SOY HEALTHY, SOY HAPPY: MIRACLE SOY FOOD DIORAMA MAKING CONTEST
With so many Filipino households still living under poverty and worrying about putting food on their plates on a daily basis, this resulted in an estimated 3.8 million stunted Filipino children.
This is further compounded by the fact that a lot of these poor families choose their cheap foods poorly. “I’ve personally seen families subsist on a diet consisting of corn or rice and paired to dried fish, instant noodles or even 3-in-1 coffee,” noted Renato Reyes, president of Miracle Soybean Food, the country’s largest non-GMO (genetically modified organism) soy-based food manufacturer.
What Reyes is proposing is for these families to consider adding tofu—which is inexpensive—to their diet.
To highlight tofu among school children, Miracle Soybean Food in partnership with the DepEd initiated “Soy Healthy, Soy Happy: Miracle Soy Food Diorama Making Contest.”
Some 1,000 entries representing the 17 NCR divisions participated but the list was narrowed to 65. During the awards ceremony, Reyes accompanied by Ms. Cielo handed over the awards to the winners.
COMPLETE FOOD
“We want Filipino families to realize that good food need not cost a fortune. Tofu contains high quality protein, is high in iron, calcium, and magnesium, has antioxidative properties, and a good source of unsaturated fats, which children can enjoy in combination with the usual food they eat. More importantly, tofu is way much cheaper than traditional Filipino protein staples like beef and chicken but much more healthy that similarly priced cheap food items like tuyo, instant noodles and sardines,” explained Reyes. He also added that Filipinos are quite familiar with soybeans products (thanks to Chinese influence) adding that tofu, taho, or soy milk—which all come from processing soybeans—have been incorporated in our diet for centuries.