We Made It!
Nov 01, 2011, Updated Jun 28, 2020
Wow, what a month!
By October 1st, 2,000 people had signed the October Unprocessed pledge. As people continued to discover the challenge, our numbers ultimately passed the 3,000 mark. Incredible.
I want to express my enormous gratitude for the 55 (yes, fifty-five) guest authors and experts who shared their time, talents, energy, and recipes. I hope you agree that the guest posts were terrific! Many thanks both to the friends whom I cajoled into writing and to the folks who reached out and offered to contribute. Everyone — and I mean everyone — blew me away with their resourcefulness, enthusiasm, and professionalism (and remember, everything was voluntary; nobody was paid for his or her contribution). Â The food blogging community is one of the finest groups of people I’ve ever been blessed to know and be a part of, and for that I am truly blessed and grateful.
Thank you as well to everyone who helped spread the word about October Unprocessed. Whether it was through sharing on Facebook or Twitter, writing on your own site or news outlet, or just through a simple conversation with a friend, including others in this challenge is important on so many levels. It increased awareness and participation — but more than that, it continued to build community and strengthen this important revolution.
Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who took the challenge, signed the pledge, and participated. Even if it was just for one day, giving it a go is so important. Ultimately, this challenge is about awareness and about truly considering what you’re putting in your body. I’m pretty sure I don’t need to do any more convincing, though, so I won’t ramble on any more about that!
Later this week I’ll be sending out a survey to get your feedback on the challenge. I hope to learn what you liked best, what you liked least, and everything in between — and where you think we should go from here.
In the meantime, though, I’d simply like to list all the guest posts and their authors one more time — and encourage you to read (and share!) their posts if you haven’t yet, and to visit their sites and see what they’re all about. Â It’s a pretty terrific group of folks.
With gratitude,
Andrew
- Overcoming the Time Hurdle (Roasted Tomato Salsa) by The Tomato Tart
- Three Tips to Make Sure Unprocessed Makes Cents (Tomato-Topped Sole) by Food On The Table
- Unprocessed – and Organic – on a Budget (Fusilli with Chard & Bacon) by Deliciously Organic
- For the Love of Beans by What Would Cathy Eat?
- An interview with Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel of Slow Food USA
- Kale Pesto by Cooking on the Weekends
- Baked Apple Oatmeal by The Gracious Pantry
- How to Make Fluffy Quinoa (And Quinoa Tabbouleh) by Domestic Fits
- The Salad Dressing Formula by Eat Naked
- Seven Ways to Survive October Unprocessed with Kids (Maple Apple Chips) by Simple Bites
- Plan for Success (Heartwarming crustless pie) by The Fresh 20
- Zombies, Processed Foods, and the Advertising-Consumption Cycle by Casual Kitchen
- Convincing your family and friends (Slow Cooker Refried Beans) by 100 Days of Real Food
- Ten Unprocessed School Lunch Ideas by Food For My Family
- Baked Chicken Nuggets by Kathleen Flinn
- The Scoop on White Flour (100% Whole Wheat Bread) by Bob’s Red Mill
- Chickpea, Pumpkin Seed & Feta Salad by Savoring the Thyme
- All About Gums (Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pecan Muffins) by Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes
- Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Irish Soda Bread by Lillian’s Test Kitchen
- Let them eat cake! (Blood Orange and Almond Upside-down Cake) by 84th and 3rd
- A Few Important Basics (Kale-Spinach Paneer) by Yumkid
- Homemade Fritos by Good. Food. Stories.
- The Inconvenient Vegan (Quinoa with Tomatoes and Basil) by Meghan the Veghan
- The Real Secret to Ditching Industrialized Food – Forever (Power Pancakes) by Sustainable Eats
- What About Rabbit Meat? by Slow Money Farm
- Bulk is Beautiful (How To Make Polenta) by Talk of Tomatoes
- Unprocessed, But Not By Choice (Gluten-Free Pumpkin Applesauce Bundt Cake) by You Can’t Eat What?
