Dole Announces May 21 Is Now National 'Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day'

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – Now there’s yet another reason to peel that banana, sprinkle some extra berries on your cereal and toss more spinach and cauliflower in your salad.

It’s “National Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day,” an official holiday dedicated to the proposition that getting more fresh fruits and vegetables is easy, delicious – and, based on U.S. obesity trends, entirely necessary. Starting May 21, the annual holiday will be celebrated every year on the Thursday before Memorial Day, at the start of the summer produce season.

Three Dole divisions – Dole Fresh Fruit of Westlake Village, Dole Fresh Vegetables of Monterey, Calif., and the Kannapolis, N.C.-based Dole Nutrition Institute (DNI) – suggested the day as an annual reminder of the link between increased produce consumption and a happier, healthier life.

Dole representatives are accepting official proclamations designating the Thursday prior to Memorial Day, which this year falls on May 21, as “Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day” in the California cities and counties where the company is based. Following a successful first year of local celebration, the day will be proclaimed a national holiday.

According to Bil Goldfield, director of communications for the Dole Food Company, the holiday goes beyond simple recipe and usage ideas to serve a valuable purpose. “One-third of adults and kids in the U.S. eat less than one serving of fresh produce a day, and Americans are twice as likely to be obese than the world population,” he said.  “Eating more fruits and vegetables may help reverse this trend and, according to research, could increase life expectancy.”

Dole will mark the inaugural holiday by posting special fruit and vegetable recipes, tips, nutritional insights and related content on its social pages, and in partnership with its blogger ambassadors. Follow @DoleTweets on Twitter, @DolePins on Pinterest, and @DolePics on Instagram to learn about other May 21 surprises and events.

The company has organized a National Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Pinterest Party on May 21 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET (5 p.m. to 6 p.m. PT) and is inviting health-focused bloggers and social media users to share original photos, recipes and other visual content celebrating a happy, healthy lifestyle rich in fresh fruits and vegetables.

A trio of social media experts including Coryanne Ettiene, Beard and Bonnet and Celebrations at Home, will be rallying the social food, health and wellness community to engage with Dole. Participants are encouraged to use the tag #FruitsandVeggiesDay and follow @DolePins throughout the party (and the day) to share their photos and other original content. Ettiene (@CoryanneEttiene) will be giving away prizes for those that are the first to answer fruit and vegetable trivia questions.

The produce giant is helping to organize a May 21 Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Student Nutritional Rally at New Orleans College Prep to christen the new national holiday. As part of the K-12 college preparatory school’s healthy-eating program, students will participate in games, contests and hands-on activities to learn the benefits of produce and a healthy lifestyle. Co-hosting the event is Liberty’s Kitchen, a kitchen and social enterprise providing life-skills training and nutritious meals to New Orleans school children.

The new holiday falls just one week before the May 27-28 launch of Dole’s Get Up and Grow! North American Tour, a series of healthy-eating caravans that will ultimately visit 480 supermarkets and special events throughout the U.S. and Canada. In addition to sampling new fruit and vegetables recipes and participating in a number of hands-on activities, Tour participants can take the Get Up and Grow! Healthy Living Pledge, a customizable commitment to eating better and living right.

The Get Up and Grow recipes – all of which are ideal for a “Eat More Fruit & Vegetables Day” celebration – range from Grilled Banana Parfait, Spinach Avocado Hummus, Grilled Romaine with Balsamic Glazed Strawberries and the Charred Summer Salad, which Dole is naming “The Official 2015 Salad of Summer” to the Banana and Blue Breakfast Smoothie,  Tropic-Kale Paradise Smoothie and Creamy Orange Smoothie.

For information of Get Up and Grow, go to www.dole.com/GetUpandGrow. Co-sponsoring the Tour is Blue Diamond Almond Breeze^® Almondmilk. For details on specific DOLE^® fresh fruits and vegetables, go to www.dole.com or follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Dole or Twitter at www.twitter.com/DoleTweets.

Dole chose New Orleans for the launch of National Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day since it traces the founding of its Dole Fresh Fruit and banana business to the Crescent City, and will be setting-off on its Get Up and Grow Tour from New Orleans on May 28.

About Dole Food Company, Inc.

Dole Food Company is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education and research. For more information, please visit www.dole.com.

About New Orleans College Prep

New Orleans College Prep’s mission is to prepare each of our students to enter and excel in a rigorous, four-year college or university. We offer our Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade students a college prep curriculum and robust co-curricular opportunities in a values-driven, supportive environment. Our students are seeing great success – 100% of our first graduating class was accepted to college. After graduation, NOCP provides alumni support, ensuring that our scholars have access to a full time staff member who can guide them through the challenges and opportunities they will encounter in college. NOCP currently serves grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12 on three campuses: Sylvanie Williams College Prep (PK-5), Lawrence D. Crocker College Prep (PK-6), and Cohen College Prep (7-12).

About Liberty’s Kitchen

Liberty’s Kitchen, a nonprofit social enterprise providing life-skills instruction, work readiness training, and nutritious meals to vulnerable New Orleans school children, is co-hosting the celebration.  

Source: Dole Food Company, Inc.