LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte (PIA) – The Laoag City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) joins in the celebration of Nutrition Month 2023 through a cook fest to showcase nutritious dishes starring squash and bananas, on June 25, held at the Multipurpose Hall of the City Government of Laoag.

Some 60 parents from the different Day Care Centers in the city joined in the competition.

The participants cooked dishes featuring squash for the main dish category and bananas for the snacks category.

Some recipes from the main dish category featured ginataang kalabasa, squash nuggets, kalabasa burger steak, kalabasa embutido, and ukoy.

Meanwhile, different recipes for banana like banana pies, balls, and fritters, puto, and pancakes were showcased in the snacks category.

This year, representatives from Araniw Day Care Center won the first place in the snacks category with their dish ‘banana cheese balls with malunggay’, meanwhile the team from Dibua North Day Care Center won the main dish category with the dish ‘dinengdeng kalabasa.’

Lea Anacleto, President of the Federated Child Development Workers Association of the city, remarked that besides being a cooking competition, the program also aims to be an avenue for parents to share and teach each other nutritious recipes to feed their children.

“Yearly namin ito ginagawa at yearly din na nagiging participants natin ang mga active day care parents sa city. Ito rin ay makakuha ang mga parents ng mga recipes para ma-encourage and kanilang mga anak na kumain ng gulay,” she said.

This year, the Nutrition Month celebration carries the theme “Healthy Diet Gawing Affordable for All.”

To fulfill this, the City Government is continuing their Barangay Garden program, which requires all 80 barangays in the city to have and care for their own community gardens where they will plant various vegetables and fruits to be used freely by the residents in their community. (JCR/MJTAB/EJFG, PIA Ilocos Norte)