David Fikes
Arlington
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Articles by David Fikes
The Times and Families Are A ‘Changin’ with Implications for Meals Together at Home
Oct 6, 20263 min read The American family is changing, but the enduring value of meals together remains strong, with new research showing how family meals are adapting to reflect the diverse ways families are built and experienced today.
Family Meals: The Best Lever to Lower Shopper Concern about Food Prices
Sep 16, 20263 min read As grocery prices remain top of mind, family meals are helping shoppers gain greater control over food spending while delivering meaningful value at home. By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Some of us believe we must generate a certain level of anxiety to help the plane we’re on produce the lift necessary for take-off. This group is painfully aware of the dynamic tension that exists between what we are concerned about and what we can control.
10 Things Americans Have Learned from Co-hosting the 2026 World Cup
Jul 1, 20263 min read With 48 nations coming together, the World Cup celebrates the things – like a love of sport and shared food – that unites us all. By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Soccer teams representing 48 countries from across the globe have gathered in our backyard to play each other for the four-year bragging rights to the claim of being the best in the whole wide world.
Harnessing the Connecting Power of the Potluck
Jun 18, 20263 min read By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation, FMI Some of my fondest and most vivid childhood memories spring from summertime family reunion gatherings that happened every few years in my dad’s clan. My father was one of eight kids, so these reunions were huge events, numerically and emotionally. They were the not-often-enough opportunities to see some of my out-of-state cousins.
A Step Beyond Flowers and Chocolates on Mother’s Day
May 8, 20263 min read This Mother’s Day, honor the small, everyday acts like family meals that make a monumental impact. By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation My wife is the photographer in our family. In fact, the joke in our clan is that no event is real until she has wrangled a picture of us doing whatever we are there to do or seeing whatever we are there to see.
New Foundation Directions
Feb 18, 20263 min read The FMI Foundation has adopted a new mission statement focusing on enriching society's experience with the food industry and prioritized initiatives under three pillars: Inspire, Nourish, and Safeguard, while planning to expand key programs such as career inspiration, family meals promotion, and scholarship offerings to enhance impact and relevance.
How is the Family Meal Movement Doing?
Oct 22, 20253 min read The 2025 survey results about National Family Meals Month indicate increased awareness and positive behavioral changes related to family meals across the U.S. population. By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation How are you doing? Those words are such a common greeting because we are all innately curious about our own and each other’s status. Over the ages we’ve developed thousands of ways of seeking answers to it.
A Masterclass in Multitasking - the Family Meal
Sep 15, 20253 min read Family meals offer a unique opportunity to nourish the body, mind, heart, and spirit simultaneously while fostering meaningful connections and conversations. By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation My father loved his Swiss army knife. It was a treasured possession, and he relished opportunities to demonstrate its multi-faceted resourcefulness, whipping it from his pocket with a flair that would have challenged any rapier-bearing swashbuckler.
The Mysterious Value of Moving from Unknown Other to Known Friend
Aug 8, 20253 min read Family meals are proven to provide social, nutritional, emotional and mental benefits. By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation, FMI My family actively follows the Washington Spirit, our local professional women’s soccer club. Being an active fan has revealed an interesting learning for me. We adore our Spirit players, and they can do little wrong in our eyes.
New Recruitment Strategies with Junior Achievement
Jun 17, 20252 min read By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation The 2025 Food Industry Speaks research reports that food retailers and suppliers are feeling less negative about workforce issues compared to recent years. The share of retailers reporting recruitment and retention of employees as a negative for their businesses fell from 85% in 2022 to 52% in 2024.
On the Road to a Healthier Pig
Jun 5, 20252 min read By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Among the bevy of headline-grabbing proclamations and announcements recently erupting from Washington, D.C., there was one a few weeks ago you might have missed that could impact your meat department and your customer service department.
The Intentional and Accidental Power of Family Meals
May 19, 20253 min read By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Once I was driving in Atlanta and noticed that the street I was on lined up perfectly with a building recently constructed miles away providing a gloriously picturesque view of the structure. I wondered if the dramatic sight lines were intentional.
