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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.”
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.”
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.”
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Samantha Barnes and her family.
| ALABAMA GROCER
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