Cue the confetti and light the candles!
The start of this school year marks two decades of transforming kids into curious, empowered eaters, and here at the Foundation we can’t help but feel a little nostalgic as we think back on our journey. Can we take you on a little trip down memory lane?
📚 Our First Workshop
In 2006 we taught our very first workshop in our hometown of Seattle, Washington. The program would improve and evolve over the years, but the mission has always been the same – empower fourth graders with the skills to fight back against food marketing and figure out what’s really going on in their food.
🍎 Expanding to NYC
In 2015 we started teaching workshops in New York City, marking the beginning of what would become our national expansion. We always had a dream of being in schools throughout the nation and while we weren’t quite sure how we’d get there, we took the first step by testing our curriculum outside of Seattle. (Spoiler alert, it worked!)
🎉 100,000 Food Detectives!
In 2016 we celebrated teaching our 100 thousandth Food Detective – despite never spending a dollar on advertising, our program was growing rapidly through word of mouth. We loved knowing that teachers loved our free program so much they had to share it with our friends!
💻 We Went Virtual
In 2020 schools went virtual, and so did we. We took the magic of our in-class program and poured it into a new format that could be taught by any teacher in any classroom. We fastidiously tracked learning gains and teacher feedback and when both stayed strong, we new we were onto something.
✨ What’s next?
Now, in 2026 it feels like we are just beginning (again). We are launching an updated version of our program that we know teachers and students will love, and we have big plans for the future with a Food Detectives app that will bring Chip and Dip’s adventures into the living room and into family conversations about making smart food choices.
We have so much energy and enthusiasm for what’s to come. Thanks for celebrating with us, and here’s to the next twenty years of Food Detective fun!
