Nutrition Month at SM Supermalls, and plant-based diets

Culminating SM Supermalls’ activity for this year’s Nutrition Month, as mounted by the SuperMoms Club, was the launch of Juana Manahan-Yupangco’s new book, Juana’s Table.

Juana recently secured her master’s degree in Food Security and Nutrition from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and gave an enlightening talk on these subjects to the SuperMoms who gathered at the Atrium of SM Megamall to attend the afternoon event.

Joining Juana in the course of the afternoon were celebrity SuperMom Dimples Romana and SuperMOMpreneur Patti Grandidge-Herrera.

The welcome remarks was rendered by SM Supermalls Vice President for Marketing Grace Magno, and hers was a resounding affirmation of just how important SM Supermalls takes this message for better nutrition for the Filipino family.

She spoke of how SM Supermalls, through initiatives such as the SM Sunday Market held at several malls, are making fresh local produce and vegetables readily available to the public, and at prices that are essentially farmgate and more affordable. 

This is in support of the farming community, who are still picking up the pieces from the health crisis that affected us all.

Plus, it ties in with the programs of SM Foundation in urban farming, and creating modules that improve the education and capabilities of those who take up farming and food production. 

During Juana’s talk, she made mention of how Filipino women are now leaving the men behind in cases of obesity, and that the link between bad nutrition and the poor educational attainment of our children is an alarming trend.

These are two statistics that bear weighty consideration given that the opportunities to reverse these trends are easily within reach, and would actually help the plight of our local farmers.

A shift to a more plant-based diet is what Juana is advocating, and it’s important to note that when Juana talks of vegetables, she doesn’t highlight kale, quinoa, or popular, imported vegetables.

She espouses favoring locally grown veggies as they’re fresher, more nutritious, accessible, plus ideally priced.

Her cookbooks, Mesa ni Misis, and now, Juana’s Table, showcase recipes that utilize these local vegetables, without sacrificing flavor, taste, and variety.

Along with Dimples and Patti, Juana led a food preparation demo that had them creating ‘green’ versions of the popular Korean seaweed rice rolls, Gimbap (Kimbap).

There are recipes that have one creating a Spaghetti Bolognese Sauce with Monggo Beans, and that’s just a sampling of how Juana creatively brings vegetables into the picture, to transform familiar ‘comfort food’ recipes into ones that are now plant-based. 

The participation of SM Markets, SM Store, ABS-CBN Publishing, Fully Booked, Viu, Nutri-Asia, UnMeat, Téviant, Skin Poem, Designer Blooms, and Blims Furniture meant a host of wonderful prizes and giveaways were brought home by the lucky SuperMoms who had trooped to SM Megamall that afternoon. 

Never miss out on the latest SuperMoms gatherings at SM Supermalls.

To know more about the SuperMoms Club, join the Facebook community for moms, by moms via www.facebook.com/groups/SMSuperMomsClub.