I’m on my way back home from Expo West. What a trip. Expo West was pretty cool, but even cooler was being featured and pictured in the NY Times yesterday.
A lot of people are wondering what I am going to do with the money generated from renting our rental condo during the DNC… I won’t be using it to go on vacation or buy something material. I will be right here in Charlotte during the convention. I have big plans for the funds which will be used to continue to grow this site and spread the movement to label GMOs, holding President Obama accountable for the promises he made in 2007. I met some very well connected and influential people at Expo West that I want to work with to help spread the movement using the convention as a back drop.
You can do your part now – Please sign the petition at Just Label It – You have the right to know what’s in your food.
Speaking of food… On Friday night, I attended a fundraiser for The Organic Center, a non-profit who’s mission is to spread education and the benefits of organic agriculture. It was a night full of schmoozing and boozing… One highlight of the evening was introducing myself to a few big wigs – I had no idea who they were at first… it was fun later finding out exactly how powerful these people are. I think they were pretty impressed with my tenacity.
The entire evening encompassed everything ORGANIC – down right to all the drinks offered….. The beer, the tea, the sparkling beverages…
And all of the wine selections… I tried a glass of the organic cabernet (4th bottle from the left)
The hostess and MC of the evening was the lovely Sara Snow (and her daughter Silvia)… I’ve been following Sara Snow for quite sometime – I used to watch her show about living an organic lifestyle on Fine Living years ago and admire her so much…. To meet her was definitely the most exciting part of the event for me.
The keynote speaker of the evening was Dr. Alan Greene. He opened his speech with with a provocative statement – “Eating is like unprotected sex – Chew food you can trust ”
I wasn’t sure I could digest or trust the words he was saying though, after getting the 411 from one of my dinner companions… Dr. Alan Greene is a celebrity doctor that is riddled with controversy. The Cornucopia Instittute asked for The Organic Center to drop Dr. Greene as a speaker from the agenda. This is all because of his financial ties and support of suspicious synthetic supplements he encouraged to be added to infant formula and milk most commonly sold by the brand name “Horizon.” You can read all the facts behind this shadiness here.
For dinner there was a pretty large organic buffet set up… my friend and mentor, Max Goldberg and I enjoyed catching up over dinner. He runs Livingmaxwell.com – a guide to organic food and drink. If you like reading this site, you’ll definitely like his too – check him out.
I got a little bit of everything from the buffet. I loved the big roasted carrots and asparagus with the quinoa – The salmon was very good too. It’s been a while since I had wild salmon.
I also tried some of this organic chocolate torte (my favorite!) and a few other desserts…. with lots of fresh organic raspberries.
Toward the end of the night – Gary Hirshberg took the stage to give some closing remarks. I’m a big fan of him, especially since he left his CEO role at Stoneyfarm and committed to spend his time getting GMOs labeled and partnering with the Just Label It campaign.
By the door on the way out – there were lots of goodies to take home. Nature’s Path granola, organic coffee, reusable bottles and bags,
Reader Question: If GMO’s get labeled and find out your favorite foods have them – What will you do? Will you still buy them?
There’s lots more to share from my trip out west coming soon!
Have a great week…
Food Babe
Awesome about the NYT Vani!! Very cool!!
Great pictures from the dinner and we’ll have to catch up soon. I am recovering with lots of wheatgrass. 🙂
Thanks Max – Loved getting to spend time with you at the expo. I’m going to get 4 ounces of wheatgrass a bit later… however, my true recovering will start tomorrow… had my brother’s birthday lunch earlier and have another event tonight! Ahhhh! I’m ready for my homemade food!
I would not buy those products even if they were my favorites. I strongly believe in truth in advertising, so if a company has been deceptive about its products, I wouldn’t want to support it.
I have to admit that I was a gullible consumer until working for a “natural” food company myself. You have also opened my eyes to the false advertising of hair care companies and frozen yogurt, and I’m sure there’s a lot more you’ll reveal to your readers as time goes on. Thank you for doing the legwork for us!
You are welcome Holly! Information empowers us… I’m glad to hear you’d vote with your dollars!
I really hope GMO food gets labeled. I truly believe that we are what we eat and even if my all time favorite food (dark chocolate) was GMO I would not eat it!
Sadly most dark chocolate probably is GMO contaminated if it has soy lecithin and regular sugar in it and not organic. 🙁
Love the blog and im so glad I met you!
Awe. Shane. You are too kind. I’m happy I met you too! Now if I could get over to your yoga class more often… that would be nice!
I would immediately stop buying the products, only because that will send a very powerful message to the companies and make them consider changing to non-GMO ingredients. The more that people raise the bar on what we expect from companies, the more changes we will actually see. The daily decisions that seem so small to us as individuals are really so much more powerful and the community you built is a reminder that we are not alone. So thank you, Vani. 🙂
Thanks Mary Beth… This community here really rocks. I love each and everyone of you!
Looks like it was a great event…thanks for sharing the details!
Thanks Lisa… and I’ve got a lot more on Expo West coming soon!