The Big Game is coming up on February 7. Whether you’re rooting for the Colts or the Saints, you need to have a solid game plan for your game-watching menu.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Dips and Spreads

Edamame Guacamole – My current fave! Made with avocado and edamame, this guacamole variation is both creamy and fresh. Read the rest of this entry »

Around here, we feel like Putumayo World Music and Whole Foods Market kind of grew up together. In celebration of our 30th birthday this year, we asked Dan Storper, founder and president of Putumayo, to write about how it all came to be. Post a comment by February 7th with your favorite kind of world music or Putumayo CD and you might just win a copy of their upcoming release, Rhythm & Blues.

Putumayo World Music was created as a result of a happy series of coincidences. I must say that serendipity (destiny?) has played a major role in much of my professional life. Back in 1991, on my return from Bali, where I was designing and buying clothing and handicrafts for my wholesale and retail business based in New York, I stopped off in San Francisco for a day. On the way to visit a museum exhibit in Golden Gate Park, I heard an incredible African band called Kotoja performing in front of a few hundred people of all ages and backgrounds who were dancing to their wonderful Nigerian-based Afro-beat music. I was struck by how the music had brought these different types of people together on a beautiful San Francisco day in the park. Read the rest of this entry »

2010 is an exciting year for many reasons. It’s the beginning of a new decade, the end of 2009 (thank goodness!) and it is the year Whole Foods Market celebrates our 30th birthday! In September of 1980, John Mackey and Renee Lawson opened Whole Foods Market on Lamar Street in Austin, Texas with a staff of 19.

We asked some of our team members who have been with us from the beginning, or practically the beginning, to share their favorite stories about those early days. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to Valentine’s Day and roses, it’s hard to think of one without the other! We’ve been thinking about them a LOT around here…not just how beautiful they are, but more importantly what our Whole Trade Guarantee™ roses give back to the communities where they are grown.

Grown in the Ecuadorian Andes by a group of Fair Trade certified farms, these “blooms with benefits” help to cultivate better working conditions and equitable wages for the farms’ workers. For each case of Whole Trade roses purchased by Whole Foods Market, an additional percentage is paid directly to worker groups from each farm who collectively decide how to use the money. Some development projects have included education, training, scholarships, health care and housing.

Growing conditions for roses can be finicky at best, and Ecuador has come to be one of the more popular growing environments due to its 10,000 feet elevation, proximity to the sun and its cool nights. The flower industry started there around 20 years ago and currently gives direct employment to more than 70,000 people, with indirect employment going to another 210,000 people. While on average the entire country holds an unemployment rate of 8%, there is very little unemployment in the regions where the flowers business has developed. Read the rest of this entry »

I love New Year’s resolutions, I really do. After months of holiday decadence, resolutions give me the chance to think about what I want to do better in the coming year. This January, Whole Foods has really helped me – and my team members – with our resolutions thanks to our new “this is my year to” campaign. We have all been sharing our resolutions by wearing buttons as well as tacking up notices on our store news board – check out the pictures! A sampling of resolutions I’ve seen:

This is my year to:

• Drink more water
• Volunteer
• Have more family dinners
• Switch from coffee to tea
• Get rich and move to Miami Read the rest of this entry »

Ashley, one of our blog readers, sent us a request to make over her grandmother’s famous bread pudding recipe, complete with a decadent bourbon sauce. We accepted the challenge to lighten up this comforting favorite.

Check out the recipe we developed for Whole Grain Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding.

Here are the changes we made to our lightened up version of traditional bread pudding: Read the rest of this entry »

Since launching our enhanced Quality Standards for Aquaculture in July 2008, we’ve maintained a relatively low profile. We got the word out to the media, posted background information and the detailed standards on our website as well as brochures and other signage in our seafood departments. I also presented the standards at various meetings and conferences. However, we found that we still needed a quick way for our busy customers to see-at a glance-that there’s something special about the farmed seafood sold at Whole Foods Market.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve had a long and funny relationship with orchids. Selling them in our stores, shipping them to different parts of the country, or just buying them for my home, orchids are a lot like people in that they never fail to surprise me and, like me, are full of contradictions. They grow just about everywhere in the world and are an odd combination of tough and fragile – needing some very specific environmental conditions to grow and then needing entirely different conditions to produce a bloom. I have a few at home pretty much all the time since I’m fortunate enough to live in a part of the world where the conditions for growing them are ideal. I am also fortunate enough professionally to have a reason to visit an orchid farm on occasion – my most recent trip coming just this week, in time for the build up to Valentine’s Day. Read the rest of this entry »

Any chance you’ve noticed the number of non-dairy milk, cheese and ice cream replacements available these days? The choices are soaring – even in conventional grocery stores! Plenty of people stay away from dairy products for a number of reasons, including allergies, lactose intolerance and concern over the environment or the way animals are raised and treated. While organic dairy products can be a healthy option, some people feel better, lighter or less congested with fewer dairy products or none at all. If you are one of these people, take heart! It’s never been easier to lighten up or go dairy-free than it is right now, and it keeps getting easier. Read the rest of this entry »

Get the solid basics for taking control of your weight, plus some lesser-known facts and tips, such as new ways to jumpstart your weight control plan. Stop spinning your wheels on the diet cycle! Discover how supporting two natural body systems will help you manage your weight.

Malia Curran, MS, MPH is a nutrition consultant and speaker, and sees clients in the Boston region.

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