Goodles: The Good Noodles

September 23, 2025

An Early Dream

When NVC was starting out 15 years ago, NVC President Millie Kilayko approached the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to request a noodle-making machine. She planned to make noodles to feed hungry children. However, Director Rowen Gelonga challenged us to produce an instant nutritious complementary food for malnourished infants and toddlers instead. DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) gave us a formula for complementary food for children 6 months and older. The formula called for rice, monggo (mung beans) and sesame seeds. However, sesame seeds were not being produced in commercial quantities locally and we wanted to support our farmers instead of importing ingredients. Because of that, we experimented with different ingredients that were just as nutritious as sesame seeds but produced locally.

We developed a formula that made use of rice, monggo and malunggay (moringa) and made Mingo. Not only did this formula make use of local ingredients but it turned out to be more nutritious than the original! Fourteen years later, Mingo remains the cornerstone of our Nutrition Program. We continued to develop Mingo variants. Currently, we have Mingo squash, Mingo ube and Mingo chocolate in addition to our original version.

Another Dream

NVC works closely with indigenous farming communities whom we call our Farmers of Hope. One of these communities is the Bukidnon Organic Farmers Association (BOFA) in upland San Carlos, Negros Occidental. We began assisting them by providing seeds, fertilizers and farming tools with help from groups like Feed the Hungry and Linkapil Program of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Gradually, we began to introduce training to update their farming methods and to introduce skills such as basic Accounting. We dreamed to one day enable them to build a circular economy centered around farming. Thanks to the hard work and generosity of so many (many have asked not to be named), that dream is finally coming true.

A Food Production Plant

With the help of so many individuals and groups, we built a food production plant on the community’s land. BASE Builds took charge of building the structure while Sun Life Foundation and the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental donated the equipment. Meanwhile, our friends from Peace Pond and Aid Foundation provided organizational support. 
Now that the plant is up and running, the women of the community create value-added products out of fresh produce. In the past, BOFA would send squash to the production plant in Bacolod. Now that the on-site plant is complete, the women of the community can now do some of the pre-processing steps in San Carlos. They cut, dehydrate and pulverize the squash at the plant. Now the community now sends squash powder to Bacolod instead of whole squash. They can charge a higher price for this product and spend less on transportation costs. Furthermore, seeds can be saved for future harvests and scraps can be used as fertilizer.

New Skills and New Products

We called in the Negros Occidental Tldc (Technology and Livelihood Development Center) for additional training. The first lessons covered jam, juice and noodles. This was already a good step forward for the group. However, we wanted to take things a step further and so, we did!

An Old Dream Finally Came True

We took the women’s knowledge of noodle-making a step further. NVC Trustee Omon Maravilla developed a recipe for fettuccine noodles made with squash and malunggay, the product we call Goodles. Our Food Technician Victoria Grace Ciudad Madalag and our Agriculturalist Vhon Vhon Canieso spent many days and nights overseeing production. Finally, Julie May Calderon designed world-class packaging for the product. Finally, Ms. Millie’s 15-year old dream to make nutritious noodles came true!