history of meals for millions, soy, and freedom from ... - SoyInfo Center

and Thailand. Address: Meals for Millions / Freedom from
Hunger Foundation, P.O. Box 2000, Davis, California
95617. Phone: (916) 758-6200.
317. Viavant, Suzy Jenkins. 1985. Trip with Plenty to Sri
Lanka (Interview). Conducted by William Shurtleff of
Soyfoods Center, Feb. 7. 2 p. transcript.
• Summary: She has a photo of a UNICEF soy demo van.
Ellen Jayawardene wants to leave. All the sources of
funding are drying up; this is an interim period. Government
of Sri Lanka (GOSL) money is invested in RajaSoya;
Forbes and Walker also apparently own shares. Two bad
soybean harvests in a row; the soybeans are very old. This
makes soyfood products taste rancid.
Suzy knows Hewage Jayasena of The Buddhist Socio-
Economics Institute; she has his resume. He worked for
Meals for Millions. General Mills wanted him to help set up
a plant for them to make MPF in Sri Lanka, but he never
could get the government to do it. He was one of the first
people in Sri Lanka to get involved with soy, back in the
1950s. He was formerly a record keeper, Dep. of National
Archives, now retired. Suzy has copies of several articles he
wrote in the 1950s, and MFM pamphlets also from the
1950s–which she will send.
Why did Suzy go to Sri Lanka? The Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA) has invested
over $100 million and many years’ work in the Mahavela
project which is ducting water inland to the dry zone, where
all the soybeans are being grown. They inaugurated it
shortly after she arrived. That is why the Rajasoya plant was
established there–to open up new territory. It is located in
Maha Illuppallama, Anuradhapura, in the North Central
Province. They want to develop soyfoods. One
recommendation was that Plenty, because of their work with
soyfoods in Guatemala, go to Sri Lanka, Suzy interviewed
all the people working in the area with soy, and all were
interested–Buddhist Congress, women’s groups, etc. She
identified 20 communities or groups. They are supposed to
design a program and write up a report. Plenty wants a plant
that will be near Kandy near the Kundasale plant; they want
to have a mill where people can come in and mill their
soybeans. They hope to pick up Soyanews; CARE is pulling
out. Address: Utah.
318. Jayasena, Hewage. 1985. Re: History of his
involvement with soybeans, and the development of
soybeans in Sri Lanka. Letter to William Shurtleff at
Soyfoods Center, March 20. 3 p. Typed, with signature.
• Summary: “My interest in soya grew because I was drawn
to the advertisement of the so-called ‘Multi-purpose Food’
[MPF] introduced into parts of Asia as the ‘Wonder food’ by
the Meals for Millions Foundation of California, U.S.A. The
chief reason for my interest in nutrition was a result of my
being appointed to the office of Joint Secretary of the
MEALS FOR MILLIONS, SOY, AND FREEDOM FROM HUNGER 140
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National Development Enquiry Committee of the All
Ceylon Buddhist Congress by the late Dr. G.P.
Malalasekara. Under this program I came to serve as the
Secretary of the Health Enquiry Committee under the
National Development Enquiry programme and hence my
interest in nutrition and in the ‘wonder food’ of soybean
called MPF, consisting of toasted soybean meal enriched
with vitamins and minerals... I was a layman and it was a
committee of volunteers who carried out this programme as
a public service.
“The date I originally got involved with Meals for
Millions...” was about 1959. Miss Florence Rose came to
Sri Lanka in July 1955 to introduce MPF. She succeeded in
organising the Ceylon Meals for Millions Affiliate under the
aegis of the Ceylon Red Cross Society. However it was after
about 1960 that the pursuit of soyabean popularisation was
vigorously pursued.
Attempts to grow the soybean here started as early as
1937 and preliminary work had been done by the
Department of Agriculture to develop inoculation
procedures for the population of soyabean cultivation in Sri
Lanka. “I can recall reading in the Hansard [the traditional
name for the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates]
about soyabean cultivation having been referred to in the
Parliament as requiring encouragement.
“The real thrust for soybean development in Sri Lanka
came after the visits of Miss Florence Rose, former
Executive Secretary of the Meals for Millions Foundation in
the U.S.A. This was after her second visit in 1964 when the
Ceylon Meals for Millions Council was set up. This
particular meeting was arranged when she was here on a
brief visit and the meeting itself was sponsored by the
Junior Chamber of Colombo and at that meeting I was
appointed to function as the Secretary of the Meals for
Millions Council. It was this Meals for Millions Council
that was later reorganised as the Ceylon Meals for Millions
Foundation. Professor C.D. de Silva was elected President
of the Ceylon MFM Council and later of the... Foundation.
This organization... now exists only in name.
“As regards soybean cultivation itself, the greatest
impetus to it came after the work of Dr. Walter Fernando
who successfully developed soybean varieties suitable for
cultivation in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Much of this
breeding of cultivars was developed by the Dry Farming
Research Station at Maha Illuppallama. Even earlier work
had been carried out in cultivating the black varieties of
soybean in Rahangala, the hill country of Sri Lanka.
“Even before this, or rather as the initial steps were
being taken to promote the development of soybean as a
crop, I had been in touch with Mr. Fred Hafner of General
Mills through introduction from the MFM Foundation
U.S.A. to explore the possibility of introducing soybean
meal into the market. This was attempted when Mr. Fred
Hafner was Director of Protein Operations at General Mills.