Kashi Company Unveils Darzana Initiative and Findings

April 21, 2010

Natural Food and Lifestyle Leader Addresses Issues within the Natural Community through Three-Day Summit

Kashi Company, the premier natural food and lifestyle company, today announced the findings of its Darzana summit, an invitation-only event that serves as a natural foods think tank.  The event brought together thought leaders from the broader natural foods community to assess timely issues that affect natural living.  This year's topic of discussion was the nation's large-scale food system and how society can best support natural food within this system.  Darzana, a Sanskrit word meaning "meet, observe, understand and intellect," was initiated by Kashi and first hosted in 2008. 

As part of its continued mission to make it easier for consumers to take action in support of natural food, Kashi, along with a select group of 18 esteemed natural experts, deemed education and transparency to be the key factors impacting the modern food system.  A series of specific actions aimed at creating a mindset in support of natural food resulted from the three-day summit held last fall in Sundance, Utah.  

"At Kashi, we believe that there is a fundamental gap in the quality and accessibility of natural food in our modern food system," said Keegan Sheridan, natural food and lifestyle expert at Kashi.  "We attribute much of this to the lack of education and transparency at a very basic level, as these issues lead to decreased demand and expectations.  Because of the diverse range of knowledge from our expert attendees, we were able to identify attainable actions individuals can participate in to create lasting change at multiple levels of our food system from the farm to the classroom to the kitchen."

Over this three day summit, Kashi developed specific actions to provide individuals a better understanding of their role and ability to impact natural food today and in the future. Each of the actions are supported by a selection of challenges and resources on Kashi.com to help get people involved and provide support in their process to supporting natural food.  The actions include:

1. Educate yourself on the issues affecting natural food in our modern system
2. Understand the food life cycle
3. Learn to cook natural foods
4. Become politically aware and get involved
5. Be a steward of the environment
6. Volunteer your time to the natural foods movement
7. Take time to appreciate Mother Nature

Among the participants this year was Jeffrey B. Blumberg, professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and senior scientist and director, Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts University. "Our focus is on creating new and effective ways in which everyone - government, industry and individual consumers - can work together to support sustainable ways to produce our food, promote our health and protect our planet."

Fellow Darzana attendee, Russell H. Greenfield, M.D., director of Greenfield Integrative Healthcare, PLLC and president of Greenfield Consulting, LLC, echoed Blumberg's sentiments, "In the end, what was so inspiring was that people of such disparate backgrounds and interests indeed did find commonality and were able to design a cogent set of plans to help address the major issues facing the provision of natural, healthy food to people. If a successful business can make doing so a priority, it seems each and every one of us can, too."

Kashi Darzana represented a wide range of industries and disciplines, from agriculture and farming, to manufacturing and policy, and included the following participants:

• Daniel Fabricant, PhD, interim executive director & CEO, Natural Products Association
• Marty Matlock, PhD, PE, CSE, area director, Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability, professor of ecological engineering, University of Arkansas
• Edward Bauman, M.Ed., Ph.D., best-selling author and executive director at Bauman College
• Jeffrey B. Blumberg PhD, FACN, CNS, professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and senior scientist and director, Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts University
• Nicki Briggs, MS, RD, director of communications, Chobani Greek Yogurt, past program director of the Mediterranean Foods Alliance at Oldways Preservation and Exchange
• Jennifer Curtis, founder and CEO, Curtis Consulting - environment and agricultural consulting
• Jen Dalton, Slow Food Nation Organizer
• Steve Demos, CEO and founder, Next Foods, founder and former president White Wave Inc.
• Anthony Flaccavento, executive director, Appalachian Sustainable Development
• Zonya Foco, RD, CHFI, CSP, Zonya Health International
• Russell H. Greenfield, M.D., director, Greenfield Integrative Healthcare, PLLC and president, Greenfield Consulting, LLC
• Alissa Hamilton, PhD, JD, food & society policy fellow, Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy
• Sally Lamont, N.D., L.AC., licensed naturopathic doctor, acupuncturist, Marin Natural Medicine Clinic
• Paul Maschka, naturalist and organic farmer, urban farming instructor
• Mark Overbay, marketing and communications manager, Counter Culture Coffee
• Amy Paxton, nutrition graduate student in farm to school programs, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Kathie Swift MS RD LDN, nutritionist, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
• Jeff Johnson, MS nutrition science, natural lifestyle associate director at Kashi
• Keegan Sheridan, licensed naturopathic doctor, natural food and lifestyle expert at Kashi  
• Dae Lee, MBA, associate director marketing at Kashi
• Sarah Ceccarelli, MS human nutrition, senior brand manager at Kashi

To learn more about Darzana or additional resources individuals can use in order to promote natural foods and healthy living, visit www.Kashi.com/darzana.

SOURCE Kashi Company