Besides strengthening their cooking skills, the classes helped the community gain confidence on how to better support their families.

With stay-at-home orders in effect for most of the pandemic, Filipinos have learned or re-learned the art of cooking. Besides feeding themselves and their families, many have turned this skill into a business with food products easily marketed and sold via various online platforms.

Maricel Concepcion and Rolinda Monteclaro had this in mind when they and 48 others joined San Miguel Corporation's (SMC) community-based cookery classes, among a suite of training programs spearheaded by the company for settlers from Barangay Taliptip, Bulakan town.