Bohol town’s egg-noodle venture hatches into ‘nutri-pancit’

CANJULAO, Jagna, Bohol – It comes out in rather weird colors: malunggay (horseradish) green, squash yellow, camote top purple. But te bottom line is it is basically dried pancit (noodle) similar to regular canton.

Yaning’s Pancit used to be your ordinary neighborhood egg noodles. Produced from a kitchen backroom in this bustling town, the egg noodles industry now has its own common service facility, but that is getting ahead of the story.

Its manufacturers are a family that had toiled through years to earn and send the children through college.

For extra hands, the family hires their jobless neighbors. That started a neighborhood livelihood that would attract more and more Jagna residents.

All of that, thanks to a lady named Yaning.

With all of Yaning’s kids finishing college, it was not hard for the neighbors to get into the production.

Before Yaning died, she left the business to the neighbors. And soon it evolved into the new nutri-pancit.

“You know pancit has a certain come-on to the kids. We see that, as an opportunity to put in the blend some nutritious ingredients. These are usually the ones parents would find it hard to make their kids eat,” says Dominiciana Jamora, the operations manager recounting the hardships they had to surmount to get where they are now.

“It is more about providing alternatives to parents who have a hard time convincing their kids to eat nutritious food,” Jamora says.

Data from the Provincial Nutrition Council (PNC) showed that children in Bohol are still threatened by malnutrition.

“The witty blending of naturally nutritious ingredients to the noodles could be a good start in solving some problems,” PNC members admit.

“They are eating, not really caring about what they are getting as long as it is pancit,” Jamora says.

A resident of Tubod Monte, Jamora, 57, manages the noodle production from the Common Service Facility (CSF) built by Jagna for the use of the association of local noodle makers.

She, along with women leaders of small, micro and medium enterprises under the Jagna Sustainable Micro Enterprises Development (JaSMED) met at a newly constructed Common Service Facility (CSF) for tableya, the native chocolates which the town also produces after their world renowned calamay. (Rey Anthony H. Chiu/PIA)