What lunchtime looks like around our 13 communities in Asia

What did you have for lunch today? Lunch sure looks very different all around the world and to mark World Food Day (16 October), take a look at what lunchtime looks like in the 13 communities that we're supporting in Asia.

World Vision teaches mothers how to cook nutritious meals from locally available ingredients. This multi-country aim helps ensure children get the right vitamins, protein, and nutrients to grow as healthy as possible.

This should make you hungry!

Bangladesh

Five-year-old Yunar’s lunch is a plate full of rice with a piece of fish, vegetable curry, peas, and a glass of water. “Usually I love meat for my lunch but my mother says vegetables!" Yunar usually goes home for lunch, after attending pre-primary classes. She lives with her parents and grandmother in the Rupsa Slum area in Khulna, an area famous for their fishing industry.

Cambodia

My name is Samang and I’m five years old. On the menu today: Machu Kdam: A local soup with thin slices of green papaya and gourd, then mixed with fish and crab meat, seasoned with fish eggs and red chilli. Samlor Korko: An aromatic dish of pumpkin, green papaya, young chilli leaves with fermented fish, and lemongrass. Tek Kreung: Fish meat, ground peanuts, and fermented fish sauce is served with slices of cucumber, cooked papaya and young Leucaena leucocephala leaves. The meal isn’t complete without a pot of rice.

China

Hi my name is Jiayi, this is what I eat every day! With my brother and sisters we peel the corn brought home by our father who has just returned from the farm. World Vision helped our family with an agriculture project. I live in northwest China where families like ours make a living from farming.

India

Jintu is in 4th grade and lives with his parents in Dhemaji, Assam, India. Lunch is usually eaten early so that he goes to school with a full stomach.  Dhemaji is a flood prone area and much of the farmlands are destroyed. With it also brings an abundance of fish which is a prominent feature in every meal.

Indonesia

Hi, my name is Herpiani, a 5th grade student, and this is my lunch at school. I have lunch with my friends. I have fried rice, sautéed mustard greens, and a fried egg. I also bring my own water bottle. I got this lunch box from World Vision so that I can bring my own meal to school. My mom makes my lunch at 6 a.m. every morning before I go to school.

Laos

My name is Aiy and I’m 8 years old in primary school grade 3. Normally, I have lunch at 11:30am after school break. My mother prepares food for me every day. My special lunch that I like the most is omlette because I don’t like spicy and bitter food. I don’t eat very often with my parents because they are working on the farm. Most of our food comes from nature that we collect from the wild forest. Today we ate omlette and wild vegetables mixed with chili sauce. And we always have sticky rice.

Mongolia

I’m Urango. I’m 8 years old in grade 3. I live with my grandparents and my aunt in Ulaanbaatar. I go to school in the morning and then I’m done. After that I go home for the rest of the day. For lunch my grandmother makes tea with sugar, bread and butter. It is a very typical lunch.

Myanmar

My name is Swe and I’m 11 years old. I live with my grandmother and grandfather. My grandmother packs my lunch. My favorite is rice and potato-chicken curry. I also love fried watercress. My grandmother cooks it once in a while. We have lunch at noon and sometimes I share my lunch with my best friends in class.

Nepal

“I love to eat eggs as they are very tasty and make me stronger!” says Samikshya, age 7. She loves to dance and sing and says that she is strong and can dance because she eats well. A typical lunch that her mother Gita cooks for her is rice, green vegetables, pickles, and dal. After that is milk curd which is good for digestion and for dessert a banana and a sliced apple.

Philippines

Jimboy, a 5-year-old kid from Ormoc City, enjoys a sardine meal. Canned sardines with tomato sauce is a very common meal among Filipinos. It is cheap and can be eaten instantly, that's why Jimboy often eats canned goods though it is not as nutritious. However, Jimboy’s mother makes sure that there is fresh fruit and hot vegetable soup on the table.

Sri Lanka

Kelum, 7, is ready to enjoy the delicious meal his mother has prepared for him. “I’m a little hungry when I come home from school and my mother’s food is tasty.” On the menu today is beetroot, green leaf salad, dhal (lentils) and fish curry with rice. “My boys love to eat lentils, so I cook it almost everyday,” says Anusha, Kelum’s mum.

Thailand

Most Thai students eat lunch at school. In some rural schools where World Vision Foundation of Thailand has Lunch Projects, lunches are served for free. At school, children raise and grow the ingredients used for their lunch like mushrooms, vegetables and herbs, chicken, fish, and even pigs. The menu today is fried rice with pork, chicken soup, fresh cucumber, and black jelly for dessert.

Vietnam

Sam, 9, has lunch at home after school. “I like to eat rice with fried eels and vegetables soup. But I like most our traditional rice cakes. We often call them buffalo-horn cakes. We often bring some along to school and eat them during break.” Her mum prepared a nutritious lunch with home-grown products: rice, eels fried with ginger and citronella, boiled 'ngot' vegetables, loopah soup, fish sauce with ginger, rice cakes, some bananas, sugar-cane, and a cup of boiled water.  

World Vision works in many communities across Asia. Many poor farmers are unable to grow enough food to feed their own families, much less sell for additional income. That’s why we partner with communities to address immediate food needs — but also to grow sustainable food for the future.

Join us in making this happen.