Recipes for Change: How Families and Schools Are Reimagining MannaPack with Fabretto

BY: Wendy Gámez

Why Food Security Matters More Than Ever

Food security remains one of the most urgent challenges for children and families around the world. UNICEF reports that one in four children under age five lives in severe child food poverty, increasing the risk of acute malnutrition by up to 50 percent.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the situation mirrors this global urgency. A recent regional overview revealed that 43.2 million people in the region suffer from hunger.

Three young female students holding bags of MannaPack soy

Our Approach to Improving Food Security and Nutrition

Fabretto and its partners in Guatemala and Honduras are addressing this challenge by promoting the safe, nutritious, and culturally relevant use of MannaPack, a fortified rice-soy meal produced and donated by Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) to support children facing food insecurity. Each packet provides essential vitamins, minerals, and protein, is easy to prepare, and can be adapted to local ingredients for use in schools and community nutrition programs. Fortified foods can make a real impact on children’s growth and development, especially in highly food insecure communities.

However, learning how to prepare delicious recipes with a new food product can be a challenge. To address this, Fabretto invited our partners to propose community-based initiatives. The goal was to help schools and families learn to cook healthy school meals using MannaPack.

Through community recipe books, family workshops, and shared learning spaces, these initiatives transform fortified soy into a bridge toward better diets, stronger families, and healthier school communities.

Guatemala: Strengthening Families Through Knowledge and Culture

FUNDAP: “MannaPack Recipe Book – Nourishing the Future”

FUNDAP is creating a participatory recipe book through workshops with community members. Additionally, 60 community nutrition-monitoring committees have been formed to support the school nutrition program. Families share local cooking knowledge and explore creative ways to integrate MannaPack into familiar dishes.

Group of school cooks with Seeds for Progress staff outside a school

Seeds for Progress: A Community MannaPack Festival

Seeds for Progress hosted a MannaPack Festival in rural Chiquimula, bringing together eight communities to exchange successful recipes and preparation methods. While 40 mothers participated directly, more than 1,800 children benefit from improved school menus developed through this exchange.

Pastoral Social Cáritas – Totonicapán: A Community-Centered Recipe Book

In Totonicapán, Pastoral Social Cáritas Arquidiócesis de Los Altos is developing a contextualized recipe book and educational video for Parent-Teacher Organizations. By blending MannaPack with traditional ingredients and cultural food practices, families learn to prepare meals that are nutritious, healthy, and meaningful to their communities.

Honduras: Empowering Families With Practical Skills

Asociación Compartir: “My School MannaPack Recipe Book”

Asociación Compartir is developing “My School MannaPack Recipe Book”, a printed recipe book that provides school parent committees with practical and nutritious MannaPack-based recipes for preparing school snacks. This initiative directly benefits 4,516 children in pre-primary and primary education centers, and indirectly supports their families, estimating at least one household for every child reached.

FUNDACOES: Hands-On Trainings for Rural Families

FUNDACOES offers hands-on training for rural mothers in the Maestro en Casa program and volunteers supporting early childhood centers in Tegucigalpa. By using local ingredients, around 200 families learn to prepare balanced dishes with MannaPack, diversifying their diets.

The Bigger Picture: Food Security, Development, and Community Resilience

These community initiatives gain even more relevance within a global and regional context. According to the World Health Organization, 149 million children worldwide experience stunting, while 45 million suffer from wasting.

The World Bank estimates that in Guatemala, malnutrition causes economic losses amounting to millions due to reduced productivity and increased healthcare costs.

By equipping families with nutrition knowledge, culturally relevant recipes, and practical cooking skills, Fabretto and its partners help communities strengthen children’s growth, school performance, and long-term resilience.

A Network United for Nutritional Well-Being

Across Guatemala and Honduras, Comunidad Fabretto demonstrates that food assistance becomes far more effective when combined with education, cultural relevance, and community leadership. Through recipe books, cooking workshops, festivals, and parent-led initiatives, families are transforming MannaPack into a tool for empowerment and long-term food security.

Thank you to José Manuel de Lucas for raising 4.600 Euros to help finance this project. Fabretto is grateful for your support of these community-based initiatives. Read more about José Manuel’s experience in Honduras in his recent post on our blog.