Wouldn’t you like to win a six-month supply of whole grains? That’s what Mars Food was giving away by the luck-of-the-draw at our Make (at least!) Half Your Grains Whole conference in Alexandria, VA last month.

Lots of folks think first of candy bars when they think of Mars, not realizing that long-time whole grain favorites like Uncle Ben’s brown rice and Seeds of Change products also come from Mars. The company also has a new line of cookies and crackers called World of Grains, which we’ve mentioned before in this blog.

When the winning business card was pulled out of the bowl, Tiffany Haugen of Walterville, OR was the winner – which explains why she’s smiling in the photo above, where she’s pictured with just a sampling of her six-month stash of whole grains.

Tiffany and I had talked on the phone before the conference, but hadn’t met in person. Turns out she’s a cookbook author, food columnist and recipe developer from western Oregon, who has traveled to nearly 30 countries and lived in such exotic places as the Alaskan Arctic, Sumatra, Indonesia and Spain, where she cooked extensively with local foods. She uses these practical experiences – and a masters in health education – to bring a worldly approach to simple food preparation in her nine cookbooks including, “The Power of Flour” and “Grill It! Plank It! Wrap It! Smoke It!” A big congratulations to Tiffany.

I never cease to be amazed at what an interesting group of people show up at Oldways conferences. Hope we’ll see you there next time, too. (Cynthia)