Sarita Singh had a busy morning
along with two other MDM Cooks. They were
hastily preparing Dal and Bati for the students, for a special lunch one winter
afternoon. The lentils were being boiled (Dal) and wheat balls (Bati) were
being prepared in traditional manner. One of the cooks started cutting
coriander to add it as a topping in the dal when Sarita Sarita Singh said, Don t forget to add Srijan tree leaves as
well!
Yes, this is a normal
morning in the life of Sarita, who is a Mid-day meal cook in the primary school
of Leela Khadi, a remote village of Sehore district. She cooks for more than 80
children each day and has a smile of content every time she serves the children
hot meals. Now they are hot and healthy meals, she says.
Sarita was introduced to Good
Farming-Good Food programme through her friend. She attended the culinary
sessions conducted by the nutrition team organized under the Good Farming Good
Food and Good Health initiative of the Solidaridad organization. During the
session, I was told about the importance of Soya and Moringa tree leaves and
how much they are beneficial for our health. The nutrition team suggested me to
add these in the mid-day meals and see the change in the health of the children
here.
As asked to do, Sarita
immediately started adding Soy to the mid-day meals. She could not change the
menu, but she could improvise. I started adding Srijan tree leaves in any
vegetables along with coriander leaves as a topping. I also started using curry
leaves while preparing Dal and Kadhi. Instead of bhajiya, I started using Soy
chunks in kadhis, Sarita says.
The results were good and
children loved the food even more, she claimed. They are more active and they
even tell their parents at home to start using soy in the routine meals. Thanks
to the nutrition team of Good Farming- Good Food programme, that not only these
children are getting healthy, but they are trying to implement this change in
their families as well, she adds.
