Talks and Workshops

Looking beyond short-term feeding solutions, longer-term, more sustainable approaches must be used. In many cases this involves the empowerment of local people to take control of their nutritional needs through access to appropriate food processing technologies. For a large portion of the world, appropriate, affordable, locally-adaptable food technology can accomplish the following: * Put more control of the supply of healthy, fresh local foods into the hands of the local people. This reduces the dependence on more processed foods supplied mostly by large food companies whose products are too often expensive and deficient in essential nutrients. It also enables locals to decide what and how much value-added food to produce, and where and when to produce it. It also means that local institutions such as hospitals, schools, orphanages, retirement or convalescent homes, native reserves and others can control more of the nutrient quality of their food supply. * Help feed local people with cheaper, cleaner and more convenient foods than would be possible from the raw foods directly. This includes producing and preserving food for extended "shelf-life" and avoiding spoilage, which is particularly necessary when primary crops become ripe and are in great supply. Often there is a glut of certain crops and there is mass spoilage due to inadequate processing / preserving options. * Create local employment / micro-enterprises with the development of small and medium-sized food businesses, including the employment of women for cottage-industry production. * Address the malnutrition needs of the local population or group either by providing more or better protein and complex carbohydrates, less fats and/or more vitamins and minerals. The aqueous food solution also provides much-needed clean water and is an ideal vehicle for adding key micronutrients such as Vitamin A, iron and iodine, the deficiencies of which affects over half of the world's population. * Serve as an educational outlet for teaching people about nutrition, how to make various foods adapted to local preferences and to train others on how to use the technology.

Malnutrition Matters
(http://www.malnutrition.org )