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Mushrooms in the News: 06-02-17

This week we saw numerous national and local Blended Burger Project™ stories, in addition to a major mushroom-centric consumer feature (Saveur) and trade stories (FreshPlaza and Produce News).

BBP highlights include:

• Food Network spotlighted the April kick-off event in NYC, with a long interview with Portland-based chefs, Greg and Gabi Denton, who go in depth about the Blend and also cover an array of healthy eating and food waste reduction practices.
• The Kansas City Star covered its local event with the lead: “Move over vegetarians. Outta the way flexitarians. Let the blenditarians make their case.” Meat + Poultry also highlighted the Kansas City BBP event with a jazzy compilation video.
• Buffalo Rising covered how “Buffalo has a strong showing in the contest, with entries from 13 local restaurants” and highlighted the consumer incentive.
• San Antonio Express spotlighted participating chefs, including a food truck operator, all taking part for a shot to cook at the James Beard House: “I’ll do whatever I can to shine a spotlight on (San Antonio chefs).”
• Chicago, New Orleans, Tampa, Tucson, Austin, Philly, St. Louis, Orange County, and New Orleans, are among other local markets chiming in with features.

On the mushroom-centric front, Saveur Magazine presented a colorful recap of its March farm tour visit, adding to the lore of mushrooms: “The beds look like the National Archives of fungus,” while also highlighting the impact Kennett Square has on fresh mushroom production.

Produce News spotlighted the Mushroom Council’s promotional and research initiatives’ positive impact on mushroom sales and Fresh Plaza covered the Veal and Mushroom Council blended burger grilling promotion.

On the social side, the Burger Month promotion (“What Blended Burger Should You Be Eating Right Now?”) concluded with the quiz being taken 912 times and 42 pledges tied directly to the quiz using the code “Burger Month” (4.6% conversion).

With the launch of BBP, chefs, restaurants and diners are taking to social media to share their blended burgers. Since Monday, more than 1,100 posts have been shared on Instagram and Twitter by 650 users – reaching 4.1M people and making 16.3M impressions. The most popular/influential posts include:

NOTEWORTHY ARTICLES

Blend Coverage

• Why are some KC restaurants serving burgers blended with mushrooms? – Kansas City Star
• VIDEO: Chefs embrace the blended burger – Meat + Poultry
• Building a Better Burger with Chefs Gabi and Greg Denton – Food Network
• James Beard Foundation’s Blended Burger Project – Buffalo Rising
• Area chefs tackle James Beard Foundation’s Blended Burger Project – San Antonio Express News
• Try the “better Burger Challenge’ this summer – Treehugger
• Cider Press, Mermaid Tavern enter James Beard Foundation burger contest – Creative Loafing (also featured in: Tampa Bay Times online and in print: Blended Burger
• Vegan Burger Enters in Prestigious James Beard Contest – VegNews
• Corpus Christi restaurant enters national burger competition – Corpus Christi (TX) Caller-Times
• Surf City restaurant competes in national ‘blended burger’ competition – WNCT 9 (Greenville, N.C.) orth Carolina)
• Lunchbreak: Memorial Day grilling and details about Culinary Fight Clubs next Blended Burger Project – WGN9 (Chicago)
• Tucson steakhouse named finalist in James Beard burger competition – (Tuscon) Arizona Daily Star
• Three Arizona restaurants try mushroom burger challenge – KTAR.com (Phoenix)
• Oasthouse and Boiler Nine’s Umami Burgers, and More A.M. Intel – Eater Austin
• Restaurant notes: 100 Acres, Griffon House, Fera’s – The Buffalo News
• Haven Gastropub Introduced New Burger – OC Foodies (in Orange County, Ca.)
• Misconduct Tavern to Participate in The James Beard Foundation’s Blended Burger Project – Philly Grub
• June 3: Tacolandia, Breakwater Brewing, OC Foodie Fest Pub & Grib., Greg Daniels, Nick Liberato, Chinois on Main – SoCal Restaurant Show
• The Dine, Wine & Spirits Show – WGSO (New Orleans)
• St Louis Union Station’s Grill Competes – STLRestaurant.News
• 3 Locals Competing in 2017 Blended Burger Project – PhoenixBites.com
• Launch of veal summer grilling promotion with Mushroom Council and the Beef Checkoff – Fresh Plaza
• 3rd Veal Summer Grilling Promotion with Mushroom Council and the Beef Checkoff Launches – Digital Journal

Mushroom Nutrition, Recipes and Other News

• Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto – The Chew (abc)
• A trip to the alien planet that grows America’s mushrooms – Saveur Magazine
• Promotional initiatives continue to spur increased mushrooms sales – Produce News

NOTEWORTHY SOCIAL/ DIGITAL ACTIVITY

Most Popular Mushroom Channel Social Posts

Facebook: Just in time for #MemorialDay weekend: Mushroom & Chive Potato Salad. RECIPE: http://mushro.ms/2qcwDRa

• 1,641 Reactions + Comments
• 31,835 Reached

Blenditarian Facebook: Move over vegetarians. Outta the way flexitarians. Let the blenditarians make their case.

• 10 Reactions
• 194 Reached

MC Twitter: Grilling out for #MemorialDay? We’ve got your burgers covered. https://t.co/2Vr74rHTFH https://t.co/FTuhXCHalt

• 27 Reactions (responses, clicks, retweets)
• 12,329 Reached

Blenditarian Twitter: Thank you #KansasCity chefs! #BlendedBurgerProject

• 32 Reactions (responses, clicks, retweets)
• 574 Impressions

MC Instagram: Starting the weekend early? Kick things off the right way ??? Repost from @tastemadeuk – Why put mushrooms on a pizza when you can make the pizza out of mushrooms?! ??⠀

• 421 Views

Blenditarian Instagram: The #BlendedBurgerProject is back! Start eating and voting (now through July 31)! ? LINK ? PROFILE Repost from @theportershouse | Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, stop.

• 47 engagements

This week’s keywords used in conjunction with #blenditarian content include: