Peruvian parish fights malnutrition with high-protein cookies

Published: 2006-11-15

YUNGUYO, Peru (CNS) -- As pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, which sits more than two miles high on a windswept Andean plain, Maryknoll Father Edmund Cookson has spent decades fighting malnutrition among impoverished farm families. He has worked to improve herds of llamas, distributed hens and guinea pigs, and touted the nutritional advantages of native grains like quinoa and kaniwa. But he never expected to be baking 20 tons of high-protein cookies a month. Early this year, the parish won the contract to provide nutritious cookies for the government's school breakfast program. Parishioners meet many of the strict requirements for vitamins, minerals and protein by using grains that have adapted to the harsh climate of the Andes over hundreds of years. "Most of our work has been about children and nutrition," said Father Cookson, a priest from Peekskill, N.Y. "This is a new slant on that." Every month the parish makes four-cookie packs that are sealed and boxed for delivery to about 80 schools around Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake.

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