Fooling around on social media
It may be the week of April Fool’s Day, but this column is no joke. Well, except for the post that’s a joke.
We trust you’ll spot it.
Also, TikTok’s users are so young that we don’t see as many produce companies or produce leaders on it, so if your company uses TikTok, please tell us.
These are some of the social media posts that caught our eye this week.
Your post doesn’t always have to directly relate to your specific product or service. To-Jo Mushrooms reposted this Tasting Table meme on its Instagram Stories (that popular feature where posts last 24 hours only, for you newbies).
The meme playing off the fervent food opinions of Brooklyn Italians made us LOL.
OK, so To-Jo doesn’t grow and sell pineapples or pizza, but mushroom-topped pizza would likely be less offensive to this man.
Just don’t put cheese on your fish in front of your Italian friends. Trust us.
Kudos to To-Jo for making us smile.
Find them at @tojomushrooms.
With Farmworker Awareness Week March 25-30, it’s no wonder #farmworkers and related hashtags were trending on Twitter.
It’s also pretty obvious that an organization like Equitable Food Initiative would be all over that.
They retweeted the California Association of Food Banks post with a good fact about how there are about 424,000 farmworkers in the fresh produce sector, and a reminder that pandemic or not, they are #alwaysessential.
Find them at @EquitableFood.
Nathel & Nathel explained something that importers might take for granted.
The general public — maybe even many produce industry professionals — don’t know much about why so much fruit comes from Chile, besides the general idea that the climate is ideal.
This post hits a few key points about what makes the Central Valley of Chile so ideal: the Andes mountain range, the coast and the northern arid regions. So that’s why there are 9,000-plus growers there, providing us with grapes, cherries, apples, nectarines and plums.
Learning something new in small, manageable bites is one of the reasons social media is so awesome.
Find them at @nnproduce.
Jennifer has … sparked …. (groan) our interest in this blueberry cookie recipe. We’re not sure it’s viral yet, but we’ll do our part for the cause.
The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council partnered with an influential TikTok recipe developer and cross-posted her vegan blueberry cookie recipe on LinkedIn.
This post is inspiring us at The Packer to create this recipe at a couple of our homes for our own video.
You can always use fresh blueberries that you’ve stuck in the freezer — any excuse for more blueberries and coooooookies.
Fun fact: Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster has blueberry-colored fur. Coincidence?
Me think not.
TikTok
#DinnerParty was trending on TikTok, and as we scrolled, we were charmed by Keith, a mixed-martial arts fighter and father cooking dinner for his family of three.
His dinner recipe was drool-worthy and jammed with fresh produce: Creamy spinach salmon with roasted corn and smashed potatoes.
While Keith cooked and shared his recipes, there’s a cameo of his baby in his arms and his wife kissing him. He keeps it real, using Trader Joe’s products, such as bagged spinach, corn on the cob and small potatoes cooked for 15 minutes in an air fryer.
And he assures us that he’s washing his hands in between the clips of his TikTok reel. Food safety’s gotta be upheld all the way down to the consumer level, right?
Keith’s post had 477,200 likes. Oh, wait: 477,201.
Find him at @Keith_Lee125.
