Brunei Foodies Go Pink 2010 · Global Voices
Senor Pablo

Brunei bloggers have initiated a new charity project for 2010.  Last year local bloggers and foodies got together to support and promote a charity recipe book which resulted in B$10,000 funds raised for the participation of Brunei Special Athletes for the Special Olympics Games in Greece in 2011.  This year, bloggers and foodies have agreed to support another local cause to raise funds and create awareness about breast cancer.   The project this year is better organised and coordinated hand in hand with the Brunei Breast Cancer Support Group ( BBCSG). The theme  chosen was aptly named as Brunei Foodies Go Pink in support of the Pink Pride Breast Cancer Awareness.  For this year's recipe book project, desserts were selected as the main food offering.
Food tasting commenced
Pink Merchandise were sold to raise funds for the Support Group
A Pink Sunday Foodie event was recently organised to kick off the project. Recipe contributors and foodies were invited to bring their contributions to Casa Esperanza for food testing. A voting was conducted to select the most popular recipes.  Some 53 dishes were shared and as a result, 51 recipes were collected which will be published and sold to the public. All proceeds will go to the Brunei Breast Cancer Support Group, in helping them raise awareness about a disease that affects many in the country, to buy prosthesis and support for cancer patients.
The project has raised the standards of blogging in the country as blogs provide an avenue for bloggers to get together to support local causes that affect the community.  It was also a success as the respective talents of the bloggers complement one another ranging from those who blog on IT, photographs, ideas and public outreach. These talents were all utilised in ensuring that the project would ran smoothly.  The other success of the project was having the event in an informal and social setting which provided a free flow of exchanges on an issue that many still see as a taboo.
Mr. Thanis Lim, the winner in the event with his Chocolate Lava Cake
The Brunei Times reported:
“BRUNEIANS should take the initiative to offer their voluntary support in promoting local non-profit organisations’ (NGOs) good causes, rather than wait for the NGOs to hold fundraising activities.”
“We hope to see more of this, not only bloggers but also whoever wants to come up to us and collaborate in activities and raise more funds,” said Masjuwita Hj Abd Hamid, president of the breast cancer support group.She said that the support group will use the proceeds from the fundraiser to promote more awareness activities and provide breast cancer patients the necessities which some could not afford.”
Ciliqueen shared her experience after attending and supporting the cause through her blog:
“It is really rewarding for me when I can see people giving up a little bit of their time to attend the Go Pink! event. You will feel a real sense of pride for helping to improve the lives of people affected by cancer. I met new people and of course plenty of mouthful opportunities to have some fun tasting with those sinful and delicious desserts!”
Speak off the Cuff shared her adventure at the Pink Foodie Event
“Can't wait for the book to come out tho’. Hopefully, each entry/recipe comes with the contact details of the baker/creator, as I am keen to order some of these goodies..nom..nom..nom..nom”
Two local bloggers Chef Nash and Turquoise and Roses also wrote about the event.
“For those who do not know, Pick-Me-Up is the English word for Tiramisu. I chose this dessert because I think it’s appropriate owing to my recent obsession with coffee. That and I found these awesome big giant sweet strawberries in Hua Ho.  Happy!”, said Turquoise and Roses.
Another blogger and baker, Sas Monroe attended the event:
“I just came back from the Go Pink Foodie Event for Breast Cancer. Not knowing what recipe to contribute at first, i settled for my simple Banana Cake recipe. One of my many favourite things in this whole wide world.I was first introduced to the cake when i was studying in Melbourne… Will be selling the banana cake on The Cakery soon..and will be donating $2 for every banana cake sold to the Breast Cancer Support Group  Recipe should also be available in the Pink Foodie Recipe Book which will be out pretty soon. cant wait. i have to thank Pablo for pushing me to contribute a recipe. lol. “
Pasir Puteh, a photoblogger, shares his wonderful shots of the desserts in his post.  His photographs will be used to illustrate the wonderful recipes for the book. He also observed that there were more participants this year compared to the previous blogfest activity.
“Was at Casa Esperanza on Sunday to give a wee bit of support to the Pink Foodies crew. I think the turn out was something like 3 times as many as the previous one in December . If it gets any bigger (which it definitely would), we may need a villa/the ballroom @ the Empire ;P. “
Foodies Contributors . Photo by Chee.
Thank you to a local bank who has kindly sponsored the cost of printing the book and many from the local community who came forward to donate cash and prizes for the Pink Foodie Event. This  shows how bloggers can unite in their aspiration to contribute towards a meaningful cause in the community. The book is currently in the final editing stages before being sent to the printer for publishing.