New Mexico has one of the highest rates of child food insecurity in the US, and a farm on the Navajo Nation is hoping to change that.
Save the Children's Innovation Lab has awarded the Bidii Baby Foods farm a grant to create a dehydrated baby cereal called Neeshjhizhii, which is made from dried steamed Navajo white corn, New Mexico News Connection reports.
"We decided that we wanted to be able to create a product that is maternally health-focused," says Zachariah Ben, owner and co-founder of Bidii Baby Foods.
"And helps the children's development and encoding these first foods into our children using our own natural resources here at home."
Ben says knowledge of Neeshjhizhii was never lost, but preparation had become limited to ceremonies.
Bidii Baby Foods uses permaculture and traditional Navajo growing techniques when growing produce, and Ben says the farm produces "value-added foods that turn into dehydrated food, which then also increases the shelf life of these products."
Neeshjhizhii is available at local farmers' markets and online. Read the Entire Article
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