Those who know food are the wise ones; let me teach you the skill of knowing food and being almost brave.

From rice noodles that are not made from rice, milk powder in sweet soup, toxic starch, toxic soy sauce to genetically modified soy products flooding the market, this string of food safety controversies is enough to make anyone's heart skip a beat. When it comes to responsibility for children's dietary safety, what else can parents do? Taking the "Know Your Food" volunteer training course held by the Homemakers United Foundation is a good option.

Put simply, the content of the "Know Your Food" course teaches modern people how to be wise when it comes to knowing food. Secretary-General Huang Jialin says that modern food industry and agricultural production have many problems, so food issues are the most relatable content for environmental education. The foundation hopes to teach parents to recognize the problems in modern food industry and agricultural production, and to take on the responsibility of safeguarding their children's dietary health themselves.

Though food safety issues seem serious, the foundation's course approach is very simple and relaxed. For example, the recent toxic starch scandal that has parents panicking led the foundation's lecturers or volunteers to teach everyone how to make real sweet potato starch at home using the DIY method:

1. Chop sweet potato or potato, add water, and put it in a blender to grind fine;

2. Pour into a cotton cloth filter bag used for making rice cakes, and knead out the white juice in a large pot until no more white juice comes out. The residue left in the bag can be used as filling for sweet potato balls;

3. Let the white juice sit for half an hour, waiting for it to separate into water and a hard starch layer at the bottom;

4. Pour off the water, sun-dry the starch or place it in a drying cabinet with low-temperature dehumidification, and genuine sweet potato starch is complete. Remember to put a desiccant in when storing; if you don't mind using wet starch, you can freeze it directly.

Besides DIY sweet potato starch, the course also teaches participants how to identify the dazzling array of food additives, recognize the hazards of genetically modified crops to the environment and health, understand the problems of nitrates and pesticides in vegetables, and finally encourages consumers to support farmers or food processors in producing good food through collective purchasing, fair trade and local eating.

Not only is the course content close to current food safety events, Huang Jialin says the course also encourages parents to bring their children to play games together as a family. "Developing good eating habits from a young age is the easiest," she says.

Since the "Know Your Food" course was launched in mid-April this year, the response has been good. Most participants are women, including young mothers, retired public school staff and graduate students, with a small number of men as well. Huang Jialin laughs and says that although the organizing body is called the "Homemakers United Foundation," enrollment is by no means limited to homemakers.

She says that after completing the course, many parents not only start preparing lunch boxes for their children themselves, but some participants also become volunteer lecturers for the foundation, promoting and sharing the content of the "Know Your Food" course externally. After finishing the course, many participants also join the Homemakers United Consumer Cooperative, responding with practical action to collective purchasing in support of producers who are health-conscious and environmentally friendly.

During the summer, the "Know Your Food" course holds one session each in the morning and afternoon every Saturday. Those interested can call (02)2368-6211, or visit the Homemakers United Foundation website for inquiries.