Mailnews_old

FIN
2018.03.21 22:00

3039_Gourmet gobbles for poor kids

Views 534 Votes 0 Comment 0
?

Shortcut

PrevPrev Article

NextNext Article

Larger Font Smaller Font Up Down Go comment Print
?

Shortcut

PrevPrev Article

NextNext Article

Larger Font Smaller Font Up Down Go comment Print
austraLasia #3039

Gourmet gobbles for poor kids
DAVAO CITY: 22 March 2012 --  From the Don Bosco Hotel and the Kiosk Restaurant in Sihanoukville to the less prententious but not less delicious efforts of Fr Franco Uras, member of the Don Bosco Center community in Davao City, Southern Philippines Province. This is a story that has been doing the rounds. It is worth repeating from its true source, the MindaNews.

"Ninety kilometres from the heart of the city, beside the slopes of Barangay Buda, sits an artisan gourmet café.

But this café is unlike any other gourmet shops in the city proper; the entire compound will soon become a home for the indigenous peoples, more particularly the children.

Managed by Italian missionary Fr Franco Uras, the Bosco Center for Hope for Integral Development for Lumad Youth and Children offers a variety of homemade gourmet products, which have been processed using organically-grown ingredients.

Uras, who belongs to the Salesians of Don Bosco, sells his products, such as pasta sauces and homemade breads, to raise money for his program for the lumad children and youth.

His products include Vegetarian Pasta Sauce in Soya Oil, Vegetarian Tuna Sauce in Corn Oil, Pesto Classic (Italian) in Olive Oil, Herbed Mushroom Sauce in Corn Oil, Sundried Tomatoes in Soya Oil and Herbed Mushroom Sauce in Corn Oil. Each bottle costs between P205 and P385.

Uras doesn’t use any artificial flavoring or preservatives for his sauces, just herbs and vegetables.

“I have some herbs that others do not have and I also have my own formula, and that is my secret,” Uras, who has been in the Philippines for 48 years, intimated.

Asked why he went into gourmet making, the 68-year old priest replied: “Because I need money for the Lumad children, I need to raise money to help the less fortunate.”

Aside from the assorted sauces, the café also serves pizza for at least P150, tomato and onion bread, both for P25 each. Uras glazes his pizza with herbs and organically-grown spices from his backyard garden.

The café, which opens from 6a.m. until 7p.m., is located right beside the arc of the of the Department of Public Works and Highways, which is also the marker for the boundary between Davao City and Kitaotao, Bukidnon.

Benefit dinner

But the center is not just a mere café; the Italian missionary is now preparing the six-hectare property to cater to Lumad children who are studying in a nearby elementary school.

Starting May, Uras said, the children will be gathered in the center to assess their needs for the next school year.

But the children will not be staying in the center, the missionary clarified. “We will provide two snacks and a lunch. Then they will go home in the afternoon. Maybe after a year, that’s the time when we will require them to live in the center,” said Uras, adding he needs at least P500,000 a year to sustain their needs.

To raise the amount, the priest said he and his German friend Wolfgang Csato, a doctor by profession, will host a benefit dinner for the Lumad children on March 22 at Coffee for Health café in Catalunan Pequeño, about three kilometers away from Ulas junction.

Csato, who specializes in pain and trauma treatment, is a hobbyist cook married to a Filipina. “Like Padre Franco, I also love cooking. And I’m helping him in this benefit dinner for the Lumad children,” said the doctor who is also the President of the European Association for Pain Treatment.

For P350, Csato and Uras will serve authentic Italian and German cuisines. “But of course they can also donate cash for the children,” the priest said in Bisaya.

Aside from the benefit dinner, the German doctor will also help in fund-raising back in Europe for Uras’ project in Buda.

Moreover, Uras said he is accepting donations in kind for the Lumad children such as basic hygiene kits (toothbrush, toothpaste and soap), rice, corn, mongo beans, dried or fresh fish, canned goods, clothing, board games paraphernalia and even equipment for different ball games.

Hobbyist cook

Meanwhile, Uras said he never had any formal culinary training , adding it was just his hobby that pushed him into creating his own recipes.

But as an Italian, he said, it could be natural for them to love cooking. “I’m the youngest in our family and I never washed the dishes when I was a boy,” he quipped.

He recalled having learned cooking when he was already in the Philippines.

Aside from cooking, Uras also made his own beverages out of the available ingredients in his backyard. He said he has already fermented 17 kinds of wine.

“Before, preparing gourmet was just my hobby. But now, it is no longer a simple hobby because I need money for the less fortunate,” said Uras, who had served as executive director of Boys’ Town, a rehabilitation center for street boys in the city, from 1998 to 2003 before moving to Buda." 

List of Articles
No. Category Subject Views
1270 VIE 1274_Vietnam: the youth ministry situation 597
1269 World 1273_Inside the Vatican: Synod on the Eucharist 549
1268 VIE 1272_Year of the Eucharist in Ho Chi Minh City: public officials are grateful! 367
1267 India 1271_Tura under curfew: one past pupil died, the other in critical condition 314
1266 World 1270_Salesian Bulletin: "It is high time, one that brooks no delay, to invest resources.." 296
1265 India 1269_Playing fields bloodbath in Garo Hills: 2 Don Bosco students killed 254
1264 RMG 1268_Mamma Margaret gives Good Night at the Pisana 305
1263 ITM 1267_ITM student in Jerusalem celebrates Perpetual Profession 269
1262 World 1266_New Salesian Cooperator draft Regulations 265
1261 World 1265_Is there a doctor in the house? The 'father's house' goes all maternal 643
1260 VIE 1264_Modern Vietnamese youth and religious vocation: 20-20 foresight? 506
1259 World 1263_EAO 'cell' set up in Jerusalem 504
1258 India 1262_Salesian Brother Alex receives India's top recognition of BGVK for long-term watershed project 605
1257 EAO 1261_Watching grass grow! Two EAO sources of information 279
1256 AUL 1260_Australian Province celebrates Final Profession and looks forward to an ordination 453
1255 PGS 1259_Pacific Island Plan - what will the future hold? 443
1254 FIN 1258_Past Pupils' enterprise to be especially proud of 508
1253 Cambodia 1257_A Salesian Blog worth seeing - and a new approach to sharing spirituality 412
1252 Mongolia 1256_Getting the kids to church, Part II: Mongolia 415
1251 GIA 1255_Altar servers of Yamato Catholic Church: Fr Nagasawa explains 502
Board Pagination Prev 1 ... 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 ... 177 Next
/ 177