The celebration of the 2016 Nutrition Month was officially wrapped up with the conduct of Baby Food on Parade Contest as its culminating event, held last 23 August 2016 at the Fisher Mall, Quezon City.
Anchored on the theme, “First 1000 Days ni baby pahalagahan para sa malusog na kinabukasan!”, the month-long celebration featured a series of events that promotes the first 1000 days of life as the golden window of opportunity in a child’s life to achieve optimum growth and development. All over the country, national and local government agencies, schools, and various stakeholders conducted activities and offered services related to maternal and infant nutrition and health.
The Baby Food on Parade contest was organized as a promotional strategy for appropriate complementary feeding. It highlighted age-appropriate complementary food recipes developed by nutrition and dietetics and culinary students from the National Capital Region and CALABARZON. Proper feeding techniques were also featured as an integral component of successful complementary feeding through an “Ask the Experts” portion during the contest.
The top three winning recipes are: Lugaw Didto sa Amo by Jumelle B. Cuyco of Centro Escolar University Manila, Lugaw ni Miggy by Carlo Miguel L. Repato, also from Centro Escolar University Manila, and Saba-Corn Puree by Mary Joy J. Dela Rosa from University of Perpetual Help System-Laguna. The criteria for the contest are: 30% for variety, 20% for taste, 20% for visual appeal/presentation, 20% for ease of preparation and 10% for audience appreciation. The points for audience appreciation were given by three mothers who tasted the recipes together with the three judges. The mothers came to the event with their beautiful and healthy breastfed infants in tow. Moreover, the winning recipes stood out for certain characteristics, such as being low-cost, locally available ingredients, original, age appropriate and most importantly, nutritious.
Other participating schools were Batangas State University, Our Lady of Fatima University, Philippine Women’s University, University of the Philippines Diliman, University of the Philippines Los Baños and University of Santo Tomas. Aside from trophies and medals, the top 3 winners received Php30,000, Php20,000 and Php10,000 cash award, respectively. The non-winners received Php3,000 each. The winning recipes will be featured in the website and social media platforms of the National Nutrition Council. The judges were Assistant Secretary of Health Maria-Bernardita T. Flores, Ms. Luz B. Tagunicar, Supervising Health Program Officer of Department of Health and Ms. Rosebud Benitez, celebrity chef-host.
Around 80 mothers with their 6-23 months old children from Metro Manila attended the event and actively participated during the “Ask the Experts” portion graced by a panel of experts from National Nutrition Council, namely: Ma. Maria Lourdes A. Vega of Nutrition Policy and Planning Division, Ms. Jovita B. Raval of Nutrition Information and Education Division and Ms. Emerenciana L. Francia of NNC-NCR.
Assistant Secretary of Health Maria-Bernardita T. Flores stressed in her message that the promotion of the First 1000 Days goes beyond the celebration of Nutrition Month and that the cooperation of every sector will ensure that the next generation will be healthy and productive agents of national development.
