USA Rice Celebrates a Whole Day of Whole Grain Goodness

ARLINGTON, VA – Last Wednesday, March 27, USA Rice celebrated the “Whole Day for Whole Grains” with two promotions, one targeting retail and the other institutional foodservice, dedicated to celebrating the power of whole grains, showcasing different whole grain options and encouraging increased consumption.

Formerly known as Whole Grains Sampling Day, “Whole Day for Whole Grains” is organized by the Whole Grains Council, of which USA Rice is a founding member.

The first event hosted by USA Rice was in partnership with the ShopRite retail chain at their Wayne, New Jersey, location.  The store’s retail dietitian, Sabrina Hauser, was on-site talking about the importance of whole grain consumption and offering suggestions to shoppers on how to include more whole grains in their diets.  Consumers received copies of the USA Rice RD-Approved Guide to U.S.-Grown Rice, and Ready, Set, Rice! A Cooking Playbook, along with other handouts focused on whole grain goodness.

"Our customers really enjoyed our whole grain day event,” said Hauser.  “They loved learning about different U.S.-grown whole grain rice varieties and testing their rice knowledge on the rice trivia prize wheel to win samples and USA Rice branded promotional items.  A big thank you to USA Rice for helping to support our in-store event.”

The second promotion was conducted in partnership with Washington State University’s (WSU) dining services on campus in Bellevue, Washington.  Seven hundred students participated in a “Guess the Whole Grain” sampling game which featured U.S.-grown brown long grain, sprouted medium grain, purple rice, and California-grown wild rice provided by the California Wild Rice Advisory Board.  The Grown In The USA (GITUSA) symbol was front and center on informational displays as students learned the differences in the varieties they sampled, and received USA Rice measuring cups and cooking brochures.

“The students had a wonderful time sampling and learning about the different whole grain varieties available and grown in the U.S.  It was so helpful as many students had never seen or heard of some of the rices,” said Martha Flores, WSU’s registered dietitian and health and wellness coordinator.  “Students learned a lot and really appreciated the shopping list note pad, especially because the theme for the week prior was grocery shopping on a budget.  After they played Guess the Grain, they got to take the rice with them and it was awesome to see how excited they were to have them for lunch or save them for dinner.  Thanks to USA Rice for helping my vision for Grain Week become reality by supporting our campus event celebrating the power of whole grains!”