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Amaranth: A Key Piece to the Puzzle
 Adequate food is essential for children to develop well, both physically and mentally. Sadly, not all children in Oaxaca are fortunate enough to have this luxury, particularly those that live in the streets.
In an effort to promote healthy eating habits with a focus on amaranth, Puente facilitated two workshops with CANICA Oaxaca, a local recreation center dedicated to helping children who live and/or work on the streets of the capital city Oaxaca. In order to make the learning process as fun and exciting as possible, Puente designed a workshop full of stories, songs, games, and numerous other activities. The children not only learned, but laughed, played, and sang their way through such important subjects as the food groups, how amaranth can make them strong and healthy, and the toll that junk foods take on their bodies.
As the workshops came to a close, the children pieced together jig-saw puzzles revealing pictures of amaranth plants. After learning to identify the stalk, leaves, and seed pod, each child received a small amount of seeds and planted his or her own amaranth plants. Puente used this activity to teach the children that, just as plants need fertile soil and water to grow, our bodies need healthy foods to grow. As their amaranth plants grow, we hope that the children at CANICA Oaxaca grow with their new knowledge about how to eat well and how amaranth can help them live healthier lives.
-Hitzel Quero Hernandez, Health Educator
Director’s Note: CANICA Oaxaca now includes amaranth in the snacks and meals served to the children who eat at the center. A research study conducted in Hidalgo, Mexico showed that the addition of just a handful of amaranth daily can help more than 60 percent of children recover from malnutrition.
The workshops at CANICA Oaxaca were funded by the Jack DeLoss Taylor Charitable Trust. This important work would not have been possible without the hard work and collaboration of Elena Foshay (pictured left). Elena is a graduate student at the University of Berkeley in California. She spent the summer of 2007 in Oaxaca as an intern at Puente helping to revamp the Healthy Children project curriculum. Thank you!
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An Appetizing Amaranth Treat
During the upcoming holiday season, try this delicious recipe!
Pumpkin Amaranth Cake
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Ingredients:
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2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups amaranth flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice (optional)
2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
2/3 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
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Directions:
- Grease and flour three 7 x 3 inch pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Measure
flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices into a large bowl. Stir
to blend.
- Add pumpkin, water, oil, eggs, vanilla and nuts. Beat until well
combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for approximately 1 hour.
For a copy of the local Oaxacan recipes that we use in our amaranth
cooking workshops, please visit our website!
"Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food." -Hippocrates
Donate While You Shop!
While shopping online, please consider using Giveline.org and iBakeSale.org
to make your purchases. These websites list dozens of popular stores
from which to shop, and a small portion of your purchases can be
donated to Puente. If you have any questions, please contact us.
Also, while online, please check out Puente’s holiday wishlist or donate directly to Puente.
Welcome, Beca!
Puente's partner organization, Amigos de las Americas, recently hired Amigos Fellow Beca Beeman
to lead their Oaxaca Project. Beca will be working from the Puente
office to coordinate and prepare for the arrival of approximately 50 Amigos volunteers
next June. The volunteers will collaborate with Puente, furthering our
mission by promoting amaranth in 20 rural villages. We are very happy
to host Beca and look forward to another successful year of
collaboration with Amigos.
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