“The faults of a superior person are like the sun and moon.
They have their faults, and everyone sees them; they change
and everyone looks up to them.”
— Confucious
Change in All Things Is Sweet
Controling Obesity by What We Buy!
Probably one of the more interesting articles on controlling obesity through marketing food products that are more in-line with most people’s consumption habits is entitled: “De-Marketing Obesity” from the California Management Review vol. 47 No.4 Summer 2005. (produced by Brian Wansink and Mike Huckabee)
Marketing Nutrition also by Brian Wansink is “a book that examines the intersection of consumer psychology, nutrition, and business.”
For me the four points that jumped out of the study:
1) 57% of consumers would pay 15% more for packaging ‘that helps them better control what they eat.’ Practically speaking, folks want multi-packs with smaller individual servings, and packaging that is ‘slightly more difficult to open, access and eat from.’
2) Change the Product but not the price. When prices go up on goodies, consumption also goes up … oddly enough
3) Small changes in the recipe will reduce calories without changing the perceived taste.
4) ‘Consider co-promoting healthy options, recipes…’
Many marketers are already utilizing the principles. Jenny Craig is a master at all of these principles. Anyone who has had to wrestle a ‘Jenny Craig’ package KNOWS that this is ‘part of the dining experience!’ The food is very low calorie and low fat, but tastes very close to ‘the high priced spread’ and this makes all the difference! The chocolate cake is delicious!
So…. what are you waiting for?
Roger Freberg
take it to the matresses
Have you ever noticed how many times in one’s life it becomes necessary to ‘go to the mattresses?’….. to go to ‘war’ to preserve something important to you?
It’s one of those often cruel lessons in life that one’s mere existence is often a constant struggle. It seems all to easy to give into evil of one kind or another, roll over and die.
Now that I have totally depressed you, allow me to say that it is the struggle that is noble and inspiring, whether or not the obstacle is ever overcome. Victory is sweet, but at least if you are ‘struggling, striving, reaching’ , then you are still in the game! The journey is often sweeter than the destination.
So whether your efforts are fighting the ‘hamsters’ of our time*, or the villains within us…. by ‘taking it to the mattresses’ we maintain who we are.
Roger Freberg
*’hamsters’ is a polite family expression for unpleasant people
Birthdays are always Special
Well, my birthday this year had some special meaning to me given my poor father didn’t make it to this age … and others I know might not …. so, it’s important to appreciate the ‘journey.’
SOooOO… this year, I wanted to depart from the lovely Black Forest Cake Laura makes me and made a request for something I have recently come to enjoy with a small change. I asked for a cheesecake with a blueberry topping.
Laura always bakes in secret, so it’s tough to get the recipes she loves to make from her! All I can say, it was marvelous! The topping wasn’t your typical blueberry… yum! Of course, the right champagne made it perfect!
Here’s the basic recipe!
Roger Freberg
30 years of Chocolate Chip Cookies
Almost everyone I know still uses a chocolate chip recipe on the back of a bag of chocolate chips or in a cookie book. This is sad, when the best recipes are still out there… although somewhat forgotten and unused.
Back in the mid ’70’s, the humble chocolate chip cookie was about to get ‘customized!’ (then, nearly 80% of all cookies baked from scratch were chocolate chip cookies… surprised? I suspect that this hasn’t changed much)
As an ol’ chocolate salesman from that era, I remember Famous Amos and his wonderful fist size cookies. Don’t look for them today…. they are not what they once were. However, for us chocolate lovers, it gave us a chance to rush to our test kitchens and try our hand at making ours better.
So, I thought, what’s better than to add the three most popular ingredients in cookie making: chocolate chips, peanut butter and oatmeal?
You can still make cookies best from scratch!
Roger Freberg
Hey, today’s my birthday… Jenny Craig will just have to understand