OMAHA, Neb., Jan. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ConAgra Foods®, one
of North America's leading food
companies, announced today the launch of Cooking
Connections®. This first-of-its kind blogger-hosted virtual
cooking school reconnects parents to the joyful, social,
family-friendly art of cooking via a unique multimedia format.
Celebrity chef and ConAgra Foods spokesperson George Duran will host the first class on
January 28, 2011, at Blissdom – the
premier blogging conference for women – with an interactive cooking
demonstration between attendees and at-home participants.
ConAgra Foods, in conjunction with the award-winning online
community TheMotherhood.com, has launched Cooking
Connections in response to key consumer trends:
- Eight-one percent (81%) of moms turn to the Internet to look
for different kinds of foods and recipes and 77 percent (77%) agree
that the Internet is the No. 1 source for recipes, according to a
recent survey by BabyCenter.(i)
- Mealtime Mom: Family dinner time is a priority for today's
moms. Ninety percent (90%) of moms say they eat dinner as a family
several times a week. The Internet has become mom's No. 1 source
(77%) for recipes, higher even than cookbooks (36%).(ii)
"Cooking Connections is a place for parents to connect
online while learning that mealtime preparation can be simple,
social and filled with creative twists," says Cooper Munroe, co-founder of TheMotherhood.com.
"We're looking forward to serving up an empowering cooking
community designed to celebrate food and home cooks, and we're
excited to have the opportunity to share real tips from real
parents in real time."
How It Works
Developed for the busy, multifaceted parent who looks to the Web
for tips and ideas, Cooking Connections is an eight-week
series of live blogging classes and conversations that take place
on TheMotherhood.com and are cross-posted live on Twitter and
Facebook. The classes will be text-based to facilitate interactive
conversation and will deliver relevant content to make
participation an easy fit within parents' demanding schedules.
Cooking Connections will feature one unique cooking and
kitchen-related session each week beginning January 27 and ending March 16. Sessions will be hosted by
topic-relevant bloggers from TheMotherhood.com community who will
lead discussions, prepare recipes and create rich and widespread
conversation across the Web.
Classes are open to all social media moms and dads interested in
joining. Participants are encouraged to share their culinary
experience via online social channels like Twitter, Flickr and
Facebook in an effort to connect others to the Cooking
Connections community and experience. For those who cannot
participate live, complete classes will remain available as
text-based blog posts on TheMotherhood.com and ConAgrafoods.com,
with class video content posted on Facebook, YouTube and other
multimedia channels.
Topics that Matter to Parents
The Cooking Connections curriculum was developed based on
survey feedback from a host of social media parents who were asked
what they wanted in a virtual cooking school. At every turn,
Cooking Connections was created with the "students" in mind
to develop the most comprehensive line-up of classes to represent
their cooking interests and goals. ConAgra Foods collaborated with
the class co-hosts to showcase recipes that demonstrate the joyful,
social act of cooking and ease of preparation, including dinner
recipes from ConAgra Foods' just-launched ReadySetEat™ site
(www.readyseteat.com).
|
|
Jan.
28
1 p.m.
EST
|
Blissful
Cooking Connections
Cooking
Connections launch at Blissdom, featuring celebrity chef George
Duran
|
|
Feb.
2
1 p.m.
EST
|
Navigating
Food Allergies
Identifying
good substitutes for favorite, yet allergy- sensitive
foods
|
|
Feb.
9
8 p.m.
EST
|
Cooking with
Loved Ones Across the Country
Make special
Valentine's Day connections by remotely cooking with far-away
friends and family
|
|
Feb.
16
1 p.m.
EST
|
Creating an
Efficient Kitchen
Storage
Tips, transforming your pantry for impromptu meal planning and
creating shopping lists
|
|
Feb.
23
1 p.m.
EST
|
Healthier
Meal Makeovers
Healthier
meal makeovers for family-pleasing breakfast, lunch and
dinner
|
|
Mar.
2
1 p.m.
EST
|
Expanding
your Family's Palette by Placating Picky Eaters
The simple
art of creating two meals in one
|
|
Mar.
9
1 p.m.
EST
|
Sweet
Treats
Making fun,
kid-friendly desserts and sweet treats
|
|
Mar.
16
8 p.m.
EDT
|
Cooking with
Dad
Kick off
spring with a meal for mom! Grab the kids and make mom the meal she
deserves.
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Cooking Connections Student Hand Guide filled with
robust social media links and content will be accessible online at
TheMotherhood.com/CookingConnections to accommodate parents' busy
schedules, whether they're on-the-go or in front of a computer. The
guide will include class schedules (with built-in reminders via
e-mail) host bios, blog posts, recommended RSS feeds, recipes and
live discussion opportunities via Twitter
(#CookingConnections).
For more information on Cooking Connections and to
register for classes, please visit
www.TheMotherhood.com/CookingConnections.
ABOUT CONAGRA FOODS
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America's leading food companies, with
brands in 97 percent of America's households. Consumers find
Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew
National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's,
Orville Redenbacher's, PAM, Peter
Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Snack Pack and many ConAgra Foods
brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and club stores.
ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence,
supplying frozen potato and sweet potato products as well as other
vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of well-known
restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. For
more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.
ABOUT THE MOTHERHOOD
The Motherhood is an award-winning Web community and platform
for women. Technologically differentiated by proprietary, live
weekly "Talks" hosted by experts and co-hosted by mom bloggers,
each Talk functions much like a live, interactive press conference
with social media moms as the audience. The Motherhood
connects brands with mothers in authentic, creative ways that
benefit moms and their families. Clients include ConAgra
Foods, American Eagle, Verizon, Marriott, Clorox, Tropicana, and
many others. For more information, please visit us at
www.themotherhood.com.
(i) "BabyCenter Study." Babycentersolutions.com.
July 2009.
(ii) Social-media-optimization.com. 8 March 2010.
SOURCE ConAgra Foods, Inc.