggy Lee (and Miss Piggy). And indeed they could. But quick frying bacon would have been helpful. Oh, and a microwave. Women needed food that was economical with a quick prep time. These working women still had their homemaker duties in full-swing. The food industry needed to respond to the change. Food companies catapulted themselves into the new focus of low prep meals including the launch of Hamburger Helper, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Betty Crocker ready-to-eat pudding and the “new” fad of instant iced tea mix. Instantly, meals were on the table — and along with it, the children of America began eating processed foods with staggering growth.
Four decades later, the Hamburger HelpHER revolution has resulted in the widely known epidemic of both childhood and adult obesity. Was it the price that parents paid for the women’s movement? Maybe.
The same revolution is happening now at a great and growing pace. Companies are sporting nutrition for children that are actually — stop, gasp — nutritious. Children are being taught at an early age about the importance and ramifications of their diets; and, surprisingly, being given the power to make many of these choices on their own. Ask my kids if they want mac ‘n’cheese and they’ll always say yes, but it’s Annie Mac n’ Cheese, nothing powdered, and, they’ll tell you they are eating carbohydrates, fat and dairy. Give them a chance and they’ll tell you their favorite “superfoods” (blueberries for her, broccoli for him).
I saw savvy, educated kids in action at a Cliff/Luna Bar event in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. The kids spent time planting home gardens, showing off yoga poses and sharing food knowledge. They listened intently, but they listened with the intensity of agreement, not that of learning something new. I chatted with the Cliff lead nutritionist who came with LapTop lunch boxes for kids to decorate and talked about their commitment to healthy quick food. The consumer packaged goods companies are at it again: reaching us where we need them to. We all aspire to live the Cliff/Luna lifestyle of sports, food, fun and giving.
My life as a working mom means butt-busting, speed-of-light work around the clock. It means I, like June Cleaver, have a responsibility to put food on my family table. But I want more than that: I want it to feed us, not just put food in our stomachs. The influence of women on the food industry in the 70s leaves a legacy of quick rising yeast, instant hot chocolate, Bisquick and J-ello. What is the legacy that we, as mothers in 2010,will leave on the food industry?
I was not paid for any marketing or promotion of materials or goods for any company listed above. I did, however, have a great day with the women from Cliff/Luna and ate a casesar wrap and one (okay, two) oatmeal rasin moonpies.
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100 Mile Diet: An Unsurmountable Challenge?
I quit chicken about two months ago. In some ways it’s completely freeing, in others, a pain-in-the-butt. There are days I cook with chicken stock, take sips from my kids’ Chicken Tortilla Soup knowing full well there are a couple of dead birds that went into making that bowl of yumminess. As I get older, I’ve come to understand how important food is to how I feel. Eat crap at the holidays? Feel like crap in January.
I’d heard of the 100-mile diet a few times before. It’s not a “diet” per se, it’s more like a lifestyle choice. In our daily lives, we eat “fresh” food that travels over 1500 miles before it gets on our plate. That’s a bumpy road to the table. Now, I’ve tried the vegetable and fruit delivery from local growers and I love it. There is absolutely no denying that the food looks and tastes so much better. But I’ve always found problems with the foods that show up in my box that we don’t eat at home. A few pounds of rutabaga just can’t be used in this house, even if I cooked with it every day for a week.
Then there is the issue of proteins. We live about 30 miles from the beach — there are plenty of fresh fish to eat and even more shellfish. Is it the best I’ve eaten? Not so much. And how about the turkey, beef and pork? My in-laws live near the famed Harris Ranch and that is a lot more than 100 miles from here. Cheeses are easier. There are some good dairy options that are very local to the Bay Area. If we could just live on wine alone, I could sustain myself in 20 miles (I think that’s how far away Ridge Winery is). Since I can’t live on hooch alone, I’m faced with the issue: Can I sustain our family’s diet on 100-mile radius of available foods?
100 Mile Diet
According to the 100-Mile-Diet website, I can shop as far south as Salinas, maybe stretching to Fresno, and get a bunch of local goodness from Watsonville, Hollister and Gilroy. I can get food from as far north as Sacramento (they have food in Sacramento?) and up to Santa Rosa. Now, can I do it?
The answer is, probably. The truth is, I probably won’t.
The Localvores movement has hit San Francisco, and smartly, they choose the month of September to take their 100-mile challenge. Perfect weather for fresh fruits, vegetables of both summer and fall seasons. I’m guessing the second week of January isn’t the right time of year to start the challenge. The Eat Local challenge folks keep a great blog with resources, recipes ideas and hurdles in eating within a 100-mile radius. There is also a site that made me really think seriously about this project. The Eat Wild folks do an amazing job at scoping out farms and ranches that are within the 100-mile range. They also give you resources beyond direct-to-consumer, they give you restaurants, grocery and markets that can help with the challenge. Little excuse left, I suppose.
If I were to take on the challenge, I’d have to make sure that I could provide my family with everything they are used to eating — eggs, milk, cheese, a good burger. I’d need to scope out restaurants that served locally grown fare since there is no way I’m cooking at home every day. I’d go stir-crazy. I’d want to know what grocery stores can make my life easier. Does WholeFoods do a 100-mile line of products? I’d want sneaky resources at my fingertips so I could wiggle my way through holidays and birthdays. And, I’d need to know that I can cheat and take my kids to the McDonald’s drive-thru on a whim.
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150-Calorie French Onion Soup
My favorite winter soup recipe is a French Onion soup done with almost no fat and very low calories. It’s not a traditional French Onion since I’m going for the lowfat, low carb stuff. It takes awhile to baby the onions, but it’s worth it for the richer, sweeter flavors. When slicing the onion, cut into thin long strips, not chunks or dice. This recipe serves about four big bowls or six appetizer-size portions.
