Popua's young students won the first ‘Mai e 5’ school cooking competition on November 15. The cooking programme reinforces the value of eating healthy nutritious food

GPS Popua won $500 first prize, with GPS Lapaha in second with $300 and GPS Lotolu with $150.

Ten schools took part in the program where teams of three to four young students, with a teacher accompanied by a mentor from ‘Ahopanilolo Technical Institute, prepared and cooked two dishes, which were judged for health, taste and presentation.

Hosted by Tonga Health this is part of the Mai e 5 campaign launched in 2012. It aims to address a need for locally grown fruits and vegetables to be readily available at a reasonable cost in order to foster healthy lifestyles from childhood and reduce non-communicable diseases.

It is run by a committee of members from Nishi Trading, Tonga Health, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Food.

The cooking challenge held at ‘Ahopanilolo will become an annual event for the primary school students.