Fruits and vegetables are diet essentials because of their health benefits. However, not everyone is crazy about having veggies in their meal. As a mom making my daughter eat her vegetables is a constant challenge. Sammy has always been a picky eater and it doesn’t help that vegetables are expensive nowadays. Moms like me rely on creative ways of motivating kids to eat their greens but sometimes I run out of ideas too. It was a good thing that the Harvest Festival 2022 was in town to dish out some fresh ideas for us.
The Harvest Festival 2022 is a one-day affair that’s all about vegetables and brought urban dwellers, urban farming enthusiasts, and healthy lifestyle consumers together for a fruitful day of learning. It was held at the BGC Community Farm last December 10, 2022, with Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and social enterprise Urban Farmers, East-West Seed Philippines, and its Foundation as prime movers of the event.
My first bite of learning was knowing about East-West Seed, East-West Seed (EWS) Foundation, and Urban Farmers. For those who haven’t heard yet, I’m also a plantita. Although I’ve got limited space I still made room for plants and veggies on our terrace. I have basil, rosemary, calamansi, chili and even kangkong, So the event was really interesting for me.
Through the data shared by the East-West Seed and its Foundation, I am reminded that hunger and malnutrition remain to be a problem in our country. That and the fact that as an agricultural country we should be able to easily have healthy food on our tables. This is why I so appreciate the effort of the EWS Foundation to actively advocate for increased vegetable consumption for better health and nutrition.
“Vegetables can provide the micronutrients that are required to combat hidden hunger and, ultimately, malnutrition. That’s why we should encourage more Filipinos to add more vegetables to their plates,” shared Jay Lopez, East-West Seed Philippines’ General Manager.
Next on the menu are food tasting and meal ideas. I was really surprised by the number of creative ways to cook vegetables. There was a presentation of over 20 veggie meal ideas that included Eggplant Meatballs, Pumpkin Spice Cake, Purple Corn Muffins, and Cucumber coolers among others.
My top 3 favorites are the Eggplant, Meatballs, Pumpkin Turon, and Kalabasa Leche Flan. The Leche Flan is truly amazing because if they hadn’t told me it was made with kalabasa I wouldn’t have guessed otherwise. Now I know how to make my Sammy eat her vegetables and enjoy them too.
Aside from meals, there were also booths where you can shop for vegetables, seeds, etc. Fresh vegetable harvests from the farmers of South Luzon are sold in the booths so you are able to get fresh greens for your healthy meals while supporting the livelihood of farmers. It was a day filled with educational talks about vegetables, fun games, and raffle draws.
I went home happy and inspired. My basket is full of freshly harvested veggies from the booths, fresh ideas from the presentation, and a mound of inspiration to continue planting more veggies from the talks. The Harvest Festival 2022 was indeed a bountiful harvest for e everyone who took part in it.
