FCB Bucharest Develops World's First Painting Kit from Vegetables

How do we make our kids friends with veggies? Tasty Colors, the first painting set made entirely out of vegetables, is coming up with a fresh answer.

Developed by FCB Bucharest for Louis Bonduelle Foundation, the product is a first step into a kindergarten program aiming at making kids friends with veggies through play.

The idea was brought to life in months of research and formula tests, by a multidisciplinary team of chemists, producers and designers, all for a yummy reason to turn lunchtime into playtime. 

The project started from a problem most parents have to face: how to convince their kids that it is fun and healthy to eat veggies. A common issue, faced by other generations too. Do you remember how much you loved a meal full with vegetables, when you were a child? Exactly!

When looking at a veggie meal, the little ones don’t think tasty, much less do they appreciate nutrition value. Reason for FCB Bucharest and Louis Bonduelle Foundation to encourage kids to befriend veggies, through painting: 

“For kids, playing games never ends. Not even at meal time. And if while eating they paint with natural colors, extracted from vegetables, maybe they think twice before refusing the veggies from their plate. They just played together, right? It’s fantastic how much you can learn when you play,” says Claudiu Dobrita – Chief Creative Officer FCB Bucharest.

“We always search for ideas that deliver the message differently, that make a change. Then we get serious, we look at numbers, then to people, we turn them on all sides, until one of us asks, more or less seriously <<What if...? >>. Even though since that moment, for one year, everything was about tests, stages and stabilization, we have always looked at the process as something very fun. Because that’s what it’s about, because otherwise we don’t think we would have succeeded,” added Olivia Spanu – Senior Copywriter and Viorel Holovaci – Senior Art Director.  

For the prototype, 5 veggie types were used (tomato, corn, peas, carrot and beetroot), out of which the specialists from Romanian INCDCP-ICECHIM (The National Institute for Research & Development in Chemistry and Petrochemistry) extracted the natural pigments. After 4 months in which the pigments were collected, stirred and prepared and other 6 months for obtaining the appropriate texture and concentration, the watercolors were ready. At the end, the specialists placed the products in a special case, where each color was stored in the shape of the veggie from which it was extracted. 

“We were very happy to participate at the development of this educational project along with FCB Bucharest, a project that has been both a scientific and a technical challenge for us.

After months in which we dehydratated the vegetables, we extracted the pigment and tested the result for 13 different times, we have achieved exactly what we aimed – we created the first ptototype of watercolors made of vegetables only, safe and fun for the kids,”  said Florin Oancea, Sciencific Director at INCDCP-ICECHIM.

Next step? To be served to kids who have a lot of inspiration and curiosity. The product created represents the first stage of a future educational program for kids, which the Louis Bonduelle Foundation aims to support locally. At the same time, the project marks the foundation’s launch in Romania, with the mission of creating a rich platform of resources and activities to encourage the consumption of vegetables and the healthy eating habits.

“For the launch of the Louis Bonduelle Foundation in Romania, we wanted a great project to draw attention to our purpose: promoting a healthy life and supporting food education, especially through projects dedicated to kids. The idea proposed by FCB was a real challenge for us too, it required patience and confidence, being an unprecedented project. We are confident that it will have the desired impact. Vegetables can be fun, as long as they are naturally introduced into a child’s alimentation ”, says Monica Dima - Head of Marketing Bonduelle Balkans and Roxana Nănescu - Brand Manager Bonduelle Balkans.

Do your kids accept veggies easily? Do you think they would love to rediscover them through painting?