Results from the Ziploc Fresh Eating Survey-Denver vs. Boston {Win a FreshOver Goodie Bag} #freshover

As you know, I’ve teamed up with Ziploc to encourage Americans to eat more fresh. If you are a regular reader – you’ll notice, I’m already looking for ways to put a healthy spin on my family’s favorites. Earlier this year, Ziploc Brand partnered with best-selling author and TV personality Rachael Ray for the FreshOver Project, which includes the Ziploc Fresh Eating Survey – a city-by-city snapshot of food-related choices across America with insight into a metro area’s “freshness” ranking.

The Ziploc Fresh Eating Survey gives an interesting look into the most and least fresh cities across America. The top 10 “freshest cities” have residents who seek out and eat the freshest food options available, through farmer’s markets and gardening habits. The least fresh cities are where residents face obstacles to eating fresh, such as a high prevalence of fast food options and a lack of fresh food resources.

Do some of the cities surprise you, like Boston, D.C. and Minneapolis? Me, too! Plus, I was surprised not to see Denver in the top 20 let alone the top 10, so I did a little digging.

(GIVEAWAY INFO AT THE END OF THE POST!)

A closer look at the data

I wanted to compare one of the high ranking cities, Boston, with my closest metro area, Denver, which came in at No. 31. Considering that Colorado is one of the healthiest and “skinniest” states in the U.S.in my opinion, I was surprised it was so low in the freshness rankings.

Survey – What time of day are you most likely to make poor or unhealthy food choices?

Denver-Aurora, Colo.
Breakfast: 10.3 percent
Lunch: 20.7 percent
Afternoon: 25.9 percent
Dinner: 10.3 percent
Late night: 32.8 percent

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass. – N.H.
Breakfast: 10.7 percent
Lunch: 12.5 percent
Afternoon: 33.9 percent
Dinner: 14.3 percent
Late night: 28.6 percent

Amount of Farmers markets, CSAs and fast food establishments per city

Denver-Aurora, Colo. – rate per 100,000
Farmers Markets: 1.20
CSAs: 0.73
Fast Food estab: 52.4

Denver-Aurora, Colo. – total number
Farmers Markets: 31
CSAs: 19
Fast Food estab: 1355

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass. – N.H. – rate per 100,000
Farmers Markets: 2.35
CSAs: 2.15
Fast Food estab: 62.0

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass. – N.H. – total number
Farmers Markets: 107
CSAs: 98
Fast Food estab: 2822

Survey – How often do you eat foods containing fresh fruits and vegetables?

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass. – N.H.
Rarely: 5.3 percent
1-2 days weekly: 8.8 percent
3-4 days weekly: 10.5 percent
5-6 days weekly: 8.8 percent
Every day: 66.7 percent

Denver-Aurora, Colo.
Rarely: 3.4 percent
1-2 days weekly: 15.3 percent
3-4 days weekly: 11.9 percent
5-6 days weekly: 11.9 percent
Every day: 57.6 percent

Percent of residents with a garden

Denver-Aurora, Colo. – 21.1 percent

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass. – N.H. – 26.8 percent

I’m looking for more ways to incorporate fresh ingredients into my family’s meals.

Denver-Aurora, Colo.
Strongly agree: 59.6 percent
Somewhat agree: 26.9 percent
Neither agree nor disagree: 9.6 percent
Somewhat disagree: 1.9 percent
Strongly disagree: 1.9 percent

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass. – N.H.
Strongly agree: 56.6 percent
Somewhat agree: 34.0 percent
Neither agree nor disagree: 7.5 percent
Somewhat disagree: 0.0 percent
Strongly disagree: 1.9 percent

I feel like a good parent when my family eats fresh food

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass. – N.H.
81.1 percent: Strongly agree
10.8 percent: Somewhat agree
8.1 percent: Neither agree nor disagree
0.0 percent: Somewhat disagree
0.0 percent: Strongly disagree

Denver-Aurora, Colo.
80.0 percent: Strongly agree
11.1 percent: Somewhat agree
6.7 percent: Neither agree nor disagree
0.0 percent: Somewhat disagree
2.2 percent: Strongly disagree

Some quick conclusions

In Ziploc’s analysis, the categories were assigned the following weights, indicating the relative importance of each category:

• Greater weight – Fruit and vegetable servings and percent with a vegetable garden
• Medium weight – Farmers markets
• Lesser weight – Eats fresh fruits and vegetables, wants to use more fresh ingredients, presence of CSAs, and presence of fast food establishments

Boston’s and Denver’s numbers were fairly close except for How often do you eat foods containing fresh fruits and vegetables? According to the survey, Boston eats more vegetables. I guess all the tomatoes served in Boston’s North End and the potatoes in the clam chowder count for something, right? (I’m being sarcastic. Well, a little.)

Still, results would be very different if they used the Boulder/Denver metro area instead of Aurora/Denver. The results would have been “fresher” as we all know how vegetarian and vegan friendly Boulder, Colo. is. Boulderites love their community gardens, locally sourced food, farmer’s markets, organic produce, and healthy grocery stores, for sure!

Win a Ziploc FreshOver Goodie Bag (value $130)!

Recently several of the FreshOver Insider 5 bloggers attended a FreshOver event in New York with Rachael Ray. (You can watch a video recap here.) I’m giving away another Ziploc prize pack complete with a cooking wok, garlic press and other cooking utensils, a bottle of Terra Medi Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a box of Ziploc Perfect Portions bags, a Ziploc VersaGlass container, and assorted other products in a Baggu bag.

How to enter to win a Ziploc FreshOver Event Good Bag (value $130):

Giveaway closed. Congrats to Kristen M.! 

1. In the comments below, tell me your favorite way to make a meal fresh (adding vegetables or fruits, etc.).
2. Sign up for This Mama Cooks! Review’s RSS feed for ONE additional entry.
3. Sign up for my enewsletter for ONE additional entry.
4. Spread the word about this giveaway by submitting a link to this post on Twitter for ONE additional entry. You must leave a link to your tweet in your comment so I can check.
5. Follow @amnichols on Twitter for ONE additional entry.

If you have done any of these additional activities you MUST come back here and leave a comment telling me what you did. I will be checking!

Giveaway starts on May 10, 2012 at noon PST and ends on May 17, 2012 at 5 p.m. PST

Click here for the Ziploc Giveaway Official Rules

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Disclosure: I have partnered with Ziploc^® and am being compensated for my posts. However, my opinions on the product are my own.

Posted on May 10, 2012 in Contests and Giveaways,Featured,Health and tagged as infographics, Ziploc