The J&A Oben Foundation Highlights the Role of Water as the Foundation for Foods

The J&A Oben Foundation Highlights the Role of Water as the Foundation for Foods

The J&A Oben Foundation has highlighted the role of water as the foundation for food. This was done during a roundtable with restaurant owners, cooks, and the staff of the J&A Oben Foundation on the topic “the role of water as the foundation for our food." The roundtable was organized to commemorate World Food Day on the 16^th, of October, 2023, at the J&A Oben Foundation.

Commenting on this year’s World Food Day theme, “Water is life; water is food. leave no one behind”, the Co-Founder and President of J&A Oben Foundation, Prof. Julius Oben, said: “I am happy with the theme of this year’s World Food Day because many people don’t realize that water is a very important nutrient and is a key part of our eating and our wellbeing." “We thought that it was important to bring in restaurants for this year’s World Food Day because water, to them, is just something they use to wash their dishes and other utensils. They don't see it as a nutrient and an essential element of our health and wellbeing. So, our main reason was to sensitize them to encourage their customers, when they come to their restaurant, to drink water,” he added. Expounding on the importance of water to health and wellbeing, Prof. Oben said, “We have to know that the human body actually contains about 70% water. So, 70% of our body is water, and if we have a body that is so high in water content, then we have to know that it is important for that amount of water to be maintained. We lose water each time we pass out urine, feces, and sweat. So, it is important to continue rehydrating ourselves to keep going." “The other thing is that all our body functions require water because water is the best solute that exists, and for appropriate metabolism to take place, we need to have that water balance,” he disclosed. “The third aspect is the elimination of waste materials from our bodies. We need water to be able to do that. To avoid diseases as well, because what goes out of the kidney is from our body and needs to be diluted, if not, there are other complications that come from there," Prof. Oben said.

The J&A Oben Foundation laid emphasis on the 2023 World Food Day theme in a presentation titled “Water” by Miss Mbame Efeti Marie with the aim of getting participants to drink more water and educating them on the use of safe and clean water for cooking and food consumption.

As an innovation in this year’s celebration, the participating restaurant owners and cooks exhibited various Cameroonian foods. And they were sensitized on the different health benefits of the foods they prepared and of Cameroonian dishes in general by Miss. Tayui Orock Beatrice.

One of the exhibitors, Sabo Victory, from Kris Kitchen, said she learned a lot from the presentations. Sabo said she is going to put what she learned to good use in order to better serve his customers. The World Food Day commemoration ended with the award of prizes and certificates of participation to participants.