Jodi Berg - The Vitamix Cookbook: 250 Delicious Whole Food Recipes to Make in Your Blender

To our dedicated and committed Vitamix team, who work tirelessly to help make the world a healthier place, and to our loyal fans.

Thank you for making a difference.

Contents

Jodi Bergs personal family collection

I f you have ever had the opportunity to experience a Vitamix demonstration, you may not be surprised to know that demonstration has been the backbone of our company for generations. Our dedicated demonstrators whipping up smoothie, soup, and frozen dessert samples are both an iconic part of our brand and a tremendous teaching tool to help people successfully adopt a healthier lifestylea role that we have taken very seriously for over ninety years. In the 1940s, shortly after the first blender was invented, my great-grandfather was demonstrating the magic of blended whole foods in front of an audience equally eager to taste the rich flavors produced in mere moments. Hard to believe, right? My great-grandfatherour companys founderhad an incredible passion for whole foods, health, and wellness, as do our hundreds of Vitamix demonstrators in multiple countries around the world who carry on this tradition today.

I, Jodi Berg, am the current president and CEO of Vitamix, a fourth-generation family business. As a family entity, Vitamix can continue to focus on a purpose greater and more encompassing than the almighty sale; it is not just about the bottom line but about making a difference in improving the vitality of peoples lives. We get to invite every employee and every customer to be a member of the greater Vitamix family and an advocate for healthy change. If you are already part of our family, you know that Vitamix is more than just a company, and more than a life-changing appliance. If you are just joining us, then welcome!

Prior to talking about the importance of whole foods, and before you start looking at all of the delicious recipes, I want to tell you a bit of our familys story, because when you adopt a Vitamix lifestyle, this becomes your story too. And its a good one! Full of laughter, hard work, a little log cabin, and a cast of wonderful characters, all deeply devoted to one another and to the business they were building togetherall of them passionate about helping people increase their vitality. And it all started with a can opener.

Clockwise from left: William G. Barnard Jr. (Bill), William G. Barnard Sr. (Papa), Louie W. Barnard, Claire C. Charpentir Barnard.

Yes, a can opener and one skilled, charismatic, and resourceful salesman named William Grover Barnard. Living in Westpoint, Illinois, my great-grandfather, known affectionately to all as Papa Barnard, was a successful, ambitious jack-of-all-trades. Back in the early 1900s, Papa was a mayor, undertaker, railroad station agent, banker, and real estate investor to boot. He was the horse in a one-horse town, his son Bill once said. A workhorse, I would venture to say. But around 1921 his family, like many others, hit hard times. Papa had invested heavily in real estate, so when the land values plummeted, he had to reinvent himself. After all, he had a family to support, and he wasnt about to let them down. Papa tackled this challenge like many others: with tenacity, a twinkle in his eye, and a big dose of perseverance. For a natural showman like Papa, being a traveling salesman was a perfect fit. He got his start demonstrating small housewares like the can opener, long before the blender was even invented.

Papa was a gregarious, fun-loving man, and he always drew a crowd. He was a lot more than an entertainerhe was passionate about the value of his products. To Papa, the value to the customer had to be greater than the price paid. It had to. Twenty-five cents for a can opener was a lot of money in those days. Still, opening canned goods with a knife was dangerous. Unlike many can openers available in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the model Papa demonstrated had a small wheel to protect your fingers. Even in tight times, my great-grandfather was able to demonstrate that the value was well worth what one would spend. This cornerstone is foundational to this day.

As the country slid toward the Great Depression, Papa Barnard built up a successful business. Before too long, Papas one-man show became a multigenerational business when his sons William Grove Jr. (Grandpa Bill) and Great-Uncle Louie came on board. Papa christened his growing business the Barnard Sales Company, and the three men took to the road in a Model T Ford, demonstrating in small towns across the United States to sell their wares.

Exploring Health and Whole Foods

In 1934, my grandpa Bill married his college sweetheart, Ruth. Her father, Frank C. Pellett, a well-respected naturalist and bee expert, was quite accomplished in his own right. As fate would have it, it was not Franks strengths but his weaknesses that changed our familys history. You see, Frank had long suffered from digestive problems. Both the Barnard and the Pellett families rallied together to help him regain his health, and it was this quest that led them to wellness through whole foods. It was then that the Barnard family first became interested in health through diet, and Papa, Grandpa, and Grandma wanted very much to learn all they could.

Papa and my grandpa Bill became interested in the writings of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, an early health food advocate, who later went on to found what would become the Kelloggs cereal company, and a health lecturer by the name of Dr. Bush. After a talk by Dr. Bush, Grandma wrote that Papa and Grandpa were inspired. The philosophy of the thing got them, and Bill has refused to eat white flour, white sugar, and meat ever since. My grandpa hoped to eventually know enough about achieving wellness through a healthy diet to be able to lecture on it, but meanwhile, as Grandma wrote to her aunt Milly, we live it.

The 1930s ended up being a very significant decade for our family. First, Papa and his sons demonstrated for two summers at the Great Lakes Exposition in Cleveland. During their time at the Expo, the Barnard family fell in love with the hardworking people of northeast Ohio. Deciding it was the best place to grow their families and their business, they moved to this great city in 1937, just after the Expo finished.

The second big event also happened around the hundred-day Expo. The Barnard family became aware of yet another new product, a blender. Many salesmen saw no use for the blender beyond bars and mixed drinks. But Papa saw the blender as the perfect tool to help himself, his family, and his customers add more whole food to their diets. Not only could you add more fruits and vegetables, but the foods you could make would be varied and delicious too. It was truly an aha moment for Papa. Great-Grandpa Pellett christened the new blender the Vita-Mix, because vita in Latin means life. The Barnards were then, as we are today, great livers of life, and the name fit perfectly with the product, the business, and the family too.