Family by Birth or Choice, the Meal Still Matters
Oct 18, 20244 min read By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation In one of my favorite Ted Lasso episodes, Richmond’s director of operations, Leslie Higgins hosts the entire soccer team for a holiday feast.
Heartfelt Connections: Olympic Inspiration Remind Why Family Meals Are Important
By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation All the hardware has been awarded, the medal count tallied and the Olympic flame of the 2024 Paris games has been extinguished. As we reflect on the performances, the stories, and the efforts of the Olympic athletes competing on the global stage, one thing remains clear.
An Unexpected Family Meals Testimonial
By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Testimonials to the wholesome power of family meals are everywhere, but one recently surfaced in a rather unique space. We are all familiar with Google Doodles - the temporary alternations of the Google logo on their homepage that are intended to commemorate holidays, events and historical figures.
Moving Beyond the Sound-byte: Appreciating the History of Juneteenth
By; David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation We live in a sound-byte world. Many, if not all, of us, are guilty of preferring to have our information spoon-fed to us in the smallest, most palatable doses possible. The problem with encapsulating things in a quick and clever way is that the reduction frequently overly simplifies facts, and the pill-sized version misses, messes with or totally obscures the point.
A Decade of Highlighting Family Meals
By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation This September, the FMI Foundation celebrates our tenth National Family Meals Month. This anniversary year provides a great opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come and realize future opportunities for promoting the benefits of family meals.
Candid Conversation About DEI Concerns
By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation I am constantly amazed at the power of invigorating conversation. In a world frequently filled with tepid exchanges and mundane interactions, it is a joy when gifted with an encounter that challenges, inspires and opens our eyes because it is authentic, vulnerable and filled with wisdom. These honest exchanges make us feel more alive.
Top 10 Reasons to Start Planning for Family Meals Month Now
By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation September is Family Meals Month – that special 30-day period when FMI invites you to incentivize your shoppers to enjoy the glorious nutritional, emotional and mental health benefits of sharing mealtime with their loved ones. That means if you start now, you have four and half months to get your Family Meals Month activation plan in order.
Curious About How the SCOTUS Affirmative Action Decision May Impact DEI Programs?
By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Harvard College and the University of North Carolina (“UNC”) violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”) by impermissibly using race in their undergraduate admissions processes. By holding that race based affirmative action programs in college admissions processes violate the Equal Protection Clause, the U. S.
Sharing the Path of Improved Animal Welfare
By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Years ago, I was serving on an ecumenical task force that included a Jewish Rabbi. As an Episcopal priest, I was pleasantly surprised at how much he and I enjoyed each other’s company and struck such an easy rapport. The activities we were plotting together required some frank discussion of our similarities and our differences.
Research Backs National Family Meals Movement
By David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation, Communications Where do you go when you want to learn about something? The term “google it” may come quickly to mind, but as we’ve all discovered, information found on the internet may or may not be trustworthy and often requires its own deeper research. As purveyors of Family Meals Month, we wanted to ensure the data we publish about the benefits of family meals is based in fact, backed by science, and can be trusted.
The Joy and Solemnity of Freedom Celebrations
Jun 2, 2023 By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Juneteenth has a deep 158-year history as a celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Like July Fourth, our other national holiday commemorating liberation, Juneteenth is a vivid stake driven into our national calendar reminding us that freedom declared does not always mean freedom immediately realized.
Helping Us Hear What We Need to Hear
May 15, 2023 By David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation My 12-year-old daughter can detect the bells of the neighborhood ice cream truck ringing four blocks away, but somehow cannot manage to hear her parents four feet away telling her to take her laundry upstairs. It is not a physiological problem; it is a psychological one and she is not alone.
When Is the Best Time to Plant a Tree?
Apr 6, 2023 By David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation In the tree section of the plant nursery I frequent, there’s a sign meant to preempt customer questions that says, “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.” I smile every time I read it because of its pointed reminder that if we adequately anticipate a need, it will save some work, worry and consternation later. It is also a humorous way of saying it’s always a good time to plant a tree.
Are You Market Ready for Gene-Edited Food Products?
