Food Plant Solutions

I do some voluntary work for Food Plant Solutions (FPS), all through the internet. My role is officially that of a "technical writer", which sounds very grand. I don't 'write' as one would imagine writing entails, instead using a database, I compile draft food plant lists for mostly 3rd world countries in an effort to assist the local people to achieve food security for themselves and their families. The link for Food Plant Solutions website is below. Please have a look. I have also included a link to their youtube video. The third link is to Food Plants International, which is where the database is - you are welcome to access it as a guest and look up the vegetables you eat and see what nutrition, if any, you are gaining from them.

https://foodplantsolutions.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTOmdU4uvbg

http://foodplantsinternational.com/

I am quite passionate about food security. Did you know that approximately 5 children per minute under the age of five die of malnutrition?  Even here in Australia we have children going to school hungry every day. I am a firm believer that every school should have a productive vegetable garden and gardening should be a part of the curriculum. The produce could be used at school to feed the children or sent home for them to cook at home. I know some schools are already doing this.

Did you know that the most nutritious part of a watermelon is the part most of us throw away - the seed. The seeds per 100gm's have 28.3gm of protein, 7.3mg of iron and 10.2mg of zinc. Children need over 15mg of iron in their diet per day for healthy growth and depending on your age, the same for zinc, although children need a lot less.  Our daily needs for energy, protein, provitA, VitC, Fe and Zn can be met through a varied plant based diet and for third world countries, where meat is a luxury and not very often available for consumption, it is important that they are able to access easy to produce vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruits, that grow naturally in the environment they live in, able to withstand droughts, monsoons, or whatever nature throws at each particular country.

Leave a Comment Food, Nutrition, Vegetables, Volunteer work