I love to cook. And I love working with fresh, local ingredients. I'm a Nutrition Facts box-reader, and I tend to go for minimally processed, natural foods without all the commercial fats and sugars. And yet, sometimes I feel like I'm being snookered by all the buzzwords and design cues employed in food packaging. Does the word 'Natural' slapped on a bag of fried snack chips or a can of 7-Up make them any more healthy? Really? Starbucks may be ditching trans fats in its baked goods, but that slab o' marble pound cake still packs a calorie wallop.

In an article in today's NYTimes, Kim Severson dubs this packaging/branding technique 'greenwashing.' Paula Scher and Brian Collins weigh in, derisively, on the trend. (Registration may be required to view the article.)

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Commissioned by Kurt Andersen of Studio 360, Pentagram re-designed Christmas. Listen to the December 20 broadcast, and check out Pentagram's PowerPoint presentation. And while you're at it, subscribe to the Studio 360 podcast.

Fast Company has posted a slideshow featuring its Top 10 Creative Minds of 2006. The list includes, in addition to JWT co-presidents Rosemarie Ryan and Ty Montague, a banker, an evangelist and a university president.

We're just about to close things down here at HOW HQ until after the holidays; we're all taking a break from magazine proofs, e-mails, conference planning and the like. The Blog is going to be fairly quiet next week. But we'll resume posting with gusto in the new year. Happy holidays!

Ever since we profiled them in HOW's December 2005 issue, we continue to be mighty impressed by those folks at Coudal Partners. (And not just because Jim has agreed to speak at the HOW Conference in Atlanta.) Awhile back, we blogged about Coudal's homegrown sports paraphernalia biz Sixteen Straight. (Rex Grossman sort of scotched that project.) Now they've got a new venture, Pinsetter. Get a full set of alphabet buttons (2 of each letter, plus punctuation and a red heart) for just $39.

One of our very most favorite people, Ann Willoughby, has donated to Bees for Development on behalf of her clients this holiday season. Watch the sweet little animated card.

A fun little Flash animation for the holidays, from The Compass Group (thanks to Mark Sackett at Reflectur for the link).