Influenced by what you see and hear! Filial piety breakfast "fruit" and "vegetarian"

Before Mother's Day, the National Health Bureau and the Tainan City Nutritionist Association held a "Filial Piety Healthy Breakfast" competition for elementary school students. Ye Wenting, a student at Fuxing Elementary School who has had five kinds of fruits and vegetables for breakfast since she was a child, was adept at using a variety of fruits and vegetables to design recipes that were tasty, nutritionally balanced, and creative, and she won first place in the senior grade group.

Ye Wenting, a student from Fuxing Elementary School, won first place in the "Filial Piety and Healthy Breakfast" competition. She has always had five kinds of fruits and vegetables for breakfast since she was young, and is very familiar with designing recipes using a variety of fruits and vegetables. (Photography by Zhang Yawen)

Ye Wenting's mother is a teacher in the catering department, so she pays special attention to her children's adequate intake of fiber and vitamins. Even as a working woman, Ye's mother insists on making breakfast for her children every day. In addition to whole-grain bread and eggs, she makes sure her children eat 5 kinds of fruits and vegetables every morning to make them full and nutritious.

Mother Ye pointed out that most children are not averse to fruits, but parents may not make it easy for their children to get them. Her method is to wash the fruits in advance the day before, put them in a fresh-keeping box, and cut them before eating the next morning, which can speed up the processing time. As for the taste of vegetables that children may not like, Mother Ye suggested making good use of sauces, such as drizzling Japanese-style sauce on lettuce. The sweet and sour taste can increase children's willingness to eat.

Zhang Lijuan, president of the Tainan City Nutritionist Association, said that before the competition, posters were posted on campus and healthy breakfast tips and competition rules were promoted during morning assembly. For the lower grade group, nutritionists and the lunch kitchen prepared common breakfast ingredients (rice, toast, steamed buns, a variety of vegetables and fruits, cheese slices, meat slices, fried eggs, milk, soy milk, yogurt, etc.), allowing registered students to take the ingredients on site and assemble a breakfast for their mothers.

The senior students first entered the preliminary round with a recipe of their own design. After a written review by a nutritionist, 20 were selected to participate in the semi-final. In the semi-final, the students had to prepare the ingredients, pots and utensils themselves, and cook a breakfast for their mothers on the spot.

Tips for a healthy breakfast include: "Whole grains are essential", replace white rice balls, white bread, and white steamed buns with germ rice balls, whole wheat bread, and multi-grain steamed buns; "Milk is a must", drink 1.5 cups of low-fat milk (1 cup 240c.c.) every day to supplement calcium; "Fruits and vegetables are treasures", consume at least 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruits every day, for example, you can put more vegetables in your sandwiches and drink freshly squeezed juice for breakfast; "Remove fried foods", frying only increases calories without increasing nutritional value.

The 20 winning recipes designed by the senior group, including the creative concept, ingredient names and quantities, nutritional analysis, and photos of the finished products, can be found in the news section of the National Health Administration's homepage (http://www.bhp.doh.gov.tw/).