Judges tasting the 30 dish shortlist at the cooking contest

5 November 2009: A Plan cooking contest is helping families to source nutritious food in Vietnam’s Phu Tho province, where 1 in 3 children suffer from malnutrition.

Most of the families have little money for food and subsist on meals of boiled rice and vegetables.

To help improve children’s nutrition, Plan is working with community leaders, members of the Women’s Union, health staff, village health workers, preschool teachers and parents to develop nutritious recipes for children using only local produce grown in gardens, ponds, fields or rivers.

Local recipes

A cooking event was organised in each village to select the best recipes that are nutritious, quick and easy to prepare. The district and Plan Vietnam nutrition experts provided feedback on how to improve the recipes.

After several weeks of practicing, approximately 60 parents demonstrated their homemade recipes in front of commune leaders, health workers, preschool teachers, and children. Eventually 30 recipes were selected and recommended as nutritious meals for children.

Special fish soup

Mrs Dao Thi Thu, a 55-year-old farmer in Minh Phu commune, won the runner-up prize for her special fish-soup made from small dried fish.

Every day, Thu has to cook for her 2 grandchildren while their parents travel long distances for work. Thu can’t afford to buy fish, shrimp, pork or beef for her grandchildren, so their diet consists mainly of boiled rice and vegetables - but not for long.

Healthy and strong

“All 30 dishes today were very delicious and cheap. In the beginning, we didn’t think that we could cook delicious and nutritious meals from these tiny shrimps, small fish and crabs. I can easily collect these shrimps and fish from my ponds and the field,” said Thu.

“It was very interesting learning to cook a variety of dishes that my local people demonstrated today. I will also guide my neighbours to cook nutritious foods like me so that our children will grow up healthy and strong,” she added.

The 30 winning recipes are being printed in a booklet and several of the top recipe menus will be filmed. These materials will then be distributed to all families, care givers and preschool teachers in the communities.

Find out more about Plan’s work in Vietnam.