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Frito-Lay and a Cocktail Party (HLS Recap #2)

Published on August 18, 2010 By Emily. Updated on August 18, 2010

Though I’d been in Chicago since Wednesday, Friday was the first official Healthy Living Summit event I attended: a tour of the Frito-Lay Plant in Beloit, Wisconsin.  We boarded a charter bus at 9:20 in the morning and headed out.  The bus ride was supposed to be a couple hours, but Caitlin had come prepared with the game Catch Phrase.  When I wasn’t playing, I got to meet a whole bunch of awesome bloggers including Krista, Lisa, Sean and Heather.

After 3 hours on the bus (our driver got a little lost), we arrived at the plant and split into 2 groups.  First we all heard a presentation about the changes that FritoLay’s Beloit plant has made to make their factory more ecologically friendly, as well as the many awards they have won for doing so.  It was definitely interesting, and made me feel a little better about big food companies.

My group toured the plant first.  The lovely folks from Ketchum (Frito-Lay’s Public Relations) took a ton of awesome photos for us (we weren’t allowed to bring cameras).  I thought I slide show might be slightly less overwhelming:

We started out the tour by donning safety goggles, earplugs and hairnets, as well as using lint rollers and walking through an air shower.  This was no ordinary “factory tour”-we were on the floor of the plant, meeting employees, checking out the equipment and tasting chips right off the line.  It was really cool; who doesn’t like to see things being made?

After our tour, we headed to lunch.  One of the best things about the Healthy Living Summit was knowing that the food was always going to be good.  Clearly, this was no exception.

As we ate, we enjoyed another presentation about the nutrition of Frito-Lay products from Kate Wilson, a RD who works for Frito-Lay.  It was really fascinating to hear about all the changes they’ve made to their products.  Frito-Lay regular potato chips only have 3 ingredients: potatoes, oil and salt.  Also, the amount of sodium in many Frito-Lay products aren’t as high as we often assume.  Click the second image to enlarge the slide featuring sodium levels in common snacks and foods.

All that said (and the presentations were fairly persuasive), I feel better about eating Frito-Lay products, but know that they’re still not the world’s perfect snack food.  Big food companies may be doing a lot of good, but they’re also doing a lot of damage.  There was much discussion about why the Healthy Living summit was checking out Frito-Lay, both before and after the tour.  Heather wrote an excellent post on her blog,  “Side of Sneakers”, which details more about the information in the presentations.

I feel less guilty about eating the occasional potato chip now, which is good, because we all left the Frito-Lay plant with a big bag of free Frito-Lay products.

We left the plant and headed back to Chicago on the bus.  Again, the 2 hour trip was lengthened, this time due to Chicago traffic.  Someone had the genius idea to convince the bus driver and the Ketchum people to drop us off at an L stop so we could take the subway into the city.  I’ll let you imagine what over 20 people with big red bags full of chips running through the train station looked like.  Somehow, we all made it onto the crowded subway and back to the hotel by 6.  6:00 was, of course, the time the cocktail party (and official HLS kickoff) was supposed to start.  I quickly changed my clothes and headed out the door.

The OpenSky sponsored Cocktail Party was fun. Most of the HLS attendees were there and I spent the evening introducing myself to lots of people, both total strangers and bloggers I regularly read. It was a little hot and crowded, and the music a bit too loud for real networking, but I enjoyed myself. The photographer from Oroweat and Arnold Bread (another sponsor of HLS) took amazing photos, imbedded below. I really like the one of me and my roommate, Nicole (the second picture in the slide show).

I headed back to the hotel around 9 pm, in a cab with 5 other girls (apparently Chicago cabbies don’t care).  It was a bit of an early night, but the official summit was the next day and I wanted to be well rested.

Related Posts

Pregaming (HLS Recap #1)
Vacation Favorites, Part 2: Seattle Food
TECH: If This Then That
10 Things I Learned at the Healthy Living Summit (...
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Filed Under: events, products, travel Tagged With: food production, Healthy Living Summit, vacation

« Pregaming (HLS Recap #1)
10 Things I Learned at the Healthy Living Summit (HLS Recap #3) »

Comments

  1. Monique says

    August 18, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    WHOA! SUPER jealous that you got a ticket to the Healthy Living Summit. Hope it was fun for you! Nice to meet you Emily, and I’m glad I found your blog!

Trackbacks

  1. #43: Go to a wine tasting » Relishments says:
    August 23, 2012 at 8:53 pm

    […] very first HLS friend, way back in 2010.  She randomly sat next to me on the bus headed to the Frito-Lay tour and we’ve been friends ever since.  As the weeks went by, we continued our email […]

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Emily
I don't have clear words to express my feelings ab I don't have clear words to express my feelings about the state of the world lately. As a teacher and a mother, it has been extra difficult this week to be fully present in my roles without thinking about innocent lives that should have had longer on Earth. How what has happened in each of the many mass shootings this year can happen anywhere. If you are feeling sad and frustrated too, you are not alone.

I don't have answers, but I'm trying to take care of myself and my biological and school families. I'm saying "I love you" a lot to my children and my students. I'm closely following and sharing the work of @everytown while contacting my state and federal representatives and the president. I'm going for walks and getting fresh air and trying not to overload on news. I'm sharing good resources in my stories as I see them.
UPDATE: the giveaway is now CLOSED. Congrats @aloh UPDATE: the giveaway is now CLOSED. Congrats @alohr3!

 @thelazygenius' second book, The Lazy Genius Kitchen, is finally here and I'm so excited! I don't purchase many books, but I pre-ordered this last July because I knew it would be right up my alley and then I pre-ordered a second copy because I knew that I'd want to give one away.

Author Kendra Adachi has been one of my favorite voices in recent years. Her principles (shared through her first book, The Lazy Genius Podcast and her Instagram) have helped me focus my priorities and give myself more grace. 

This book is NOT a cookbook (it has just 2 recipes), it is a kitchen guide - to help you "have what you need, use what you have, and enjoy it like never before". It is beautiful (full color!) and thoughtful.

I'm very excited to send this book to one of you.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below with one of your greatest kitchen struggles. 
I'll draw a winner at 8 pm on Friday, May 6.
This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram or The Lazy Genius, Kendra Adachi.
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This morning we took advantage of @massmoca's Berk This morning we took advantage of @massmoca's Berkshire Teacher and Social Worker Appreciation Day free admission. After enjoying the student Art Invitational exhibit, the 4 of us took in several of the other galleries. Mass MoCA always impresses and it was delightful to be able to be out in the world with my kids.
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One of my favorite things to do is bake from scrat One of my favorite things to do is bake from scratch.
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Recipe, as usual, from @breadin5
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