Members of the produce industry recently had the chance to meet Kary Osmond at the Ontario Produce Marketing Association booth at the 2013 CPMA convention, where she was promoting the Produce Made Simple campaign. Ms. Osmond, former host of the CBC’s cooking show, “Best Recipes Ever,” has joined with the OPMA to create a healthy living program which stresses simplicity and learning the fundamentals of working with produce.

The OPMA’s director of marketing and communications, Ashlee Mclean, said, “There is a real need for a back-to-basics approach to fruits and vegetables. People know they need to eat them for a healthy life, but not how to choose them at the store level or how to prepare them for meals.” When Ms. Osmond approached the association last fall about working together, the result was a campaign to teach Canadians how to pick, store and prepare different types of fresh produce.

Ms. Mclean feels Produce Made Simple, which includes a blog style website and a social media component, is a great fit with the OPMA’s primary mandate to promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables. The campaign features a different fruit or vegetable each week on the website: producemadesimple.ca.

Readers can check in each day of the week to learn something new. On Monday, Ms. Osmond teaches how to pick and store the featured item. On Tuesday, she explains how to wash, cut or trim the product to prepare it. Wednesday’s readers will learn some fun tips, while Thursday’s posts offer suggestions on what will go well with the feature of the week. The week wraps on Friday with a simple recipe anyone can master.

“To accompany the program, we’ve also filmed a bunch of webisodes,” said Ms. Osmond. Released every three weeks, the how-to videos demonstrate the techniques discussed on the website. “Our primary objective with this program is to build consumer confidence at the grocery store and farmers markets,” noted the host.

Ms. Osmond grew up in a catering kitchen and deli, so she found that confidence young. But it wasn’t until she went to college to study marketing that she realized her true passion was teaching her roommates and friends cooking skills. ‘To watch someone’s enthusiasm when cooking finally makes sense is addictive,” said Ms. Osmond.

She cultivated her own cooking abilities by taking food theory courses, studying cookbooks and volunteering in various types of kitchens, and three years ago she was able to turn her dream of hosting a cooking show into a reality. Ms. Osmond hosted Canada’s No. 1 daytime cooking show, “Best Recipes Ever,” for over 250 episodes before deciding it was time to develop her own personal brand.

“Part of that process was to partner with brands and products that I believe in and feel strongly about. And I believe that the more produce we eat, the healthier we’ll be,” said Ms. Osmond. “My goal with this campaign is to get people excited and talking about produce. I want produce to be top of mind, not an afterthought. I also want to encourage people to step out of their comfort zone and try something new.”

The campaign, which will run from April through December, will use linked social media platforms to engage the public and encourage interaction. Ms. Osmond, who currently has over 27,000 followers on her Facebook page, noted, “We share our content on social media, which usually starts great conversations and encourages followers to ask any questions they may have, share personal stories and give suggestions.” The promotion will use Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, as well as Ms. Osmond’s personal social media accounts, and will feature contests to build excitement.