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Swirls of cooked noodle on a fork - National Eat Your Noodles day
Food & Beverage

It’s National Eat Your Noodles Day

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Noodles: A Food Staple of Many Forms It’s National Eat Your Noodles Day (#NationalEatYourNoodlesDay). Who comes up with these specialty days, I do not know, but I’m going to go with it today. Especially since what you think of as noodles might be different than the guy next to you. According to the Oxford dictionary, noodles are made from flour paste into very thin, long strips of pasta. Once cooked, they can be eaten in soup or with sauce. When you take my friend Chef Gloria Smiley’s pasta making class, you learn that pasta is simply white flour and egg. From…

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a Delicious Global Movement
Thrive! in the News

A Delicious Global Movement

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Terra Madre Salone del Gusto: A Delicious Global Movement Last September I had the amazing opportunity to be selected as one of 300 US delegates to attend Slow Food International’s Terra Madre Salon del Gusto, a biennial event—or better yet, a global movement created in 1985—dedicated to food and gastronomy and educating people on the need to have a “world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet.” It was an experience that is hard to describe, but one that had a lasting impression…

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Two men bullied at corporate awards banquet for having food allergies
Dietary Needs Duty of Care Food Service Meetings & Events

Two Men with Food Allergies Bullied by Coworkers at Awards Dinner

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Not Being able to Eat Wheat or Shellfish is No Reason to be Bullied Last week I was at an event where I witnessed two men being bullied/teased/harassed—whatever you want to call it—about their dietary need. I was stunned, embarrassed and utterly dumbfounded. The event was an awards dinner for a corporation and one at which I was hired to manage the food and beverage and oversee the safe execution of special meals for 18 people with dietary needs (a low number considering other events I’ve done, but still seven percent of the group). The two men who were being…

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snack food month
Dietary Needs Food Service Meetings & Events

Allergen-Free Snack Food Month

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National Snack Food Month is here and for me, this is really exciting. Snacking is necessary throughout the day for most people just to keep themselves energized and healthy. Snacks are important when traveling. They are also important to keep available during long, all-day marathon meetings. That makes snacks a pretty important job for those of us in the meetings and events industry. Most of us already do a great job making sure we have healthy options available. We could all do a better job of making sure snacks are not only available at a central location, but that they…

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Romance Revisited Event Inspiration
Meetings & Events

Romance Revisited: Event Inspiration for Adventurous Attendees

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You’re orchestrating an event and it’s for Valentine’s. For some, this is the most fun an event planner can have and for others, it’s the most dreaded event theme they can ask for. Well, here are some date night trends. This is romance revisited event inspiration for you. We already know about the trend where people are turning away from collecting things to collecting experiences. That is perfect, because as meeting and event professionals, that is what we already design – experiences. It wouldn’t hurt to take it up a notch and add some adventure. Break Out The Bucket List…

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Heart Health Month
Lifestyle Choices

Heart Health Month: Attendees Deserve Healthy Hearts

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Meeting Menus at Center of Heart Health Month I bet you thought wearing red in February was a way to celebrate Valentine’s and while that may be true, February is also Heart Health Month, which includes some school spirit style ‘wear red if you care’ heart disease awareness. One-fourth of men and one in three women die from cardiovascular disease in the United States. High blood pressure, stroke, heart failure, heart attack, it comes in many forms, but with few causes. Lifestyle choices is the leading indicator of heart problems, with genetics only helping it become worse in some people.…

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2017-Cutting-Edge-Food-Trends-iStock-521534856
Dietary Needs Food Service Meetings & Events

2017 Cutting Edge Food Trends

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So much can be said for the future of our industry and of food. There is too much hunger, yet food waste is a major problem. We grow field after field of crops that will feed our cars, our cattle, and ourselves, but we grow in unsustainable patterns with inefficiencies that cause massive price hikes on crops that would be affordable and environmentally friendly if they were only grown cyclically. And what about dining? We come together to celebrate, socialize, and conduct business, but the changing landscape of food laws and dietary needs has created a different environment for the…

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Slow Food
Community

Slow Food is a Fast Solution

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January is #SlowCookerMonth, and while slow cookers can be a comfort food staple at many cook-offs and potlucks, I want to use this opportunity to separate the idea of slow cookers and slow food. All around us, and in communities across the world, there are distinctive food cultures that combine locally grown foods with generations of tradition and culture to make delectable meals available for mass consumption. We make those local food cultures more vulnerable when we don’t support them in our own diets and grocery budgets. The Slow Food movement is one way we act inclusively toward food culture.…

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Food Allergies Laws & Regulations

Press Release: FARE Requests Investigation of American Airlines for Violations of Air Carrier Access Act

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This month, FARE filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation against American Airlines for violations of the Air Carrier Act. FARE is seeking to protect the rights of individuals with food allergies who travel by air. This complaint addresses American Airlines’ written policy prohibiting passengers managing food allergies from pre-boarding – a policy that is a violation of the Air Carrier Access Act, which states pre-boarding must be offered to passengers with a disability who self-identify as needing additional time or assistance to board. Through our filing of this complaint, FARE is calling on the DOT to take…

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Matza bread for passover celebration - how to Manage a Kosher event
Religious Dietary Practices

So You Are Asked to Manage a Kosher Event…What do You do?

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How to Manage A Kosher Event In October after hearing how Bonnie had to plan her daughter’s Jewish wedding last month incorporating two different kosher practices, I asked if she would write a piece on how to plan and manage a kosher event. Below is some of her guidance.  When you plan or manage a kosher event it can be overwhelming to those who have no knowledge of what kosher means and even to those who are Jewish and were raised in a kosher home. My experience in planning a 3,000 person event for the Council of Jewish Federations for their General Assembly was…

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