Xizhou in Action (1): Local Production, Local Consumption, Food Self-Sufficiency!
"Goodness, why are both breakfast and lunch nothing but cookies, sachima, shelf-stable milk, sausages and other processed products? So much processed food and so few vegetables?" recalls Wu Yinning, a rural-observation writer, of March last year when she took up the post of secretary-general at the Xizhou Township Office in Changhua County. She spent half a year visiting public preschools across the township to look into their nutrition lunch menus, and shook her head endlessly at the processed-food-dominated dishes.
She went on: "Do you know? That kind of cookie is the loose bulk stuff we see at night market stalls. And when we went to the central kitchen, we saw that the vegetables had already turned yellow, and some looked downright rotten. How can we feed these to our children? And ingredients of such poor quality actually passed inspection!"
Seeing how woeful the ingredient quality and oversight of the preschool meals were, and seeing the children with their earnest eyes dutifully and resignedly spooning up processed food that does nothing for their health at every breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack time, Wu Yinning resolved that even at the very grassroots level of government, she had to reform the bad practices of the current nutrition lunch system.
So when the township office's contract with the previous food supplier expired, Wu Yinning immediately appealed to the newly elected township chief Huang Shenglu to incorporate the concept of "local production, local consumption" into the nutrition lunch program, and in February this year launched the "Preschool Local Ingredient Supply Program."
The Xizhou Township Office's "Preschool Local Ingredient Supply Program" is the first government public-sector initiative in the country to emphasize the use of local ingredients in nutrition lunches. The sources of these local ingredients include "Zhenzhu Rice," which won the title of champion rice of Xizhou Township; vegetables, melons and fruits grown by local farmers in Xizhou Township; handmade noodles and tofu made by local businesses; and agricultural and livestock products from the organic farm of Mingdao University, whose campus spans the two townships of Pitou and Xizhou in Changhua County.
Beyond improving the ingredient quality of preschool meals, the farmers and processors taking part in the local ingredient supply program know their products are being provided for the children of their own village neighbors, so they are especially careful and conscientious in production. And the children, besides knowing that the food in their bowls was grown by the neighbor uncles and aunts, learn gratitude; through field trips that take them to actually visit and experience farms, they also draw closer to the land.
"In the past, meals were supplied uniformly by a central kitchen; we had no idea of the source and quality of the ingredients, and only saw cheap processed food everywhere. Under the low-bid tender system, there was even a lot of dirty business hidden from sight," Wu Yinning said. Only by seeking out local ingredient supply initiatives, combined with oversight by the preschool cooks and the integration of food education, can we truly achieve transparency from farm to table and win back for our children the autonomy over what goes in their bowls.
Recommended Reading
Children, is your lunch nutritious? The Future in the Bowl: Special Feature Guide
Taiwan Lihpao – The Bittersweet Education of Preschool Ingredients