KimmyKokonut

Hopefully everyone knows by now how important it is to buy food and products produced locally. If not, check out this website for a more detailed answer. Overall, it’s better for the environment (fossil fuels used in travelling, more preservatives for shelf life), your health (fresher products contain more nutrients) and supporting your local economy and the little wo/men of the world.

While I was in culinary school, my program was very progressive and there was a big push to know your farmer, cheesemaker, butcher etc. It just makes sense to know where you spend your money and if you can support your own community with those dollars, it is all for the best.

Now that I’m in Peru, there’s plenty of imported products, but they seem to reflect the cost of transport in their price. A Snickers bar costs more here than a local candy bar, which makes sense. Anyways, there’s plenty of local things to buy and artisan people to support. You don’t really find the organic lingo all over Peru like in the US and it’s not because things aren’t organic, there just isn’t a push by the consumers to have the certification. I’m sure a lot of our produce here is organic, but it’s not because the farmer wants to be organic, it’s just how his/her parents farmed and it works. I’m not saying that people don’t use pesticides, etc on their crops, I’m sure some do and some don’t. ANYWAYS, it’s good to talk to your produce vendor and get the details from them.

The whole point of my post is that I have found a product in Huanchaco that supports local dairy farmers as well as a good cause, Mundo de ninos. Mundo de ninos is a boy’s home for streetchildren. Usually they are not orphans, just victims of extreme poverty or family problems: drug abuse, physical abuse, neglect. These boys took to the streets to make money (shine shoes, sell candy) for their family but because of their situation, they spent more time on the streets and it slowly became their home. The home is located in Huanchaco and teaches the boys about respect, values, living in a community and making time to be kids and play. They also make yogurt. And it’s good yogurt (for Peru, it’s a little to thin for my preference) that comes in Vanilla, Strawberry, Pineapple, Passionfruit and other flavors. I paid sl. 3.50 for a liter of yogurt, and apparently that’s cheaper than the mass produced brand name yogurt in the market. Not that that matters. I’m just excited that I can buy my yogurt and have every penny go to this boys’ home and their efforts to keep kids off the street and give them hope for a better life.