NNFA Northwest Region

Goldie Caughlan Named As

1999 Pioneer Award Recipient

The Pioneer Award given each year by NNFA Northwest is a perfect symbol for our region. It wasn’t all that long ago when pioneers were blazing trails through the wilderness here and naming plants, flowers and even rivers for the first time. Among those pioneers were Lewis and Clark, about whom Steven Ambrose wrote the book Undaunted Courage. I think this title epitomizes the spirit of many who have received our award in the Northwest. In particular, it is fitting for this year’s recipient, Goldie Caughlan.

Goldie is tenacious. She is also, by her own admission, a person who has strongly held opinions and beliefs. When you put these two qualities together you can imagine that there is little that daunts her. She has the kind of drive and determination that gets things done. It’s no wonder that her beliefs about food incidentally turned a passion into a midlife career.

It was in 1973 when Goldie "stumbled" into the Puget Consumer’s Co-op (PCC), after having been introduced to Frances Moore Lappe’s Diet for a Small Planet. Watch out PCC…A light had gone on in Goldie’s head. She was now aware that it took the same resources to produce one pound of meat as 12 to 20 pounds of grain. Well, of course, one thing led to another and Goldie started asking so many questions of the PCC volunteer staff that they invited her to come to a board meeting. Before she knew it, she was on the board and served there for six years.

In the meantime, Goldie’s academic course was changing (she was a freshman in college at age 37). Goldie had worked in legal offices and was planning to pursue a law degree, but she found that "food and hunger issues" kept drawing her in and distracting her from her other studies. Her distraction turned to inspiration and the first PCC food fair was born and later titled, "The Natural Food Fair".

The Natural Food Fair, held in 1976, was so successful it made the evening news. The second even bigger and better one, six months later, was covered in Sunset Magazine. She was on to something. That something, the very next year, turned into a non-profit corporation (formed by Goldie using her legal background) called Nutrition Education Works. Under this aegis, Goldie booked lecturers and organized presentations for the Group Health Cooperative Patient Councils. She was educating everyone who would listen about food and personal and planetary health.

Goldie completed her BA in health education in 1981, just in time for her passionate hobby to become a career. Her consultation with Randy Lee (now the CFO at PCC) about whether or not to formalize the informal classes that were spontaneously developing in the back rooms of the Kirkland and Greenlake stores led to her taking the reins and becoming PCC’s first nutrition educator. Her co-workers tell stories about how Goldie initially did it all herself. She started the cooking classes with recipes she typed on 3x5 cards. She taught the classes and conducted the store demos herself. They say her knowledge was as vast and wide as it was deep. Early on, Goldie originated the idea of the "basic food basket." She convinced management to lower the price on certain basic items. She would then write articles about how to make meals using these items. This approach has been expanded throughout the years and is now a major part of PCC’s merchandising.

Goldie applied her creativity and devotion to her project, which evolved from the initial nutrition classes for members to staff training and eventually to a basic quality tenet at PCC. Goldie wanted to be sure that every employee had an understanding of and commitment to the types of products that were sold at PCC. Kathy Blackman, PCC board administrator, says that Goldie became "like Mom to the members and staff." She applied a motherly devotion to her people and her topic.

Goldie’s commitment to a safe and healthy food supply grew with her knowledge of the subject. In 1983 Goldie became involved with the issue of food irradiation and was placed in charge of PCC’s Consumers Food Selection Committee. Her passion for this subject was too great to contain in-house, so she formed the citizen’s group Consumers United for Food Safety (CUFFS). She also sat on the Washington State Organic Advisory Board and on the Organic Trade Association Board as the only retail store representative.

Craig Winters, himself a dedicated health and nutrition advocate, has known and worked with Goldie on projects for over 20 years. He says that Goldie is now known in the industry not only as a nutrition educator, but also as a health freedom fighter. Vim Lam VanDien, another person who has worked closely with Goldie, sums up her opinion of Goldie by saying, "She’s awesome." Vim Lam got to know Goldie when she was teaching a cooking class at Bastyr University. According to Vim Lam, Goldie was a mentor to many Bastyr students. "She a person who walks her talk," said Vin Lam. She’s just an incredible resource for the community and the natural products industry," she added.

Goldie insists on quality. As a matter of fact, she was one of the charter members on the Natural Products Quality Assurance Alliance (NPQAA). Goldie says that she has a reputation for being hard on manufacturers and vendors. She says this is because she believes in pushing on the important issues. She pushes for the need for absolute frankness, openness and disclosure. She says she expects just plain details. "I have no respect for manufacturers who haven’t a clue about their own product, its ingredients or its packaging effects on the environment." Dr. Jeffrey Bland, President of HealthCom in Gig Harbor, Washington, who headed up the NPQAA says that "Goldie has always been a pioneer in her vision about natural and organic foods and ecological balance. Her translation of that vision in the extraordinary plan at Puget Consumers Co-op has demonstrated her capability of going from thought to action."

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Last modified: Dec 1, 1999