Project Lead(s): Brian Johnston, Dr. Sean Kidd
Issue
A number of factors contribute to unhealthy eating habits of many of those on a low income in Medellin, Columbia. These include a lack of accessibility to affordable, nutritious food, excessive consumption of fried foods (often in overused oil), consumption of processed food that is high in additives, sugar or salt, and a low vegetable intake.
High cholesterol, blood pressure and obesity are implicated in 40% of deaths in Columbia, and eight of ten leading causes of mortality are due to non-communicable diseases (NCD).
Solution
The team proposed to reduce NCD risk factors by piloting a micro franchise social enterprise business model, to prove that community members would change their unhealthy eating habits if presented with healthy and affordable alternatives.
The main activities completed during the project included:
· Creation of a training centre for low-income culinary social entrepreneurs, with functioning kitchen and public space where project participants learn and sell
· Testing and standardization of five salt- and sugar-free base sauces
· Conversion of project participants’ popular existing fried products to healthier, non-fried options
· Conversion of deep fryers used in street stalls to water boilers now used for fresh, homemade pastas
· Ongoing training of 10 social entrepreneurs/project participants in business management, product development, budgeting, marketing, healthy food production and sales
· Opening the training centre’s front patio to the public, with participants cooking and saving for their own equipment while using the project’s space.
Outcome
The project team has confirmed that community members are actively changing their consumption behaviours with the project’s affordable healthy food options. There was a seamless customer transition from high salt, sugar and saturated fat consumption to low salt, no sugar and low fat consumption, with fewer than 10% of customers requesting table salt to add to their dishes, and none requesting sugar or sweetener for their sugar-free aromatic fruit beverages and refined sugar-free desserts.
Moving forward the goal is to work with more participants in the training centre. Currently the team receives 2–4 inquiries per week from community members interested in participating in Vía Cocina Food Training as a healthy food social entrepreneur and also receive an additional 2–4 inquiries per week from community members requesting healthy recipe cooking classes for home preparation. Additionally, they have received 2–4 inquiries per month from existing restaurants in the city wanting to change their menu to include healthier options.
Before applying for Transition To Scale (TTS) funding, the team intends to develop a guiding model that would assist in the quantification of the impact of their work on the reduction of NCDs, and the improvement of the lives of consumers by healthy consumption patterns and affordable product availability.
The team will continue to create video case studies showing the impact of the project on participants’ lives, their economic development, and their physical and mental health.
Information on the project has been published in local newspapers and the project is scheduled to be featured in the first episode of a new Canadian television series called ‘The Life-Sized City’.