I recently gave a talk online about Food Preservation to the Youth members (KADIWA) in our Church. The crowd is quite big because it covers the whole Ecclesiastical District of Misamis Oriental. I embraced the opportunity to reach out to as many young people despite the fact that I am not educationally adept on the topic. Though I may not be an expert, I have their best interests at heart.

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it.    -Proverbs 22:6

While this quote is made more to train the young spiritually, it also covers all aspects of training such as  letting them value the importance of helping their parents. The Youths are the hope of the Fatherland. But what will happen to that hope when all the time spent at home is on gadgets? If we can help our youths to become more productive with their time, then as they grow older,  they would not only become better children, but better Christians and productive members of society.

Giving children responsibility especially at home is good training. They need to help in household chores and if possible, help them be conscious about earning and spending money. While they are still young, it is important to change their mindset. I told them in my talk that they might not find the need for food preservation relevant at present since their parents are doing it for them, but I emphasized to them the possibility of turning their learning of the topic into a small business while they stay at home during the pandemic. 

The more you know, the more you can create. There’s no end to imagination in the kitchen.    - Julia Child

Being a mother qualifies me to talk about how to preserve food. Doing food preservation at home in various ways for the longest time has made me an expert by experience. At home, we use to make salted fish, dried fish, longanisa, tapa, tocino. When I was living in the barrio with my family, we have a lot of native guava which we make into guava jam and guava jelly. They could do this at this time of pandemic where they stay at home. They can always process whatever is available in their kitchen. If they have a lot of bananas, they can make banana ketchup or dry it for future cooking. It might be a strart of a new business for them.

Home is a shelter from storms- all sorts of storms        - William J. Bennet

At this time of pandemic where going out (to buy food) frequently is discouraged, there is a need to buy food to last for a week or two. However, buying too much food lead to spoilage. Thus it is important to learn how to extend shelf life of our foodstuff so that going out to the market to buy food could be prevented and reduce exposure of a family member from Covid. Meat, fish, fruits and vegetables may be preserved so that it can be eaten for a longer period of time without losing the nutrients of the food.

Doing things in the kitchen such as food preservation could be a good diversion from the monotony of being cooped up. Also, it could be a good bonding activity for the whole family.

The Food Business is very tough, but there’s also a lot of love...       - Marcus Samuelsson

While it is important to secure our own food first, food presservation or food processing may lead to a business later on. Naturally, preparing the family’s food may lead to extras which could be sold to neighbors and friends. Later, the network may be expanded.

I told my audience that at this time where money is hard to come by, putting up a food business is the most viable. I told them that they can survive with just a few clothes but they cannot survive without food. While it is true that many businesses are going bankrupt at present, many home-made food businesses have sprouted. Baking infact has flourished so that many baking ingredients are always out-of-stock in the supermarket.

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed     - Napoleon Hill

As an employee of the Agricultural Training Institute, a Bureau of the Department of Agriculture, we have been dealing with food, whether in raw form or processed. It is but right to teach the youth to process their vegetables or fruits in their backyards to prevent spoilage.  If they have many pineapple, they can always make dried pineapple or pineapple candy for their family and sell the extra for an extra income.  If they have papayas, they can always pickle it to make atsara. It is a win-win situation. You get to make food available in the family and at the same time sell the surplus for a little extra income.

Knowledge should be shared. I wish my talk has impacted to the minds of my audience. If i could just change one person’s life, or more, then I can say, I have done my share and will continue to do my share to make this world a better place for the future generation.