This weekend The Greek Gods celebrated with its ongoing sponsorship and support of Seattle’s treasured Northwest Folklife Festival. We were a 2010 matching donor sponsor (to $1500) and are proud to contribute to this worthwhile event. If you’ve never headed over to Seattle Center to be a part of the fun, go next time! Even the grey Memorial Day Weekend weather wasn’t enough to hold back crowds!

Here’s a little more about the non profit (a 501 c3) from its own Web site:

Northwest Folklife creates opportunities for individuals and communities of the Pacific Northwest to celebrate, share and sustain the vitality of folk, ethnic and traditional arts for present and future generations. Northwest Folklife carries out its mission in a variety of ways, most notably through the annual production of the free Northwest Folklife Festival.

• Northwest Folklife believes that the arts revitalize people and communities. Northwest Folklife is dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage and its continued growth and development.

• Northwest Folklife understands that everyone is a bearer of folk arts and that it is as important to participate in the arts as it is to observe them.

• Northwest Folklife encourages communities to share their cultural arts, believing that interaction with new audiences enriches the community as much as the audience. When people share aspects of their culture, opportunities are created to dissolve misunderstandings, break down stereotypes and increase respect for one another.

• Northwest Folklife relies on the diverse communities of the Pacific Northwest to inspire programs. Northwest Folklife collaborates with these communities to develop public presentations of their culture.

Get about 70 food bloggers, recipe writers and culinarians in one room and what have you got? One big, buzzing hum over The Greek Gods yogurt! Keren Brown’s Foodpurtunity brought Seattle “Food Writing for Food Lovers” on May 22, and we were there as both sponsor with VivAgave and sampling the product. We were happily surprised to see the Fig flavor get snapped up before the Honey was devoured. We also love your feedback. You told us how you eat the honey, the new honey-strawberry, and how you wish we had coconut (and flavored non fat, and small plain).

Thanks to Keren Brown for putting this wonderful events together. Featured speaker Dianne Jacob was funny and informative!

Congratulations! When left with video cameras and a $5,000 prize on the table, we saw that mere mortals are indeed capable of God-like feats of creativity. You kids ROCK. And the winner is….

Community Christian School, there is no comparison! Our video winners.

Community Christian School of Tallahassee, Fla.
Pyrotechnics. A cherry picker lift. Choreography. Rapping. Mythology. You had us at “Zeus!” Yes, we got our Greek on, indeed. And you, fair Floridian youth, now get your 5k on. Bravo to instructor Don Greener for  having such talented students to take on this project! We appreciated all the work and thought that went into its creation. You drew so many elements into a single 30-second spot–and told the story. See the video here:

Although not the grand prize winner, The Greek Gods were also smitten by a video submitted by Holy Names Academy in Seattle, Wash. The judges kept nicknaming it “Frump Girl” during deliberations. The premise was that The Greek Gods had transformational powers to take the starring student from drab to fab (in a school bathroom stall, no less!). “It has a quality so many people can relate to, and eating Greek yogurt can make you feel better with its nutritional content,” said Managing Partner Basel Nassar. Well, Holy Names received an unplanned consolation prize of $1,000.

Congratulations are in order for both of these. There were many more that crept onto YouTube and never came in through the U.S. Mail, and others that did but did not reach the god-like status of these two creations.

Your videos are immortal and thank you, again!

The major update in the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid is gathering plant foods (fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes, seeds, olives and olive oil) in a single group to emphasize their health benefits. The scientific committee made this change to draw attention to the key role of these delicious and healthy plant foods. A new feature on the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid is herbs and spices, for reasons of both health and taste. Also, herbs and spices contribute to the national identities of various Mediterranean cuisines. The committee emphasized the healthfulness of fish and shellfish, highlighting the benefits of eating fish and shellfish at least two times per week.