Smash Your Food

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON – AUGUST 3, 2010 – You could ask your kids to guess how much sugar, salt and/or oil their favorite foods contain – or you could watch them stuff their pizza, burgers or sodas into a virtual smashing machine and have them find out in a spectacularly fun way!

That’s the essence of Smash Your Food ^TM . Load up your fave food -- guess the amount of goop it contains and then -- stand back and pull the “smash lever!” Everyone can watch their food choice get slowly smashed into a flat, gooey mess (the squashed milkshake video rocks!).

The food drips into three jars as actual measures of sugar, salt, and oil. And from there, your kids can figure out how accurate their guess was. The game shows a chart that illustrates the difference between what someone of their gender, age, and activity level needs in a meal, and compares it to what they are actually getting. Smash Your Food is a great way for kids to have fun while learning about healthier and balanced food choices using vivid sound effects (“plink”, “tchh-tchh”, “glop”) and entertaining videos created by a team of 20 artists, game designers, videographers, nutrition experts, and educators.

“Smash Your Food is a compelling, fun way for our children to get important health information while having a blast,” said Marta De Wulf, Nutritionist and Co-Founder of Octave Media. “Best of all, there’s no mess to cleanup!”

Octave Media International serves up Smash Your Food, a deliciously healthy and funny game for kids ages 6 to 11 and parents to learn about their food choices. Smash Your Food is a finalist in the nationwide Apps for Healthy Kids contest for game developers which is part of Let’s Move!, First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation.

Obesity rates tripled in the past 30 years, a trend that means, for the first time in our history, American children may face a shorter expected lifespan than their parents. The goal of Smash Your Food is to help children win their battles against weight issues and obesity by providing the tools and knowledge they need to make better choices about the foods they eat.

Kids, parents, gamers, and anyone interested in helping kids laugh while they learn about healthy food choices can visit www.appsforhealthykids.com and cast their votes for their favorite finalists. Voting is open until August 14th. If you want to learn more about Smash Your Food (and actually play the game and smash something!) before you vote, visit http://www.foodnme.com/smash-your-food/ with your kids.

Kids make their own food faces – and share them with their friends

Smash Your Food also lets kids have fun creating their own food faces with a lot of choices. Eggs for eyes? Banana for a mouth? How about a carrot for a nose? Kids can print their creative masterpieces, email them to friends, and post them on Facebook.

Smash Your Food is part of the Food N’ Me ^TM family of games with fun challenges, competitions, and animated videos. Food N’ Me also includes videos showing the Crazy Chef (yes, he’s a real person!) preparing healthy recipes for kids to watch and prepare themselves with parental supervision. For more information, visit www.foodnme.com.

About Octave Media International

Octave Media International creates online experiences including Food N’ Me for families interested in helping guide their children toward a healthier future. Just as we encourage families to participate in healthier lifestyles, our family participates in every aspect of Food N’ Me. Octave Media founders Frederic and Marta DeWulf are joined by son Jake who stars as the Crazy Chef in a series of entertaining videos creating recipes for kids to prepare at home. Frederic has an extensive 30-year career in multimedia, producing documentaries with Bill Moyers, Jacques Cousteau and National Geographic, and a digital media career at Microsoft and Turner Broadcasting. Marta's 20-year career as a nutritionist has given her insight into the role food plays in each of our lives. She designed and taught a children's nutrition program to over 2,800 students between the ages 5-12. Son Jake is a 16-year-old student in Seattle, a chef, drummer, and lacrosse player. For more information, visit www.octavemediaintl.com.

Smash Your Food and Food N’ Me are trademarks of Octave Media International.

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Contacts

For media inquiries, contact Doug Mealy, Online Marketing and Public Relations, dmealy@om-pr.com.

For business inquiries, contact Marta DeWulf, Octave Media, at marta.dewulf@octavemediaintl.com.