The importance of good food that feeds the mind and body

World Food Day is an international day celebrated every year worldwide on October 16 to commemorate the date of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945. India plays an important part in this initiative and there is emphasis on good food. Poor diets in early childhood can lead to deficiencies in essential vitamins and nutrients – such as vitamin A deficiency, which weakens children’s immunity.

Dietician Varsha Bhide says, “Good nutrition is needed regardless of age. Nevertheless, the preschool years, specifically ages ranging from three to five years old, are an influential period to ensure a healthy child’s development that lasts a lifetime. Childhood is always the critical period for establishing healthy growth and development including physical, emotional and mental abilities. By encouraging children to choose fruits and vegetables at every meal by disguising them in various ways, cooking meals at home, eating together, not banning sweets entirely, and choosing snacks like veggie skewers, children will start to grow a liking towards healthy eating.”

As a mother, Dr Shelly Pandey, assistant professor of Organisational Behaviour at Goa Institute of Management (GIM), emphasises the importance of nutrition in the early development of children. “If we do not provide a well nutritious diet to children, in their early years of growth, it may cause them harm at two levels. Firstly, they will not have essential vitamins and nutrients, which would lead to a low immunity level. We see children around us falling sick again and again, and one of the main causes of the same is their diet. We do blame their bad environment/weather and their interaction with other children for their recurrent sickness but we lose the main focus, which is a balanced and healthy diet. Secondly, children need extra energy to run around, to play, to do cycling, and to climb trees. But low energy levels due to a bad diet may deprive them from participating in these activities and they would choose to stay at home to watch some video. So, to make them do energetic activities, you need to give them energetic food,” she explains. She recommends changing the food habits of the child but also the food habits of the parents to see the difference. “Stop bringing packed food at home for yourself too. Home-cooked food should be the norm of eating,” says Dr Shelly.

This year, the theme for World Food Day is ‘leave no one behind.’ With the world being affected with the ongoing pandemic, climate change and conflicts in different countries, the global food security is getting affected. Constant inflation especially for food items is leaving the poor without not just nutritious but food also.

Rinton D’Souza, a noted deejay who has performed in India and abroad, thought of giving back to the society by starting a food bank along with his friend, Anish Shaikh in Panjim. He started the food bank two years back at a shop in Panjim Church Square, Shamsuddin & Company and he received an overwhelming response, not just from those benefiting from the food bank but also from good Samaritans who come forward to donate food or dry ration. “I placed a fridge there at my friend’s shop and I went to all the restaurants in the city that I knew and informed them to keep the excess food in the fridge. On a regular basis, the fridge caters to at least 50-80 people, especially homeless people who sleep on the footpaths around the Church Square. The food supply is regulated as only one person is given one packet. Anish and his family distribute the food equally,” says Rinton.

Rinton’s mother, Succorine, also cooks food everyday to store in the fridge. Her piping hot food goes within a few minutes and is mostly never kept in the fridge. “The Food Bank was started on October 20 in 2020 and last year, we celebrated the anniversary by besides providing food, also serving hampers of dry ration which included one kilogram of rice, onions, tomatoes and dal. It was during the pandemic and many people didn’t even have jobs. Nearly 400-500 people collected the food and hampers. This year, we plan to have the second anniversary celebration by providing food, dry ration hampers along with a box of snacks,” informs Rinton, who besides running the Panjim Food Bank also owns Big Fit Bowl and conducts deejay classes every day. Many well wishers also provide him with dry ingredients to cook meals when they have special occasions.

Communicare Trust, as an NGO works closely with a lot of orphanages in Goa, and through their Food Bank, which operates twice in a year, they collect a set list of food products with their shopping cart. They usually have their Food Bank initiative in June and December but this year, they plan to have it in November, soon after the Diwali vacations, rather than December. “Kirit Maganlal of Magson’s Supermarkets is always supporting us, right from the start of this food bank, nine years ago. All Magson’s Supermarkets across the state, have a collection bag and when a customer does shopping, they can go through the shopping list and buy something to put in the ‘shopping cart’. Our volunteers then collect all the items and sort them out in a warehouse according to the institutes that we are catering to. This year, the food will be divided among eight institutes,” says Nalini Elvino De Souza, founder of Communicare Trust.

The shopping cart includes items like rice, moong dal, flour, coffee, biscuits, masoor dal, rawa, sugar, salt, tea powder and oil. A donation box is also placed at the counter which is use to buy other items like toothbrushes and toothpaste. “The last two years, Kirit has completely supported us by organising the Food Bank along with his staff for us during the pandemic. He managed the shopping cart and the collection. We will resume the food bank from this November,” says Nalini.

Founded by Donald Fernandes, Food Bank for the Poor, Sangolda, under the aegis of Street Providence Trust, works with 40 staff members across nine talukas of Goa. During the pandemic, the Food Bank which was started in 2017, catered to people with dry ratio worth nearly Rs 80 lakh. They even got the Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Governor of Goa, on-board to provide 100 cooked meals once a week to Street Providence’s food bank fridge initiative, which they have been doing dedicatedly for the past six months.

Their next mission is to save food wastage across the state and feeding the hungry. “Right now, we are collecting food from three factories in Goa and if that number is increased, there will be more food for more villages of Goa,” says Donald.

They recently organised a rally at Azad Maidan, Panjim,ww to draw the attention of the director of the FDA to invite all stakeholders and Food Bank for the Poor, Sangolda. “Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Goa, comes under the Central Government and it clearly states that food should not be wasted. Through this initiative, food will not be wasted and the environment will also be saved as garbage will also come down. The government should give us an itinerary on which factories will give us the food at what time and accordingly, we will be able to pick up the food. We are focusing on factories in Goa that have canteens under contractors,” says Donald.