- Stevia, Truvia, and PureVia by Andy Bellatti, MS, RD
- Five Tips for Low Sodium Living (Turkey Meatloaf) by Low Sodium Blog
- Sukkot Unprocessed (Roasted Root Vegetables) by The Shiksa in the Kitchen
- Build Your Children out of Stupid-Easy Homemade Fajitas by Dr. Yoni Freedhoff
- Bee Safe! A Tale of Tainted Honey & How to Avoid It by Awake At The Whisk
- Honey Bee Healthy by Georgia Pellegrini
- Judaism, Raw and Unprocessed (Whole Grain Challah) by Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann
- Grind Your Own Grains (Butternut Squash Pizza) by MOMables
- How To Make Sea Salt by Salty Seattle
- Rescuing Rambo by I Love Leftovers
- Poor Girl Eats Unprocessed (Sweet Potato, Mango, and Edamame Salad) by Poor Girl Eats Well
- Limitations Can Be Liberating (Beet Chips) by Fix Me A Snack
- From Processed to Unprocessed (Sausage and Pepper Hash) by Fed Up With Lunch
- Food for Healing & Five Ingredients to Avoid by OMG! Yummy
- How To Make Soy Milk by La Fuji Mama
- Time for an Oil Change… In Your Kitchen! (Greek Lemon Marinade) by California Greek Girl
- How to Make Yogurt by Kitchen Stewardship
- How to Make a Simple Little Cheese by New England Cheesemaking Supply
- Can Your Own Tomatoes by Hedonia
- Unprocessed Entertaining (Apple Spice Cake with Greek Yogurt Icing) by La Casa De Sweets
- Kimchi doesn’t have to be buried in your backyard to be delicious by I Make Pickles
- Fasting and Feasting – A Christian Ethic for Eating (Corn & Black Bean Chowder) by The Whispered Life
- Homemade Vanilla Extract by Savour Fare
- Maple Butternut Pudding by Pinch My Salt
- Building Relationships… with Pumpkin Fondue by Evil Shenanigans
- Roll Your Own Cereal by Attune Foods
- How To Make Seitan by Little Blue Hen
- Maple Popcorn Balls by Eat The Love
What an incredible collection of raw talent and positive intentions. WHat a great think that youve started for this community – this society. I embarrassingly (is that a word?) did not participate, but I will next year. I think you should find a way to publish and hardcover bind these posts (on blurb or myblurb or whatever) and make it a giveaway for the next year…or now! 🙂
Great posts (and i do admire and envy your oh so neat formatting) 🙂
This was great, Andrew. So happy to have participated both in the challenge and with a recipe! Loved it! 😀
It was an fantastic challenge – I loved it!
Same time and place next year?
You did an amazing job, Andrew, of keeping a great level of energy behind this worthy effort, and for lining up a stellar group of contributors that kept it very fun, informational and tasty. I can’t say I stayed on the wagon, but you’ve given me a blueprint that I can keep going back to for ideas, etc. Thanks so much!!
Andrew,
I want to tahnk you and all the contributers. This has helped me on my journey to better eating.
Congrats and THANK YOU!!!!
Thank you for hosting this event, Andrew! I felt like my family was eating relatively unprocessed beforehand, but despite some missteps during the challenge, I learned easy ways to make this our lifestyle permanently, while finding some great blogs along the way! Most importantly, I got some people on board with this type of eating, which is exactly the point, eh? I can’t wait to see the participation next year! 🙂
I fell off the wagon a few times but I am really proud of what I accomplished! I thought that all the homemade food would take up a lot of time and was surprised that with one afternoon of preparation I could get almost a weeks worth of meals done. I learned to make better decisions when I went out to eat and have explored some new cuisine. I don’t own a scale but from the way my clothes fit and the way I look I really feel like this is the best my body has looked in years. I will continue to eat (mostly) unprocessed! Thank you!
Thanks for inspiring us all and helping spread the word about the power of unprocessed. I made it through the month of October, signed up for Fresh 20 menus, and was able to pass up all that Halloween candy! I’ll continue to eat unprocessed.
This challenge was difficult at times, but it was so worth it. My cholesterol fell 25 points in three weeks. I don’t plan to be unprocessed 24/7 after this, but intend to stick with it at least five days a week. Definitely the best thing I ever did for myself.
We have blood work pending. Can’t wait to see the results.