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I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to share with you great-tasting organic products that are also making a big difference in the world.

One such product that I recently discovered at Whole Foods Tribeca is Sol Simple Solar Dried Bananas.

Produced in Nicaragua, the organic bananas come in thin spears and are dried indoors using a solar drying technology, which enables Sol Simple to reduce carbon emissions.

According to the company, traditional outdoor drying techniques take 2-3 days, expose the fruit to mold and bacteria, and allow the fruit to oxidize.

Living Maxwell

Company Stories

With celebrities rushing to invest in organic food companies these days, Sarah Michelle Gellar truly stands alone.

This long-time Hollywood actress isn’t writing a check, fading into the background and hoping for a payout several years down the line. She is doing the exact opposite.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is helping to run and is playing an active role in building one of the hottest organic food brands in the industry. Along with her two other co-founders, CEO Galit Laibow and COO Greg Fleishman, Foodstirs is redefining the healthy baking category by using the best organic and Biodynamic ingredients available.

In addition to her acting career and responsibilities at Foodstirs, this Emmy Award-winning actress and mother of two recently released Stirring up Fun with Food: Over 115 Simple, Delicious Ways to be Creative in the Kitchen, her #1 best-selling book. Organized by the month, Stirring up Fun with Food succeeds because of its approach — providing engaging “food-crafting” ideas that help kids develop self-confidence, creative thinking, and even math skills in the kitchen.

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Company Stories

Within the last 12 months, organic baking start-up Foodstirs has quickly and firmly established itself as one of the hottest brands in the industry today.

While it is undeniable that having a Hollywood celebrity as a co-founder has helped attract tremendous media attention and opened many doors, Foodstirs is leading the marketplace because it has delivered a top-notch product line to a category that was ripe for innovation. With proven entrepreneur Galit Laibow as CEO, long-time industry veteran and brand-building guru Greg Fleishman as COO, and marketing standout Sarah Michelle Gellar as Chief Creative Officer, the company’s intentions were clear from the very beginning.

“Foodstirs is about the power of baking, and we wanted to help create an experience that allows families to connect with each other in an easy and convenient way. Our product is empowering them to do this,” said Greg Fleishman.

Living Maxwell

Company Stories

On the last few days of my trip to Costa Rica, I was in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.

Populated by many European and American ex-pats, Puerto Viejo is a really cool surfing town on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

Organic Insider

Company Stories

Whenever you start talking about organic food and political affiliations, many people seem to think that organic food advocates are all Democrats. Yet, the answer is not that simple and is much more complex than one might think.

In “The Politics of Organic Farming: Populists, Evangelicals, and the Agriculture of the Middle” (once on the page, click on the link that says “PDF – 786KB”), the amazing food magazine Gastronomica delves into this question and explores the matter from a historical, geographical and cultural context.

As the article points out, organic food supporters have been incredibly betrayed by President Obama. So, does that mean that Republicans are now the big proponents of organic food? Well, yes and no.

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Company Stories

When people talk about why they eat organic food, the most common answer is that they don’t want to ingest food that has been sprayed with toxic pesticides. The focus is generally on “me” or “we”.

An answer that does not come up nearly as much as it should is “I don’t want to expose farmers to these toxic pesticides.”

The truth is that most of us are completely in the dark about what takes place on farms, in terms of what kind of chemicals farmers are exposed to and also how farm workers are treated.

A brand new documentary called Food Chains sheds light on this very serious problem and what we see is not pretty.

Living Maxwell

Company Stories

Last week in Costa Rica, I visited with some women entrepreneurs who are receiving microloans from the Whole Planet Foundation, a non-profit organization of Whole Foods.

I have written about the Whole Planet Foundation before and the amazing job that it is doing around the world but meeting the loan recipients in-person gave me a much greater appreciation for the impact that this program is having.

Women entrepreneurs from impoverished communities receive loans, starting at a few hundred dollars, to start businesses – baking, sewing, buying animals, running a small store, etc. With a 98% success rate (only 2% of the loans default), this incremental revenue plays an essential role in improving the well-being and welfare of thousands of families.