8 sweet maui onions (the small ones have more flavor)
2 red/purple onions
1 yellow onion
2 T. olive oil
1 t. butter
1 qt. beef broth or stock (clear)
1 qt. chicken broth or stock (sometimes I use veggie stock instead)
2 c. dry red wine
Fresh thyme, salt, sugar, coarse pepper
4 slices sourdough bread, cubed and toasted (I salt them too)
4 slices Alpine Lace lowfat swiss cheese
Put oil and butter in heavy pan and melt. Add onions and cover in oil/butter. Add about two tablespoons sugar and salt and let the onions sweat for 40 minutes, stirring and babying frequently. We want them carmelized but not crispy or dry. Add wine and keep on low heat for about 30 more minutes. Once the onions are drunk and sloppy, add the stock and bring to a boil. Remove any impurities from the top. Reduce to a simmer again. Add fresh thyme, pepper, salt to taste.
Put broiler on high. Pour soup into bowls evenly distributing the onion and broth. Put croutons over the top add slice of the swiss cheese over that. Put under broiler until cheese is bubbly. Hint: I usually dab some other form of cheese onto the croutons for another layer of flavor.
Serve immediately.
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Tastes Like a Dive
I concocted some random recipes the other day. The favorite? A sloppy dive food-tasting mixture that’s — shock, horror — healthy and feels like you’re being glutenous.
Let’s call it Sloppy Soy
1 package Soyrizo
1 10oz. can white Hominy (I like Juanitas)
1/2 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
Sautee onion and garlic until transparent. Add soyrizo to mixture and cook until slightly browned. Add can of drained hominy. Mix together. Cook 5 minutes or until mixture is fully incorporated. Serve warm.
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Fish Stinks
When I was a kid we ate fish on Fridays (or, if we got lucky, Filet ‘O’ Fish from Mackers). It wasn’t that I disliked fish, it was that I absolutely hated the smell of fish that lingered in our house for two days. And worse, the smell of cleaning products lingering over the top of the fish smell. Ick.
I make fish a couple times a week at home, but I absolutely refuse to do the nasty fish smell in our house. I bake or grill our fish only. No exceptions. I don’t care if there isn’t a crusty skin top or a quick pan fry that makes fish taste so yummy and oily. Nope, bake the sucker. Trust me on this one.
Baked Fish
What you need:
Glass Pan
Tin Foil
Pam
Sea salt
Fresh herbs
Panko Bread crumbs
Olive oil
Halibut, Sea Ball or other white fish
What to do:
Put foil in pan, Pam on foil
Rub fish in oil, then mixture of salt, crumbs and herbs
Fold foil over half of fish
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes
No smell:
Serve fish onto plate
Take tin foil in whole and throw directly outside to your trash bin
Put glass pan in dishwasher
Trust me on this, your kitchen will smell liked warm food, not dead fish.
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The Creperie That Wasn’t
If you’ve wandered the streets of Paris, or heck, anywhere in Western Europe, you’ve seen — and hopefully tasted — the incredible street food at-the-ready. The cooks are unsung heroes of real food. I’ve had kebab in Cairo that I went back to eat three days in-a-row; Lucky’s Souvlaki made Gyros in the city of Fira, Greece that left me addicted, even with the parasite it gave me (and continued to give me for three months); I’ve had a pretzel in Manhattan near 5th Avenue on the south side of the street that was my good luck charm for years. Oh, and the churros con chocolate in Alacante, Spain where the smell still stays with me years later.
In the US, there are hot dog stands. That’s it. Some cities like Portland, Denver in the summer and of course, New York (screw weather, gimme a ‘dog), go beyond the basics, but still, our understanding and respect for street food is minimal, if not downright lame. In the hopes of bringing the spirit of Lucky and his comrades to the Bay Area, I’ve been investigating a crepe stand.
The idea was to draw in the already booming community with low-priced, healthy street food made with love. I envisioned a half-dozen people standing around waiting for their fresh crepe, wrapped in savvy (kiss my ass Martha Stewart) parchment. I had a mindset of catering to all the local crowds: the morning mamas, the teachers at Noon stopping by for a quick bite of culture, the post-dinner sweet teeth. As the idea developed, the game was to stay as basic as possible, stay true to basic ingredients (buckwheat a must, Bisquick a never), the basic concept (no, I don’t do sandwiches) and, most importantly, the basic philosophy that food made with care, one at a time is better than any grand concept I could conjure.
But the Creperie was not to be. In the end, street vendors are prohibited in San Jose towns. They’re not outlawed, per-se, but they are boxed out by pages and pages of regulations that prevent them from being a part of small towns like ours. I get it, really, I do. The businesses that pay hefty leases don’t need a street vendor outdoing them, the parking lots are sparse and, the taste of street vending is fulfilled already with the weekly Farmer’s Market. Leases are pointless, the number simply don’t work. I’ve run the numbers, talked to the health department, the police department and the (very cool and helpful) department of environmental health. Simply, there are not enough crepes to be eaten daily to justify a rent and all the crap that goes with rent and not enough room in town for a trolling vendor, even if it is cool, cultural and community oriented.
So another idea goes by. In four years, someone’s going to be incredibly popular with this. It’s how it rolls with me. A bit ahead of our time in a town that’s trying to just stay with the times in an economy that’s just trying to stay afloat. I’m disappointed. But I’m satisfied that we looked at the idea every which way and it just ain’t happenin’.
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Side Gigs
