BALLARINI AND DISNEY: TOGETHER FOR A … MAGICAL INITIATIVE!

For the launch of the children’s food culture project “Learn While Cooking” and the release in cinemas on December 18th 2009 of the animated feature film “The Princess and the Frog,” Ballarini and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Italia are organizing a great gastronomic contest under the patronage of ANDID (the National Dieticians Association).

The contest requires each participant, at school age between 6 and 11 years, to write a recipe paying special attention to the principles of a correct diet and deliver it from January 7th to April 7th 2010 in the Ballarini points of sale – shops and retailers – taking part in the initiative. The children will immediately receive a gadget and can enter the contest featuring rich prizes.

And more is to come: the best 50 recipes selected by a panel of ANDID dieticians according to their nutritional value and originality will be rewarded with fabulous prizes of the film or a fantastic holiday in Südtirol, and moreover will also be published in “Learn While Cooking” book within the year 2011.

Walt Disney will be promoting this activity in over 5,000 primary schools in major Italian cities sending teaching kits rich in educational materials and games.

The 1,100 Ballarini points of sale are also going to be committed to food culture by giving out the poster of the educational game for healthy eating and good habits. The Learn While Cooking game, for the occasion with the theme of “The Princess and the Frog,” is a sort of “snakes and ladders” that reproduces a child’s typical day: the winner is the one who succeeds in a few simple moves in adopting a correct diet. This virtuous game is the result of the work team formed by dieticians and experts in child language to translate the guidelines of INRAN (National Research Institute for Food and Nutrition) into a suitable language for children. The whole path has been illustrated, in line with the Learn While Cooking project, in watercolours: the outcome is fun entertainment destined to remain with the families for a long time.

The ANDID dieticians will also undertake to spread the terms of the contest through 1,000 clinics all over the country and starting today it is possible to dialogue with them online on the website www.cucinandosimpara.it to obtain valuable advice.

On the website www.cucinandosimpara.it, it is also possible to play, download fun cards to paint, learn to cook and get to know good habits to protect our planet. It is possible to view the complete rules of the contest, download the postcard for taking part and find out the addresses of the Ballarini points of sale joining the initiative. There is also a section on news for children, created to inform them about important topics and issues tackled by the company in specially simplified language without banalizing the content.

Ballarini, with the “Learn While Cooking” project, and Walt Disney, with the new film “The Princess and the Frog,” have confirmed their attention to the younger generations by putting them at the centre of not only a business project, but also an ethical project for healthy nutrition and respect for the environment, because children are not just young consumers but also a resource for everyone’s future.