Ceremony to award the winners in the competition of the Best Food Recipes for Schools. Five of them were chosen-one from each region of the country
The authors of the healthiest and best meals from the public school system were awarded on Thursday (Jan. 28) for the competition of the Best Food Recipes for Schools, held by the Education Ministry, in partnership with the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE). Among the 15 finalists, chosen from more than 2,000 competitors, they have selected one from each region of the country. The prize is $1.200 and a trip for 2 to Chile.
In addition to the criteria taken into consideration in the previous stages, like the feasibility of school meals, appreciation of local habits and creativity, the aroma, presentation, taste, texture and color of the dish were also analyzed.
After five years working as a school cook, Maria de Lurdes Fidélis won in the South region for her rice pie with vegetables. "This pie has been in the school menu for a year, and kids love it. Always ask the day I will cook it again. Usually, when children see legume, they want to remove it from the plate but our children eat everything," she said proudly, adding that, from now on, she want to please the students even more.
For the Northeast region, Djanira Souza was the winner, cooking abará (paste made from mashed black-eyed peas) filed with ground beef and cassava. She said her recipe won because of a special ingredient: "Love, I cook everything with love and a smile. Students love this recipe, I even organized a [cooking] workshop with them and it was a success. This award means a lot to me," she said, overwhelmed.
Osmarina Pereira won in the Central-west region for her sweet potato pie with fish. She has been working as a school cook for 10 years, and said the recipe happened in a moment she had to adapt. "I joined business with pleasure, we had received a lot of sweet potatoes and I adapted the recipe."
The other school cooks who were also awarded were Maria Alerte da Silva for her rice with beef jerky, from the North region, and Anilda Berger, for her salt cake of rice and chicken from the Southeast Region.
Training
The 15 finalists arrived in Brasilia at the beginning of the week. They had a 20-hour training with theoretical and practical lessons in various subjects, like hygiene, full use of food, food pyramid, cutting vegetables, decorative plates and gastronomy for children.
Luiz Cláudio Costa, executive secretary of the Education Ministry, noted the importance of the school cook's job for the schools throughout the country. "For many of these children, this is the only meal they have the whole day. Food is our basic right," he said, pointing out that $955 million will be invested in the National School Feeding Programme this year .
Translated by Amarílis Anchieta