I've just finished lunch - a hunk of leftover ham, artichoke, and chevre strata and a glass of blackberry sparkling juice. The drink is made by a company called Izze. A portion of the proceeds is used to support education-based development for farm workers and their families in the communities where the company buys their fruit. Says so right on the can. That's what I mean by "good deeds through eating." I thought I was simply having a beverage but maybe I helped send a kid to school.

I once again turn my attention to my pantry and can find only one other example of a company that believes in their charitable work so much that they have put information about it on their packaging - Immaculate Baking Company, the business that produces the Sweet Georgia Brownie triple chocolate chunk cookies I found lurking behind the Progresso Italian style bread crumbs. Immaculate Baking Company celebrates and supports American folk art through the Folk Artists' Foundation, a non-profit organization they created to aid, encourage, and provide exposure for self-taught artists.

That's it. Out of all that stuff in the pantry, only two examples. 

I know many of the companies that produce the food I have stored in my pantry support their communities and contribute their time and dollars to charitable organizations. But these two companies - Izze and Immaculate Baking Company - have made their "good deeds" a fundamental part of their business plans. I like that.

I'm going to pay closer attention to what I'm buying next time I wander through the aisles of Publix. Not simply to the carbs and the trans fats and the fiber grams - but to the values of the companies I support through my daily consumption of food and beverages.