Matthew Beaudin first encountered Feed My Starving Children meals through an FMSC partner while working with orphanages in Mexico.

As the Executive Chef at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, he instantly felt a desire to use his skills to partner with FMSC in some way to utilize MannaPack™ Rice meals to their full capacity.

“In our work with MannaPack products, we discovered that they were underutilized, and if I could offer my experience from living in developing countries, coupled with a lifetime career in culinary arts, we could make a difference and create positive change,” he said.

Chef Matt reached out to FMSC with an idea: what if there was a way to give people options to take the nutrition that MannaPack™ products provide and transform it into different meals using locally sourced, nutrient dense and affordable ingredients?

The MannaPack Cookbook was born.



FMSC’s International Communications Specialist, Bridgette Springer, and Chef Matt set to work and formalized a plan.

Using Existing Recipes

The goal of the cookbook is to combine recipes submitted by FMSC partners and created by Chef Matt that utilize locally available ingredients, account for cultural preferences and maximize the nutritional value of FMSC products.

MannaPack meals provide a solid base for a well-rounded and nutritious diet for people of all ages and contain a specifically designed balance of calories with high quality protein and important vitamins and minerals.

Each ingredient is important to the balance and nutritional value of the meal. Sometimes we see partners separating ingredients, and the cookbook is designed to ensure all of the ingredients are being used to provide balanced and nutritious meals.

Many of our partners already use MannaPack meals in combination with local ingredients, so when Bridgette reached out for recipes, she received an overwhelming response of 179 recipes from partners in 15 countries.

Four regional cookbooks (Africa, Asia/Europe, Caribbean, Central/South America) are currently in production, with Africa and Asia/Europe having already been distributed to partners. The cookbooks include recipes in English and the local language, in addition to tools that educate partners on nutrition and proper use of FMSC meals.

We unveiled the cookbooks in January at our partner conference and have already begun receiving feedback from partners.



Heart for Africa in Swaziland sent us adorable photos of children enjoying scotch eggs, and Mission Eurasia sent feedback that they are encouraged by the cookbook.

“I passed along the cookbook to our team in Ukraine, and I know they’ll also be so encouraged to see their country represented in such a positive way. That certainly doesn’t happen much these days, so thanks again for putting a smile on my face and allowing us to be a part of something so creative,” a Mission Eurasia representative said.

Food is a Human Right

It’s easy to forget that food is a fundamental human right, Chef Matt said. 

“Food has become seemingly more so a privilege and our aim is to help even the playing field as best we can by collaborating with Feed My Starving Children and its partners to eliminate hunger,” he said. While hungry is a word many of us often use, starving is one most of us will never know.”

The cookbook gives FMSC partners the option to take the nutrition that MannaPack products provide and transform it into different meals using locally sourced, nutrient dense and affordable ingredients.

"The MannaPack Cookbook has been a dream of ours in international programs as we’ve seen how MannaPack Rice is used around the world," Bridgette said. "We’re so excited to work with Chef Matt to honor the creativity of our partners and their beneficiaries through the cookbook."