Michel Nischan visits Rainbeau Ridge Farms in upstate New York, an all organic farm dedicated to making and delivering fresh food that is also good for the environment.

Yum, chocolate: is there any substance more synonymous with willful self-indulgence? Yet recent studies have shown it has health effects – and thanks to John and Kira Doyle, now it also has positive social ramifications.

John & Kira's is a Pennsylvania-based company that manufatures high-end chocolates. But instead of a fussily-decorated cardboard, these arrive in a simple pine box adorned with the loveliest of bows, stamped and sealed with wax. Inside lie not the usual drunken cherries or buttercremes, but fresh and fascinating concoctions of lavender, ginger, fresh mint, lemongrass, bergamot… the list is long and eyebrow-raising. The taste isn't traditional, but surprising and fresh.

Chipotle’s a restaurant chain, but there's little to link it to the conventional fast food joints this country's used to, if you don't count the fact that McDonald's is their biggest backer. Besides, hasn't McDonald's proven to be pretty progressive in some ways? They deep-sixed the styrofoam packaging, took a pass on genetically modified potatoes, and partnered with Paul Newman to upgrade their salad dressings.