When you hear the word ‘food’, what is the first thing that comes to mind? An image of your favorite dish, a craving to eat something that you love, the words ‘happiness’ and ‘pleasure’ maybe? While we are fortunate to associate only the good things with food, for thousands of children in our country, food is also hunger. The World Bank estimates that India is one of the highest ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. To make a difference to the lives of these children, on the occasion of World Food Day on 6th Oct, Quaker India announced the launch of Quaker Feed a Child program to bring a fistful of nutrition to thousands of underprivileged children in India during this festive season. To mark the launch, Quaker India, along with celebrity Chef and PepsiCo’s Nutrition Ambassador, Vikas Khanna, hosted a long table brunch with oats-based dishes for children from Smile Foundation.
I was invited by Quaker India to be a part of this event in Mumbai and it was such a wonderful experience interacting with the children from Smile Foundation, getting to know more about the Feed a Child initiative and of course, meeting Chef Vikas Khanna.
We all know that oats is good for health but do you know that Quaker Oats have Beta Glucon Fibre that helps reduce cholesterol? Additionally, they are high on energy, protein and carbohydrates which are extremely important for kids today. Therefore, Ek Muthi Quaker, or a fistful of Quaker oats added to the everyday meal can increase its nutrition quotient while retaining the taste. Ek Muthi Quaker Oats is equated to approximately 16 gms, that is, one-third of a person’s daily wholegrain requirement. Keeping in mind the nutritional value of oats, Chef Vikas Khanna created a special menu for the brunch consisting of dishes made with Quaker Oats. There were pink beetroot idlis, pizzas, burgers, spaghetti and cookies. And believe me, if I did not know beforehand, I would have never been able to make out that these dishes had oats in them. But I guess that’s the magic of the Master Chef 🙂
Vikas Khanna was also joined by Saiyami Kher, an ambassador of the Smile Foundation and both of them together brought huge smiles to the faces of the children who were there for the brunch. I got a compliment too from a little girl who came up to me and said “You look very pretty Miss”. And that just made my day. Probably even more than chatting with Vikas Khanna (and yes ladies, he is just as charming, funny, polite, humble and handsome in real life :D).
For every pack of Quaker Oats purchased on BigBasket.com this festive season – between World Food Day, 16 th October to Children’s Day, 14th November, Quaker will provide a meal to an underprivileged child in India, through Smile Foundation. Quaker has pledged to provide a minimum of 2,00,000 meals to children in India through Quaker Feed a Child during this period. Do show your support to this initiative and lets contribute towards making this festive season a happy one for thousands of children in India.
Here are some more pictures from the Quaker Feed A Child launch event.