Mar 2, 2023 By David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation FMI Foundation recently hosted the first in a two-part digital seminar series designed to help FMI members prepare for the market release of gene-edited food products. The discussion featured presentations from three companies involved in various stages of gene-edited food development: Dr. Natalie DiNicola of Benson Hill shared a basic overview of the gene editing technology and how it is applied in seed development.
You’ve Stirred It Up! Now Let It Simmer.
Jan 30, 2023 By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation The food industry put both its best foot forward and its best food forward at the 2023 Stir It Up! event. The closing event of the 2023 FMI Midwinter Executive Conference, this fundraiser for the FMI Foundation featured six kitchens pitting their best menus against each other.
When Work Feels Like Play
Jan 12, 2023 By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Once, when I was bellyaching about how hard my required tasks were that day, a friend of mine responded dryly, “Well, David, that’s why it’s called work. If it was all fun and games, we’d call it play.” His words were an irritating reminder that most of the time our work is just that…work; actions requiring discipline and fortitude to get accomplished because the tasks need to get done.
Making Goodness Attractive: The 2022 Gold Plate Awards
Dec 2, 2022 By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Fred Rodgers, longtime host and creator of the television series, Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood, once issued a challenge to his millions of adoring fans: “Try your best to make goodness attractive. That's one of the toughest assignments you'll ever be given.” Indeed, messages that encourage goodness seem to be harder and harder to come by. Still, there are a litany of spaces that encourage community and togetherness.
Hot Time in the Kitchen Tonight: “Stir It Up!” Returns to the Midwinter Lineup
Dec 1, 2022 By: David Fikes, Executive director, FMI Foundation Imagine, if you will, having the six top culinary establishments in America all gathered in one room with you as the anointed judge getting to sample the best menu each has to offer, determining your favorite. Well, move out of your imagination and into the realm of palate-pleasing reality because that is exactly what those participating in Stir It Up! will get to do on Jan. 22, 2023, at the FMI Foundation’s premier fundraising event.
The Dinner Gong: A Last Call to Apply for the 2022 Gold Plate Awards
Oct 28, 2022 By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation When I was growing up, parents didn’t have cell phones, smart watches or tablets to stay in touch with their children at all hours of the day. After leaving the house, I was completely on my own. My whereabouts could not be pinpointed with an app or high-tech tracking device.
Numbers Don’t Lie: Americans Took Positive Action Thanks to Family Meals Messaging
Oct 13, 2022 By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation Are you ready for some good news? Our research partners at Harris Poll have again performed a post-Family-Meals-Month survey measuring just how effective we were at urging people to “Stay Strong with Family Meals.” We are pleased to report that thanks to the outstanding promotional efforts of our participating partners in 2022, almost one-in-three Americans (31%) saw or heard Family Meals Month messaging this year.
National Seafood Month: A Great Time to Catch a Family Meal -FMI
October for many means pumpkins, costumes and scary movies. Growing up, for my family October also meant the start of stone crab season. The sweet crab claws remain a favorite family meal in my household and are just one way we regularly take part in National Seafood Month during October and the Family Meals Movement.
Video: Why gene-edited crops? Examining the nutritional and environmental benefits of CRISPR
It is easier than ever for advocacy groups to spread disinformation on pressing science issues, such as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. No, vaccines are not harmful. Yes, the use of biotechnology, GMOs or gene editing to develop antigens for treatments including vaccines are part of the solution. To inform the public about what’s really going on, we present the facts and challenge those who don't. We can’t do this work without your help.
Together, Again… Again, Unless We’re Not: Family Meals Faces Some New Issues
Apr 21, 2020 By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation The family meal has always faced its challenges. Traditionally, those challenges have been mainly in the realm of juggling schedules and mustering the energy at the end of a busy day to pull off a cohesive and nutritious gathering around the family dinner table.
What will Help Consumers Accept Gene Edited Food Products?
By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation From the moment our ancestors intentionally put seeds in the ground and started keeping livestock, humans have been seeking ways to improve plant and animal varieties. Over the ages we’ve done this through selective breeding, cross breeding, grafting and assorted other techniques; and at each step we have engaged the current scientific discoveries to improve our ability to make helpful improvements to our crops and farm animals.
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