Bangalore city school students win 24-Mantra Organic essay contest on healthy food at BioFach India

BANGALORE, India - Nov. 20, 2013 - PRLog -- Our supermarket shelves are stuffed with well travelled food, every street corner offers a ‘globally gastronomic experience’ and all that lands on our plates has gone through several miles, processes, packages and transformations. As we move far from our food, our children are growing up in a food ecosystem that is heavily processed, produce laden with chemicals and completely disconnected from the source.

In order to increase awareness around safe and healthy food and how it connects to our wellbeing, our farmers and the environment, 24-Mantra Organic ran a series of activities in the lead up to BioFach India 2013 (http://biofach-india.com/), S. Asia’s largest organic marketplace.

Nature On My Plate: Good food for healthy kids, happy farmers and a better planet
Nov 15th at Bangalore Palace saw over 170 students from Prasiddhi School, St. Paul’s English, Camlin and PSBB participate in a variety of activities around safe and healthy food.

The day-long event at the fair featured an inter-school quizzing challenge on healthy food, an opportunity to meet and interact with the CEOs of leading organic companies, a hands-on workshop on kitchen gardening and a chance to learn about the connection between food and our environment in fun ways. The students had a chance to try out fresh organic lunch, courtesy Sresta Organics. More information on the Student Track activities is here on The Alternative. (http://thealternative.in/environment/nature-on-my-plate-a...)

Pictures of the day long event can be found here on Nature On My Plate. (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101516888557217...)

School Essay Writing Competition
Over 29 schools participated in an essay contest on healthy food, from Std 6 to 12.  Students from the 6th to 8th Standards recounted their favourite healthy food experiences while children from 9th to 12th Std delved deeper into the effects of Genetically Modified Food. (http://thealternative.in/environment/food-sovereignty-gmo...)

The essay competition for Grades 6-8, I am What I Eat, was won by Riya Theresa Verghese from Delhi Public School South and the essay contest on the topic of Genetically Modified Food was won by Reshma from National Public School, Indiranagar.

Winners 6th to 8th Std, I am What I Eat

1. Riya Theresa Verghese – DPS South, 7th

2. Pranathi Harihar, Sri Kumarans, 8th

3. Ipsita Rai, Freedom International, 7th

Special Prize: Shivansh Bakshi, DPS South, 7th.

Winners 9th - 12th Std, Genetically Modified Foods

1. Reshma, NPS Indiranagar, 11th

2. Ruhi Soni, NPS Indiranagar, 10th

3. Anirudh Shankar, Sri Kumarans, 9th

Special Prize: Samvida Venkatesh, NPS Indiranagar, 11th

More information and the winning entries are here (http://thealternative.in/environment/nature-on-my-plate-24-mantra-organic-student-essay-contest-prize-winners/).

BioFach India is an annual event organized by Government of Karnataka, ICCOA, and Nurenberg Messe that brings together organic experts and market leaders from around the world. Nature On My Plate had a single objective of encouraging more people in the city of Bangalore to adopt the organic way of life. The 2-day-long event at the fair featured expert talks, panel discussions, film screenings, workshops on healthy cooking, kitchen gardening and composting, food tasting sessions, DIY activities for children and more.

More at: http://www.thealternative.in/tag/nature-on-my-plate

24-Mantra Organic
24 Mantra Organic (http://24mantra.com/), India’s leading organic food brand works directly with farmers to create a unique farm to kitchen traceability means you can trust old-fashioned goodness through and through. 24-Mantra Organic works with over 12000 farmers in 15 states on 50000 acres to make a positive difference to their lives on one hand and ensure organic integrity, purity and consistent quality on the other.

The Alternative - Sustainability as a way of life
The Alternative (http://thealternative.in/) is a media platform focused on sustainable living and social impact. We make sustainability an everyday conversation through awareness and tangible choices we can make in our daily lives - from food to travel - in a way that lends itself to positive social impact.

We reach out through our online platform, on the ground events, social media channels and campaigns.

Visit us at www.thealternative.in