Community World Service Asia organizes a ‘Danish Food Hackathon’
In an attempt to make the Pakistani population become more aware of their nutrition and lead them to develop better healthy lifestyles, the Royal Danish Embassy, in coordination with Community World Service Asia organized a ‘food hackathon’ on October 14, 2021, at Avari Hotel, Karachi at 10:30 AM.
The hackathon’s key objectives were to raise awareness on preventing the growing prevalence of NCDs and obesity in Pakistan, improve the low quality and low life expectancy of Pakistanis due to poor eating habits and educate, train, and inspire Pakistanis to implement healthy eating and cooking habits. Furthermore, it highlighted the concept of Sustainable Food that advocates for cutting carbon emissions through a climate-friendly and plant-based diet.
Participants are divided into groups to brainstorm an innovative #plantsbased food item using a set of given ingredients. They will break out in groups to cook and present this dish shortly.
#DanishFoodHackathon #DkinPk2021 @DKinPK #Foodsustainability pic.twitter.com/pEzaVNTUNH— Community World Service Asia (@communitywsasia) October 14, 2021
The event started with a panel discussion with moderator Chef Casper Bogeskov from Denmark with panelists Simon F Kjeldsen – Deputy Head of Mission, Rashed Butt – Vice President & GM of Novo Nordisk Pakistan, Prof Dr. Saeed A Mahar – Professor of Medicine, Consultant Endocrinologist & Diabetologist and the talented influencer Faiza Saleem.
A diverse panel including Simon F Kjeldsen,Deputy Head of Mission at the Royal Danish Embassy,Rashed Butt, Vice President & GM of Novo Nordisk Pakistan,Prof Dr Saeed A Mahar, Endocrinologist & Diabetologist & social media trailblazer Faiza Saleem engage in a discussion. pic.twitter.com/tjqDACinkm
— Community World Service Asia (@communitywsasia) October 14, 2021
Shahzeb Shaikh – Deputy Director (Operations), District South Karachi, Sindh Food Authority attended the hackathon and an innovation session was arranged with relevant Government institutions, NGOs, academia, culinary schools, food technologists/innovators, health journalists, and known influencers.
Chef Casper Bogeskov, here all the way from Denmark, has been facilitating plant-based food bootcamps at various culinary institutes in Karachi this week. Today he presents on the benefits and impact of #plantbased food to combat diabetes, obesity and increase #foodsustainability pic.twitter.com/4veLLYAc6N
— Community World Service Asia (@communitywsasia) October 14, 2021
In addition, the food hackathon was followed by cooking boot camps; teaching upcoming and professional chefs healthy cooking methods and recipes, and massive advocacy efforts that will champion a culture of healthy cooking methods and eating a nutritious diet. These took place because according to what Pakistani experts reveal, food toxicity and deep frying are some of the most common problems identified in the country, and thus through the events planned in the hackathon, the selected teams participating learned to tackle problems related to diabetes and obesity through food, cooking and a good diet.
