Food Banks Argentina and the Feeding Tomorrow program are advancing in the first stage of their joint plan. They promote healthy and sustainable nutrition throughout the country.
The program aims to provide 500,000 plant-based meals to 48 beneficiary organizations.
The work in recent months was carried out in collaboration with the Goya (Corrientes), RÃo Cuarto (Córdoba), and Valle de Uco (Mendoza) Food Banks, benefiting almost 7,000 people.
“Truly sustainable nourishment is one that is not only healthy and nutritious but also accessible to everyone,” stated Alexandra Navarro, Senior Lead of Food Policies at Feeding Tomorrow.
The alliance. (Photo: Food Banks Argentina).
“This implies that it is culturally accepted, economically fair, affordable, safe, and nutritionally adequate, as well as being produced with efficient use of natural resources,” she emphasized.
“This alliance strengthens the resilience of our communities while taking care of the planet we all share,” she added.
The alliance for healthy and sustainable nutrition
With this alliance, the program not only expands access to healthy food but also encourages communities to become stronger, more sustainable, and capable of facing future challenges through cooking practices and technologies adapted to their reality.
“At Food Banks Argentina, we understand that alliances are key to enhancing the impact of our work. With Feeding Tomorrow, we share a common view on the need to promote healthier and more sustainable nutrition, especially in vulnerable contexts,” highlighted Amanda Reboratti, Strengthening Manager at Food Banks Argentina.
“This collaboration has allowed us to reach social organizations with concrete tools: training, resources such as magic pots, and technical support that not only enables them to incorporate new ingredients but also rethink their daily cooking practices. The result is twofold: better nutrition for people and greater efficiency for organizations,” she added.
The power of teamwork: advances in numbers
At the Goya Food Bank, cooks from 12 institutions have already been trained, allowing the preparation of over 169,000 plant-based servings throughout a year, whether for breakfast, snacks, or lunch, using local and seasonal ingredients.
In addition, 12 magic pots were provided for free thanks to the alliance between the Feeding Tomorrow program and QUENCHI, which help reduce gas usage by 25 to 70% by completing food cooking using retained heat.
In RÃo Cuarto, work is being done with 27 community institutions, projecting an impact of 326,000 plant-based servings per year.
The first training session will take place soon; 11 magic pots have already been delivered, and another four are expected to be delivered by the end of the year.
Lastly, at the Valle de Uco Food Bank, 9 institutions have been reached, with 17 cooks who will receive their first training in the coming months. The estimated potential is over 25,000 annual servings of 100% plant-based meals.
What do we mean by plant-based nutrition?
Teamwork.
Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet is a dietary pattern that includes a higher amount of unprocessed or minimally processed plant-based foods.
This nutrition includes five major groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, fats, and additional items such as yeasts, tofu, and wheat germ.
In this type of diet, legumes are the main source of protein, so it is necessary to ensure their quantity and quality. There are also other protein sources, such as soy derivatives (tofu, textured soy, and tempeh); wheat germ, nutritional yeast, seitan, legume-based noodles, nuts like peanuts, almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, pseudocereals like buckwheat, quinoa, and amaranth, and soy-based vegetable drinks.
If the intake of plant-based foods is varied and meets energy needs, plant proteins are capable of meeting nutritional requirements.
With this initiative, what Feeding Tomorrow and Food Banks Argentina propose is to incorporate a plant-based diet once a week, where foods and/or preparations of plant origin are consumed or chosen, significantly reducing animal-derived foods.
It also encourages the incorporation of whole foods and whole grains and, on the other hand, to reduce sugary and ultra-processed foods.
