AVANT GARDENER The Philippines is in a precarious position health-wise. Not only are many Filipinos at risk for malnutrition, many are equally at risk for obesity, which itself is a form of malnutrition. “[According to the National Nutrition survey done by the Food and Nutrition Research...
AVANT GARDENER The best way to stop food from being wasted is to eat it. We’ve all been told as children to finish our food because there are people who have nothing to eat. This is a simplified explanation of a complex problem. There are many reasons some people have no access to food....
AVANT GARDENER Do we know why despite being an archipelago, our locally caught fish can be prohibitively expensive despite small fishers being one of the poorest sectors of Philippine society? It comes down to the amount of effort needed to get the fish from the fisher’s boat to the consumer’s...
AVANT GARDENER Plastic, with its virtually nonexistent biodegradability is one of the most concerning waste products polluting our planet today. According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Philippines is the third largest source of plastic waste in the ocean...
AVANT GARDENER Most of us know that the reason food staples are expensive is because it passes through many hands before it can get from the farmer to the consumer. If we could shorten that chain, it would make basic household ingredients cheaper. That’s what Raffy Tesoro, Philippine textile...
AVANT GARDENER Even though agriculture is seen as a waning industry, more and more people are waking up to the fact that it is an essential one that is integral to national security. Because of this, businessmen are slowly capitalizing on the industry’s potential, not just as a moneymaker, but as...
AVANT GARDENER Eating a plant-based diet has become a popular lifestyle choice for many people. For this vegan food brand that specializes in creating food normally associated with meat, ensuring that their products are delicious, healthy, preservative-free, and supportive of local farmers is just...
AVANT GARDENER Amid the pandemic, a friend sent me a care package of artisan chocolate from a then-new chocolatier Plentitude Chocolate. I like their single origin craft bars, the “single origin” referring to the farm the cacao used in each bar comes from, but what I fell in love with is their...
AVANT GARDENER The Philippines is a center for biodiversity. Unfortunately, the significance of this is lost on many Filipinos. Many Filipinos do not understand that flora and fauna play a huge role in the health of the planet. Sometimes, well-meaning people will implement poorly-thought out...
AVANT GARDENER Small fishing communities remain one of the poorest sectors of Philippine society, so I’m always happy to feature enterprises that aim to support their livelihood directly. Sinaya Seafood may be the industry’s newest player, but the company is backed by more than a decade of...
AVANT GARDENER Folks were up in arms last week over the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) statement that Filipinos who spend ₱64 per day on three meals are not “food poor.” The amount was based on the 2023 food threshold computed for a family of five. This was an...
AVANT GARDENER Farmers are known to be set in their ways. Sometimes, the best way to get them to adopt something new is to show them that it can make them good money. Purest Heart Honey is the brand of honey sold by Guadaleva Coteng, 30, of Purest Hearts Apiary Enterprise in Itogon, Benguet....
