It's peanut butter jelly time...

Last week, I wrote about my fairly lame attempt at cooking with local ingredients.  Well, this past week, I cranked it up a notch.  This post may not be as entertaining as others, but I got into the crux of work, so I hope that by the end of this, you have a better sense of what I am doing here.

As I mentioned before, I’m about to become an art teacher at “el Centro,” a community center.  Students at this center are starting a Peanut Butter Project, a popular program in developing countries worldwide, in which children fundraise for their schools by making and selling peanut butter.  It seems simple enough, but the project goes a little further.  Unlike meats and other proteins, peanut butter is a very affordable.  This project uniquely aims to fund education while simultaneously addressing malnutrition.  I found the project interesting, and so, I could not help but get involved…
           
Well, they make peanut butter, and I have a restaurant at my disposal, so the result was pretty clear.  I have been working on a special menu showcasing all the wonders of PB.  One of the issues with peanut butter is that consumers are not familiar with the product; in fact, they think it looks sticky and iicky and kind of like… poop.  So with our new menu, the restaurant will help financially support the Centro, while showing how the product can be used.  Thankfully, my menu idea got a seal of approval from the powers that be.

Firstly, I helped make the peanut butter (not as hard as it seems). We taste-tested a few kinds and decided on oven-roasting the peanuts (vs. pan roasting) and using a local honey made by a co-operative of women in Nebaj.  Although a bit more expensive, the honey tasted the best and allowed the Centro to support other local businesses – a concept that we all loved.  With the PB, I tried few different dishes, having both foreigners and locals taste-test along the way.  I designed the menu and the marketing and trained the chefs and wait-staff..

I never expected to wear a restaurateur-hat, but I’ve actually had a lot of fun with it.  So much fun that I had to throw-back to my old banking days to make sure that I was actually down here doing what I came to do: make a difference.  Making conservative assumptions on the sale of my favorite new product (the veggie burger) annual bottom-line profits break down as follows:
      -         $335 for the restaurant

-         $120 for the Centro / students

-         $11 for the honey co-op

The numbers admittedly don’t sound impressive, but keep in mind this is only one product.  Additionally, you have to consider the situation: 

-         More than half of people here live below the poverty line ($1 a day)

-         School materials for one student cost roughly $30 a year

-         The richest 10% of people hold over 40% of national wealth

-         A majority of the restaurant’s clients are tourists, business travelers and upper-middle class Guatemalans

As such, the menu actually helps redistribute income in a very capitalist and teach-a-man-to-fish sort of way.  It promotes hard work because everyone benefiting has to create a product.  And, best of all, it is fully sustainable, meaning it does not require my on-going attention or that of any other foreigner…  Lastly, the Centro theoretically can fund educational resources for at least four more kids because of veggie burgers.  Who knew?