Island Cooking Demo and Herbalism Lecture at Mama Bird's Granola & Kitchen, June 12

ISLAND cooking and herbal alternatives share cultural commonalities that often get lost in a fray of contemporary Western culinary mindset. One of the most popular albeit “undiscovered” herbs-based dishes that emanate in the Pacific region is Mung Beans Soup, a recommended dinner fare especially during rainy and wintry seasons.

       Quite intriguingly, mung beans—the seed of Vigna radiata, native to the Indian subcontinent, and mainly cultivated in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries—played a huge part in the survival of both American soldiers and Filipino guerrillas in the Pacific War in the 1940s. The ingredients are easily obtainable and cooked and prepared quickly, Mung Beans Soup (called, “ginisang munggo” by the natives) is an excellent source of protein, thiamin, niacin, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin C and K, manganese, among others.

       Hence, world war 2 fighters freely consumed hot servings of these to sustain energy while holed up in typhoon-battered jungles of the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Mung beans-based dishes are also largely consumed in hot and dry regions of Southern Europe and the Southern United States.

       On June 12, coincidentally the Philippines' Independence Day (from Japanese invasion), Mung Beans Soup with choice herbs is the highlight food in “MUNG BEANS HERBAL SUMMER (Pacific Island Cooking and Herbal Class, & Dinner)” at Mama Bird's Granola and Kitchen, located 909 E Broad St #400, Athens, GA 30601. Event time starts at 6:30 PM. Entry fee: $20 for one, $35 for two.

       Mama Bird's Granola and Kitchen, with Moonflower Botanicals and Loved by the Buffalo Publications, organized the event. “Mung Beans Herbal Summer” is the kick-off of a series of movable cooking and herbs collaborations between Pasckie Pascua, an author and cook, and Chris Wagoner, an herbalist.       
       

       Pascua is a veteran journalist/editor and publisher poet/writer—educated at the University of the Philippines's Institute of Mass Communication, with postgraduate studies at Tisch School of Arts, New York University. His cooking madness grew out of the quintessential grandma kitchen in the Philippines, long community work in tribal villages, as well as classes at LA Culinary School in Pasadena CA, and apprenticeship with cooks and chefs from Toulouse, France.     
       Pasckie edits the community paper, The Indie, based in Asheville NC (and will be distributed soon in Athens), and the founding executive director of the Traveling Bonfires, a non-profit organization that advocates family wisdom and community connectedness.

       Wagoner, who practices herbalism via her Moonflower Botanicals, trained under Patricia Kyritsi Howell of Botanologos School of Herbal Studies, based in Mountain City, GA, and CoreyPine Shane of Asheville. Howell teaches energetics of plants and illnesses from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and from the perspective of Ancient Greek Medicine, which is the basis of Chris' current clinical practice.     
       Wagoner is the current Secretary of the Georgia Herbalists Guild, a chapter of the American Herbalists Guild based in Atlanta. She is also a wild crafter, and an organic farmer of her own herbal apothecary and various heirloom vegetables which are sold through Athens Locally Grown. 

       FOR more details about the venue, call Jennie Phillips-De la Vega or visit mamabirdsgranola.com. Infos about Pasckie Pascua, go to http://pasckiepascuawords.blogspot.com/ (or find him in Facebook). For bookings (of the same program), call Chris Wagoner at 706 207 7746, email lovedbythebuffalo.chris@gmail.com.