in our lunchbox.

Sweetgreen is a salad restaurant chain that has
launched a program called Sweetgreen in Schools. 
Their mission is to fight child obesity by
educating kids about health and nutrition.

These series of images show some jaw-dropping realities when showcasing

'School Lunches Around the World'.
We really see how North America measures up
to other countries in terms of what we're feeding kids. 

Having worked in the food industry, I've always been
skeptical to the idea of "kid friendly food", since when
were nuggets and green giant better than
a chicken breast and an greek salad?
Why shelter kids from what they're supposed to be eating anyways?

Local fish on a bed of arugula, pasta with tomato sauce, caprese salad, baguette and some grapes

Pea soup, beet salad, carrot salad, bread and pannakkau (dessert pancake) with fresh berries

Steak, carrots, green beans, cheese and fresh fruit.

Pork with mixed veggies, black beans and rice, salad, bread and baked plantains.

Fish soup, tofu over rice, kimchi and fresh veggies.

Baked chicken over orzo, stuffed grape leaves, tomato and cucumber salad, fresh oranges, and greek yogurt with pomegranate seeds.

Mashed potatoes with sausage, borscht, cabbage and syrniki (a dessert pancake)

Sautéed shrimp over brown rice and vegetables, gazpacho, fresh peppers, bread and an orange.

Fried ‘popcorn’ chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, fruit cup and a chocolate chip cookie.

... and we wonder why Europeans do so much more gourmet cooking?

- - - 

by: Sweetgreen

how to imagine France.

This photographer snapped 25 very playful takes
through the romantic country.

Each photograph has a dose of surrealism and dash of humor leaving
all of us ashamed of the lame photos we take on vacation.

"We discovered new cities and monuments and we had to create our own stories about them. We spent time in museums that were empty! We enjoyed having an entire castle to ourselves starting at 7am to see the sun come up. That seems crazy when I write about that today. "

The Water Mirror , Bordeaux

The MuCEM, Marseilles

The Royal Chateau de Blois

The Palais de Papes, Avignong

The Chateau du Clos-Luce

Gare Saint Sauver, Lille

Chateau de Thoiry

Pic Du Midi

The Thermes du Mont-Dore, Auvergne

Opera Royal of Versailles

The Pont du Gard

Chateau du Haut- Koenigsbourg

The Citadel of Besancon

The Cite of Carcassonne

The Palais de Papes, Avignon

'ImagineFrance'

by: Maia Flore

let's hug a bear.

How many of us dare to actually hug a bear?

These images are NOT photoshopped

Theses are just captures of pure wonderment.

 

The surreal and almost haunting elements in the photos

draw the viewer deeper and deeper into a Fairytale mindset.

No one was close to getting hurt nor were the girls ever in danger
as their respective trainers were present.

by: Katerina Plotnikova

frozen Toronto.

Well, I for one am glad to say that Toronto 

is not so frozen anymore.

Considering the numerous falls and bumps I have 

received due to tundra sidewalks and ice death hazards,

I cannot wait until Spring rolls around and punches 

Winter right in the balls.

Toronto photographer Tom Ryaboi

on the other hand seems to be more enthusiatic

about our city's recent weather adventures.

The daredevil photographer isn't afraid to get all Spiderman 

on the edge of a skyscraper in order to snap a jaw dropping shot.

(Want proof? Check this picture out)

"The problem didn't lie in getting into the high rise construction site,
but with how one properly dresses for a rigorous climb (all 60 flights of stairs)
and be prepared to shoot atop the skyscraper at -20 degrees C with windy conditions,"

"Of course, we ended up overdressing for the occasion.
The climb was tough - I thought I almost suffered a heat stroke,
having to carry all that camera gear, and wearing a heavy parka,
two layers of sweaters, and very tight long johns.

In the end, the incredible towering views were well worth the effort.
Everything on the top 3 or 4 floors was exposed to the elements.
And, due to the ice storm our city suffered through several day ago,
it seemed like every object on these floors was covered with a thick layer of ice.
We had to abandon our initial plan of climbing the scaffolding at the rooftop,
which was too dangerously slippery.
That hardly mattered, the views we experienced from
inside the top floors were enough to make any grown man weep.
The frigid air started pounding my body after several hours of shooting,
and soon after, I recall telling myself that I really should
have been more warmly dressed for this ungodly climate."

 

by: Tom Ryaboi

tokyo bokeh.

My recent acquisition of a Canon 700D 

has drawn me to watching numerous Youtube

tutorials on the basics of photography. 

Now that I know how to do sort of cool things with

this cam, I've also picked up some new lingo including 

the word Bokeh.

BOKEH
(Originally /ˈboʊkɛ/, /ˈboʊkeɪ/ BOH-kay  Japanese: [boke]) i
s the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur,in out-of-focus areas of an image.
Bokeh has been defined as
"the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light"

 

 Photographer Takashi Kitajima takes the word

and brings it back to it's roots, photographing 

Tokyo in all its light polluting glory (which I have no issue with)

 

Each composition creates abstract landscapes

that are as whimsical and dreamy and photography can get.

by:  Takashi Kitajima