UJ students participate in ‘healthy cooking’ competition

AMMAN — University of Jordan's (UJ) nutrition majors have participated in a cooking competition organised as part of a nationwide campaign seeking to promote healthy cooking, as a major step towards cancer prevention.

As part of its  "Up to the Challenge?" campaign, King Hussein Cancer Centre (KHCC) organised last Thursday's competition between the nutrition students. Organisers said that the competition fell within efforts to create a healthy food culture as a pivotal step towards reducing cancer risks.

Twenty-three students participated as groups in the competition, which was held at the UJ's faculty of agriculture. The teams were tasked with preparing healthy, tasty and filing meals taking into account standards of hygiene and presentation, according to a KHCC official.

“Since we know that cancer is the second highest cause of death, and that we can reduce the risk of infection by 40 per cent if committed to a healthy life style, this initiative is to promote healthy cooking as a step to prevent the disease. In addition to raising the society’s awareness of the huge possibility to lower cancer risk, we aim to receive donations to help cancer patients," one of the organisers, who preferred to remain unnamed, told The Jordan times.

Organisers also said that similar competitions will be held at other universities, including Balqa Applied University, German Jordanian University and Petra Private University in the days ahead.

Smoking cessation, physical activity, early detection, and joining the Cancer Care Programme for cancer coverage are other components of “Up to the Challenge?” campaign, according to the organisers.

“I love cooking and as a future nutritionist, I wanted to experience cooking healthy food. I had a chance to contribute to lower cancer risk today,” Waad Matar, one of the students participating in the event, told The Jordan Times. 

 Rima Taim, a nutrition professor at UJ, highlighted the importance of such initiatives in raising public awareness on healthy cooking and, consequently, lowering the risk of cancer and other diseases. 

KHCC launched earlier this month "Up to the Challenge?" campaign on the occasion of the World Cancer Day. The campaign was supported by a number of public institutions, NGOs and the private sector.