Mumbai: The festive season has started on a super exciting note for the Mumbaiites as Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) organised a super fun-filled food-hunt and informative meet for some of the best food bloggers of the Mumbai. Ms Bhavna Shah, Regional Representative, India and Sri Lanka, was present at this event. The event was an initiative by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council to uphold the virtues of Malaysian Palm Oil with metropolitan Indians who are eager to enjoy delicacies and are health-conscious at the same time.
The event promoted the benefits of Palm Oil, which is a vegetable oil produced from the oil palm fruit. Malaysia and Indonesia account for about 85% of the world’s palm oil production, while other producers include Thailand, Columbia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Ecuador. Palm oil is found in almost 50% of food products in supermarkets; from chocolates to biscuits, cakes, crackers, cookies and peanut butter to ice-cream, besides being the largest cooking oil consumed in India and globally. Palm oil in its various fractions and derivatives is a common ingredient in these food products. In addition, oleochemicals derived from palm are also used in the production of personal care products, detergents and household cleaning products.
Healthy Living with Palm Oil, a bloggers meet organized by MPOC was carefully planned, maintaining the right balance of food, fun and information to ensure each and every person had a great experience. The event was themed “Bollywood” as Mumbai is the known to be the entertainment hub of India. The bloggers were dressed in their favourite Bollywood attires and saying famous Bollywood dialogues.
The day started with a food hunt that led foodie participants to Baraana Restaurant where the bloggers participated in a blind food tasting session followed by a fun-filled quiz competition on palm oil. The bloggers also participated in a salad making contest at Light House Café with palm oil based salad dressing. The next in order was an Ice-cream Relay where the bloggers were seen enjoying their favourite flavoured ice-creams made of Palm oil ingredients Nutella, Ferrero Rocher etc. The event ended with a presentation on Palm oil by Ms Bhavna Shah, Regional Representative, India and Sri Lanka, MPOC and a grand photo session and price distribution for best Bollywood dialogue followed by lunch.
The entire event ensured that the benefits of Malaysian Palm Oil were shared with the participants; thus, enlightening them on how Indian food can be best cooked in palm oil. The food-hunt created excitement and at the same time engaged different segments of the population, with emphasis on the youth and also the participating restaurants.
Speaking at the occasion, Ms. Bhavna Shah, Country Representative of Malaysian Palm Oil Council for India and Sri Lanka said, “The food industry loves palm oil because of its versatility, its ease of use in various food applications and ability to prolong shelf-life of food products. One of the important factors which appeal to food manufacturers is that palm oil is trans-fat free and can easily replace partially hydrogenated unsaturated oils, which contain trans-fatty which are not good for the heart. Palm oil is a fruit oil just like olive oil and is Non-GMO.”
