I really don't want to be negative here - I really liked the article and thought a lot of your ideas were great. It just bugged me that you used the word crudités when talking about shredded carrots.

cru·di·tés: "Cut raw vegetables, such as carrot sticks and pepper strips, served often with a dip as an appetizer."

What's important here, at least as far as my understanding goes, is that it's raw and it's finger-food. I don't think the vegetables have to be served as an appetizer or with a dip to be considered crudités, but I am pretty sure they can't be mixed into a pasta salad and still be considered crudités... and I bet it's difficult to dip carrot shreds.