Soy on the Menu in San Pedro Sula Honduras

We are serving up soy in Honduras this week as our morning begins with a short car ride to the CEPUDO Warehouse in San Pedro Sula. We are welcomed by the CEPUDO Team who will be working with us to conduct training sessions on soy nutrition and cooking with soy.

We've learned from previous workshops that incorporating soy into local recipes is an excellent option for easily including soy. During our cooking demonstrations, we add TSP to Spanish Rice or Corn Soy Blend to Tamale Pie. Our workshop participants get to enjoy their creations when they're done cooking and are pleasantly surprised by how delicious and nutritious the recipes turn out.

CEPUDO is a local, non-governmental organization (NGO), that has been making a significant difference in Honduras for over six years. They provide support for daycare centers, run vocational training centers, assist with clothing and supply donations form Food for the Poor, build new homes and community centers and even (my favorite), teach people how to culture fish in their aquaculture programs. I highly recommend getting a first hand look at the tilipia farm next time you are in Honduras at CEPUDO in San Pedro Sula.

The weather in San Pedro Sula is above 80 degrees today and a bit cloudy, but that isn't impacting our training as we've got a very enthusiastic group of people from local daycare centers (called Guaderias), some Cargill volunteers and mothers and caregivers of students from local schools. In Honduras, many parents have responsibilty for meal preparation at their children's schools, so they are intrigued and eager to learn about soy and the important role it can play in their children's overall health and well being.

We are fortunate to also have representatives from La Lima Nursery School and entreprenuers from a vegetarian restaurant involved in the training. The women of Casa Aurora are also participants in the workshop. Casa Aurora is a local NGO that supports families living with HIV/AIDS. The women of Casa Aurora are genuinely creative chefs when it comes to using soy and will probably some day be featured on a Food Network Show that highlights their kitchen prowness. NSRL and the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health have partnered with Casa Aurora for several years and have worked with them to market small packages of Textured Soy Protein (TSP) that can be sold locally. The women of Casa Aurora have also created some finished food stuffs containing TSP that have hit the market by storm and are visually appealing and quite delicious! Continued growth in sales of soy is highly anticipated in the coming year.

We are impressed by the level of interest of the workshop participants and their passion to cook and find new and innovative ways to use soy and boost the protein level of local dishes. The diversity of the group adds to lively conversation about ingredients, spices and tips and techniques for meal preparation. We'd like to bottle their eagerness to learn and it is our hope that our local partner, CEPUDO, will be able to harness the interest that's been generated and find more recipes that can easily incorporate soy.

The local daycare centers are participating in the training sessions, so they can use soy ingredients when preparing meals for the young children who attend their schools. La Lima Nursery School got involved with soy through a representative from Fruit of the Loom who had attended the Nutrition Solutions for Central America- A Corporate Social Repsonsibility Conference held in February and sponsored by Cargill, Fundarhse, World Soy Foundation, WISHH and NSRL.

CEPUDO operates a bakery microenterprise where they use soy flour in their recipes to increase the protein content. They've found that using soy flour also makes their final products brown nicely and gives them an appealing texture and consistency.

CEPUDO is a recent recipient of a SoyCow. Now this cow is different than most, as it doesn't moo, doesn't have a bell around it's neck and requires no hay to produce milk. Rotary Usula and the World Soy Foundation were instrumental in helping aquire a SoyCow for CEPUDO to use in their microenterprise efforts. The SoyCow is mechanical and is fed with whole soybeans and processes the beans into nutritional soymilk and okara. CEPUDO is operating the SoyCow, also called Vaca Mechanica. The soymilk program brings to market soymilk, tofu and soy yogurt to the community and a portion of the products are donated to local schools.

It's been a whirlwind workshop with the end result being good soy food, new found friends, and a hands-on cooking class that gave participants the opportunity to become comfortable using soy to improve the nutrition and increase the protein while maintaining the taste and flavor of local food favorites.

As Viji and I return to our home away from home - the hotel - and I put my feet up for just a moment before getting back to grant writing, I reflect on what has turned out to be a worthwhile trip and outstanding training session. I'll end here for the day as it has been a SOY SUCCESS!

Bridget