Developing recipes with Fonio (the African miracle grain)  

 

Fee Buysse and Britt Vandenbrande

3rd year Nutrition & Dietetics students, Odisee University of Applied Sciences (Ghent, Belgium)

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Hello, we are Britt and Fee, during our final year of education in nutrition and dietetics at Odisee University of Applied Sciences in Ghent, we got the opportunity for an unique cooperation with Heights and Minds. 

During our internship we had one goal, developing nutrient-rich recipes for pregnant women, infants and young children. With attention to those nutrients that are important in this particular phase of life. 
 

Our miracle ingredient, fonio! 
Fonio, the oldest grain of Africa, but for us unknown. We did a lot of research about it to make sure we could use the grain most optimally in our recipes. It is called a miracle grain because of its good nutritional value. Besides that, the grain is also very easy to grow. We wrote a paper about fonio and all de advantages. Everyone should use fonio ;). 

Besides fonio, we tried to process a lot of other local ingredients in the recipes. In this way, the dishes became very accessible. Of course, we tried everything by ourselves. We filmed the way of prepping and we made an instructional video of it for the people in the Mind Ups. In addition, we wrote the recipes on cards with nutritional information, the target group, the portion, and a picture. 

We found this internship very interesting and we are very happy that our work can help people and make a difference. We are very grateful for this collaboration and hope to meet in a mind up one day.
 

Fee Buysse and Britt Vandenbrande

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