See the full statement below:
Milex is at it again with the start of another great Sustainability project. Milex Milk is produced by Arla Foods, one of the largest dairy companies in the world. It is a farmer owned cooperative in Denmark, producing milk that is natural, nutritious, and produced in a responsible and sustainable way. It is part of the Arla Foods sustainability strategy to promote healthy eating habits and support local societies. This year the Milex distributor, DeSinco Limited and Carnegie School of Home Economics partnered up to underline the importance of thinking about nutrition when cooking. The initiative is driven by four pillars:
- Providing students at the Carnegie School of Home Economics with training about dairy nutrition and how dairy food is produced from grass to glass.
- Providing students training in how to eat healthy and cook nutrious meals from scratch.
- Organize a cooking competition to support the learning activities and enable the students to implement their knowledge in real life.
Carnegie School of Home Economics and Milex Milk partnered up to roll out extensive training on healthy eating habits, Nutrition and where the food comes from to their Commercial Cooking Classes. This training was conducted by the Arla team, who was in Guyana at the time to work on this project. Mr. Christoffer Madsen, Senior Manager at Arla Foods and overall Dairy expert delivered a full educational experience on Dairy and the Arla company from farm in Denmark, to table in Guyana. Ms. Mette Kristensen, the nutritionist for Arla foods also had a very interactive session with the students. She gave training on healthy eating habits and Nutrition importance in our everyday lives with a focus on dairy, including the food based dietary guidelines recommended in Guyana. This was not only an informative session for the students, but the DeSinco and Arla team rolled out a cooking competition for the students that will be part of their final grade.
The Cooking competition was simple, students were asked to create three course meals, inclusive of appetizer, main course and dessert but their challenge was that each recipe must contain Milex Milk. Traditionally Guyanese recipes are not milk based, especially our savory foods, so it was a good challenge that the students were very excited about. The commercial cooking classes were split into six teams and given four hours to create their meals and they did not disappoint in this challenge. The competition was held in Carnegie’s Kitchen and overlooked and judged by the Deputy Head of Carnegie, Miss Tandika Griffith, Head Chef at Amici, Mr. Vibert Rodrigues and members of the DeSinco Team. The students made everything from Eggnog to Metemgee, they even made Panna Cotta. Each team went a step further and did over the top presentations of their dishes, nicely laid out on beautifully decorated tables for the judges to taste. The students and their meals were all impressive to say the least and Arla Foods and the DeSinco Team are very thankful that the Carnegie School of Economics has collaborated with Milex Milk to roll out this as part of Arla’s Sustainability Plan. The winning team included Vanetta Gordon, Vanecia Henry, Marion Budburgh, Samiya Ramdial and Nikitta Rossan, congratulations on a job well done!
The perspective and learnings of the initiative are big as the students will be part of the Guyanese food sector. These students now make a difference on healthy eating habits and thinking about nutrition when cooking and this can help us all to become stronger from within.