2013 Ford Fusion Meets Fusion Cooking

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending an event hosted by Ford for their 2013 Ford Fusion.  It was probably one of the most unique events I’ve been able to attend – while we learned about Ford’s sustainability efforts from Dr. Ellen Lee, one of Ford’s Sustainability Experts, but we were also treated to some amazing fusion cuisine from the Chef of Posh Restaurant, Joshua Hebert.

Before we get to the food, I just wanted to take a moment to talk about the car.  This is quite a looker – what do you think?   I love the front end – there’s something so ‘transformer’ about it – with the thin headlights to that oversize front grill – and the blue color is beautiful.   From the front, this looks like it’s a coupe, but it’s actually a roomy 4-door sedan.

The interior is as stylish as the exterior – with a fully enhanced steering wheel set up with the SYNC^® with MyFord Touch system.  The touch screen provides everything from your music, your phone calls, adjusting the temperature and more!  There are also some luxury features through Driver Assist Technology – a Lane-keeping system, parking assist, blind spot assist, and an adaptive cruise control.

I was really curious about the Eco-Boost technology, as well as the Ford Fusion Hybrid that will be coming out soon and just how eco-friendly the technology is.  First, the Eco-Boost technology will help the ‘regular’ version of the Fusion become much more fuel efficient – bumping the mileage up to 22mpg city and 33mpg highway.  If you look at the Hybrid, the fuel economy jumps even more to 47mpg city and 44mpg highway.  I like those numbers!    There are also small changes Ford has made to the Fusion for 2013 – a power assist steering that can add up to 4% better fuel efficiency and a 10% reduction in aerodynamic drag, to name a couple.

One thing I found so fascinating about Ford’s Sustainability is that they are really committed to finding ways to replace petroleum products in the manufacturing of their cars – not just getting higher mileage out of them.  They’re both important – and when a massive company like Ford starts taking small steps – EVERYONE pays attention.  It’s inspiring to me that Ford is finding ways to use sustainable materials wherever they can, and makes me want to find even more ways to make my own life more sustainable.

What was so interesting about this event was that Chef Hebert from Posh created recipes specifically around materials that Ford uses to replace plastic in their vehicles.  Soybeans, corn, dandelion greens, wheat straw, and coconut were all featured on the menu – and are all being either utilized as sustainable alternatives in Ford vehicles or researched for possible sustainable alternatives to petroleum products.  Dandelion Greens, for instance, are being researched by Ford and Ohio State University as a sustainable resource for rubber.  Coconut husks could be used as a replacement for plastic, soybeans are made into foam for seats in their cars, and wheat straw is made into plastic for storage bins in their vehicles.  Fascinating!

Here’s some more yummy food, utilizing wheat – these were fabulous by the way…I might have eaten several… 

After all the delicious food, Chef Hebert wowed us with his “Antigriddle” machine to make us all individual coconut frozen lollipops.  Posh Restaurant is the only place you can find this machine, and it’s quite interesting – the surface, instead of being hot, is -50F, freezing anything on the surface quite quickly.

Mmmm….frozen coconut milk lollipop!

Of course, what would an event be without a little swag?  These Ford keychains are made from recycled wheatstraw – and they feel just like plastic.  They also had other plastic-seeming keychains made from recycled out-of-circulation dollar bills.

I had a great time learning about Ford’s commitment to sustainability in the 2013 Ford Fusion and it’s other vehicles, and I’m glad I had a chance to chat with so many influential Phoenix citizens who also care about being ‘green,’ like me.

What do you think of the new 2013 Ford Fusion?  

How do you feel about Hybrid/Eco-friendly cars in general?