Blanca and one of the Participants
Now I could write this blog entry
myself, but after two years we get a lot better at delegating
responsibilities and running projects, therefore, we actually got
some local press to write-up our recent Vegetable Festival, so I'm
gonna phone this one in.
I'm not going to lie, the idea for the
Veggie Fest probably sprung from my teenage obsession with Iron-Chef
and my attendance of countless Shelburne Farm's Harvest Festivals.
The basic idea was to have a cooking competition that centered around
vegetables. Despite its rich soil and ability to grow most things
green, most plates in Ancash involve three main ingredients:
potatoes, potatoes, and potatoes (and sometimes rice!). Sadly,
despite the rich climate, children still suffer from malnutrition
which damages their performance at school, jeopardizing their entire
future.
We presented the green cooking
competition to our financiers (the local Gold Mine Barrick) and they
ate it up (no pun intended). The plan for the cooking competition was
executed with PCV Kyle Blair (there hasn't been a single project
we've done here that hasn't involved Kyle's invaluable support in one
way or another) and my great counterpart Blanca Flores at the Jangas
Municipality and the Barrick Gold Mine. Remember, vegetables are
apolitical. I think I've said enough, and I'll let the Huaraz
newspaper take it from here: those who read Spanish can save
themselves my translation:
http://www.huaraznoticias.com/locales/exitoso-festival-de-la-verdura-jangas-2012
One of the contestants with Ancash Lettuce
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Successful Vegetable Festival in
Jangas
The festival promoted the consumption
of vegetables to fight malnutrition and improve quality of life.
The Jangas Vegetable Fest successfully
promoted healthy eating habits and incentivized concrete actions to
fight malnutrition. The event was organized by Peace Corps Volunteers
(Kyle and I), an organization funded by the US government, and
counted with the financial support of the Barrick Mine and the Jangas
Municipality.
The festival aroused the attention and
the participation of the Jangas town. The festival had different
activities like the “healthy food” competition where women from
several mother's clubs from Jangas participated. The winners
received cooking materials, utensils and vegetable seeds as prizes.
Among the competing plates were a
vegetable tortilla and salad, squash stew and tortilla, fried beans
with a squash dessert, guinea pig stuffed with vegetables, guinea pig
pachamanca and a green salad, vegetable pie, potato stuffed with
vegetables, wheat stew with vegetables, pizza with vegetables, wheat
and beat juice, sweet carrots, coca ice cream, among others.
Américo Alva Montes,
Mayor of Jangas, highlighted the importance of the festival because
“it allows us to promote the consumption of vegetables and healthy
food” in a time where “people consume too much fried food which
damages their health.” For his part, Jhon Williams (original
spelling included) representative of Peace Corps, the institution
that organized the event, mentioned that malnutrition links closely
with poverty and effects children and young people, and that with
this festival, Jangas, in many respects, had converted into the
world's vegetable headquarters.
The
first Vegetable Festival Jangas 2012 evidenced the interest of the
local authorities in promoting education and health, showing their
vision to create development initiatives with their strategic allies,
Peace Corps, the Barrick Mine and other institutions from the region.
Kyle, the JUMP Health Promoters and I
Next
time I promise I'll do the writing.
Still
in Jangas, yours truly, oh and eat your vegetables!
Jhon
Williams
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