Thursday 23 January 2020

Wonderful Experience At Food Hunt Cum Bloggers Event by MPOC

On 10th January 2020, we had a Blogger Event here in Hyderabad by MPOC
( Malaysian Palm Oil Council).
I was happy to get the invitation and was looking forward to have some great time there.
And yes to my expectation it was a wonderful event with some great insight about Malaysian Palm oil council, details about the benefits of Palm oil and the most interesting part was Food Hunt event:)
So in this post, I will share all the details.






After Meet and Greet with fellow bloggers and Organizers, got a chance to meet Bhavna Vyas Shah
Country head of MPOC( India & Sri Lanka)



She shared details about the benefits of palm oil, its usage, health benefits, etc.

What I learned from the session is :

* Palm oil is widely used in many sectors or industries like Food, Cosmetics, Pharmacy, Animal feed, BioFuel & Energy.
* Indirectly we are consuming it for long but we are not aware of it.
Since it is used in Personal care products, Cosmetics, and Food industry we are consuming it but were not knowing about it.
* There are many myths surrounding Palm oil and the session was to clear all such myths and doubts.
* It has numerous health benefits but people are not aware of it.
* Since in India depending upon region and taste people are more used to prefer oils like Mustard, Coconut but for a large population like in India, we need more oils which are affordable and good for health and Palm oil is a solution for this.
* It provides food security as Plantation of Palm tree requires less land, fewer fertilizers.
so more oil is produced in less land.



Health benefits of Palm Oil:

* Palm oil is a nutritious oil rich in Vitamin A, D, E, K.
* Its free of Trans Fat.
* Palm oil is rich in Vitamin E which is a powerful anti-oxidant
  capable of reducing harmful radicals in the body.
* Palm oil also contains Carotenoids which helps to strengthen the body's immune system.
* Palm oil reduces the risk of heart diseases as it lowers bad cholesterol in the body and increases good cholesterol.
* It helps to increase the absorption of Vitamin A in the body in people suffering from Cystic Fibrosis.
* It increases metabolism, thus helps in weight management.


Apart from learning all these, there was an interesting Food Hunt Event organized for bloggers.
Bloggers were divided into 5 teams, each having 3 bloggers.
We were given some Clue cards using which we have to find a clue to find our next destination( a restaurant nearby)
It was fun and we all rushed to reach there first, Upon reaching the first destination which was 10AsiaKitchen ( A restaurant In Jubilee Hills Area Hyderabad) we had to mix Icecream, Fererro Rocher Chocolate, Biscuits, Nutella together and eat it fast to get the next clue card. From there we ran to Tikki Shak, a restaurant on the other side of the road. where we had to fill a questionnaire which had some question on Palm oil :)
Once that was done we got the next clue card which took us to the third restaurant Eat India Company where we had to do blindfold tasting :)
A mixed veg curry was served and we had to taste it and name ingredients in it.
This was fun and we guessed right :)
The Next destination was  Urban Asia restaurant where we had to prepare a Salad using Palm oil.
We got some Veggies, dressings and palm oil. All team prepared their Salad and was served to Chef who gave points and again we ran back to our original destination where the event was organized ( Smoky Pitara)
It was all fun and was a totally different kind of experience for me:)
Thoroughly enjoyed it.



At 10AsiaKitchen we were given IceCream, Chocolate, Biscuits, Nutella.
Chocolate was Fererro Rocher
All of these contain palm oil.
Since palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature it gives baked goods creamy texture, so used in the preparation of ice creams chocolates, biscuits, cookies, etc.




At UrbanAsia restaurant we had to prepare Salad using Palm oil.
We mixed some veggies like Cabbage leaves, Tomato, Broccoli, Black Olives
Seasoned it with Red Chilli Flakes, Salt, Black pepper, White Vinegar, Honey, and one teaspoon palm oil.
It turned out good with nice flavor and taste.
Palm oil can be used for Salad Dressing and it provides food flavor and texture to the salad.



The winning team was one whose Salad was best and was liked by Chef :)

After all we had photoshoots and Lunch.

So this was a wonderful experience for me, knowing details about Palm oil and be a part of the Food Hunt event.

One can know more about palm oil by checking this website


One can read more about the benefits of palm oil in a post which I wrote last month
Benefits of Palm Oil & Food Security

Hope you all liked this post and found it useful.
Do share your opinion in the comment section below.

Ghazala