"disney" news and stories

A few months ago Nick mentioned that Fizzy Fruit may be introduced into some schools. Well many years before it made the news I tried my hand at making my own fizzy fruit at home. I had heard about the idea a few years earlier from people in the brewing industry when I was an assistant brewer during grad school in Seattle. It's pretty easy to do. I used an empty soda syrup keg, filled it with assorted fruit, added CO2 under pressure, and chilled it overnight. This carbonated the fruit, the same way soda is carbonated, so that it fizzed with tiny bubbles like champagne when you ate it.

Looking back, it was fellow blogger Joe D who taste tested that first batch with me in the winter of 1996/1997. Personally I didn't think much of most of the fruit. They all tasted good, and the fizz was fun, but except for the grapes, the fizz was more annoying than anything else. With the grapes it was actually enjoyable. I guess because they were small, sweet and tart, and you could pop whole ones in your mouth. I never thought the idea was going to go anywhere, but I guess it has.

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Earlier this year, Disney announced that their theme parks would start selling healthier fare. The said that they would eliminate trans fats, place limits on the number of calories per portion and limit fat and sugar for snacks, sides and main dishes. Not wanting to be left behind, or accused of not caring about the health of their visitors, Universal Studios has announced that they will also be eliminating trans fats from their park menus.

The first phase of the switch officially took place on Christmas Eve, though the foods have been in development for some time, and now over 90% of the foods at Universal Studios locations are cooked in trans-fat free oils. The few items that are still cooked with trans fats, including churros, will be trans-fat free by the end of next year.

The parks will also be offering other healthy options, like fruit bowls and skim milk, both on kids and regular menus.

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We've covered a couple of theme park food stories lately, including one where UK parks were visited by a "secret mum" looking for healthy foods and one where Six Flags decided to offer a protein-packed Halloween option to its guests. Now, Disney is looking to make some food changes at their parks - for the better.

The company announced that they would eliminate trans fats from the food at their theme parks, as well as in any Disney licensed food products, and will be instituting a new set of guidelines for offering healthier food options in general:

• Placing a limit on total calories, resulting in smaller portions
• Limiting fat to a maximum of 30 percent of calories for entrees and side dishes, and 35 percent for snacks.
• Limiting saturated fat to 10 percent of calories for main dishes, side dishes and snacks.
• Limiting sugar to 10 percent of calories for main dishes and side dishes, and 25 percent of calories for snacks.

The new guidelines will be phased in gradually over the course of the next few years, although the trans-fats will be eliminated by 2008. There is no telling what effect any of these changes will have on park favorites, like churros, funnel cake and ice cream cones since their nutritional information is unknown at the moment, but it's possible that you might not be able to get some of these treats after next summer.

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Earlier this summer, Nicole posted about Disney's partnership with UK's Tesco supermarkets to sell their Disney-branded fruit.

Well, it's not just in the UK, and it's not just Disney, either. While Disney might be the biggest player in the fruit-branding game with a partnership with 15 large growers across the country via Indianapolis-based produce distributor Imagination Farms LLC, other cartoon characters are making their way into the garden. Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants will leave his pineapple under the sea and appear on spinach. Dora the Explorer will be hawking oranges. Warner Bros. has partnered with Ready Pac produce for Tweety Bird grapes and Tasmanian Devil apples.

At least the entertainment companies are being more responsible with their gross marketing by trying to sell fruits and vegetables to kids rather than French fries.

Though Disney is ending their partnership with McDonalds and their toys will not be appearing in kids' meals, their brand will still reach its young, target audience. Disney has signed a deal with the supermarket chain Tesco to have Disney-branded fruit appear in all its stores in the UK and Europe. The goal of the campaign is, of course, marketing, though the companies say that encouraging healthy eating is important to them, too. Right now, Tesco is carrying satsuma oranges with special collectible stickers that feature characters like Winnie the Pooh. Apples and bananas will soon follow.

Disney isn't limiting this promotion to work with the British chain. It has branded baby tomatoes in France and mini bananas in Germany. There are plans to follow suit in the US over the next month or so, as well.

 

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