Global Pulse Day 2017/
A Day to Remember for Beans, Peas, Lentils and Chickpeas

People around the globe gathered to celebrate these astonishing pulse crops - one of the final celebrations of the 2016 UN International Year of pulses - to successfully raise awareness on the multiple benefits of consuming pulses for people and the planet.

Global Pulse Day exceeded all expectations: while last year’s Pulse Feast saw 141 events in 36 countries, this year’s celebrations broke the record of 225 events in 63 countries reaching 62 million impressions via social media.

From the 5 year old boy in Uttar Pradesh, India, who celebrated pulses by planting them in his backyard to a 96 years young grandfather cooking red lentils with fresh rosemary sprigs for his family living in a sustainable farm in South Georgia, there really is no age limit to be passionate about pulses.

We witnessed a great variety of events: some planned pulse-based staff events or parties with friends and families, others launched training for farmers or recipes promoting pulses, some hosted seminars on pulses or simply joined the social media campaign that day. We partnered with our Gourmet Gurus who shared tips to best integrate pulses in your diet through our blog.

The Pulse Feed took over www.pulses.org homepage with instant and live updates about all the events as they were being shared on social media.

On January 18, 2017, the world celebrated pulses by raising awareness of the health, nutrition and sustainability benefits of pulses for people, animals and the planet.

225 events took place in 63 countries reaching 62 million impressions. Here are some of the great events around the world:

AUSTRALIA
A total of 5 events were organised in Perth and Sydney. The Institute of Agriculture at the University of Western Australia organised a food drive, staff meals took place at the Grain & Legumes Nutrition Council but also at the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC).

ARGENTINA
Camara de Legumbres de la Republica Argentina (CLERA) board members invited partners and suppliers to a legumebased lunch in Buenos Aires. Argencrops organised an event in Jujuy with a preparation of pulse dishes by a local chef including tasting and messaging about pulses (the event integrated producers, exporters, government).

BAHAMAS
The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) served pulses on the cafe menu after holding a seminar, the day ended with a poem competition about pulses, video & songs about pulses!

BENIN
A whole day of festivities took place in Benin to “Promote local dishes made of pulses” the event gathered local producers of “Niebbe”, they offered a large choice of meals to the public who attended the event.

CANADA
A record of 46 events took place across 7 provinces in Canada with participation from pulse farmers, associations and the Ministry of Agriculture. Pulse enthusiasts cooked and shared their recipes on Instagram, Canadian pulse industry leaders held a roundtable in Winnipeg. French plant-based ingredient maker Roquette announced they will build the world’s largest pea protein facility in Canada. Compass used this day as a spring board to promote the benefits of Pulses throughout the week and onward in several Universities across the country.

COLOMBIA
Local company Aburra held a special pulse based menu in one of the most typical restaurants in Medellin.

CHINA
AGT Food in Shanghai celebrated pulses and held another event to enter the Chinese New Year!

EGYPT
A cooking show took place with Egyptian Gourmet Guru Magy Hadid in a Hypermarket in Cairo.

FRANCE
The Ministry of Agriculture promoted the day on their official website. 17 events took place around the country including a pulse demonstration at the Agricultural University of Angers.

HUNGARY
Kozard Beans organised a conference with beans variety exhibition and real Hungarian ”Jokai” Beans Soup. 32 participants (mayor, farmers, rural development agents, parlament members, and students) visited the local pulse variety exhibitions.

ICELAND
Pulse-based cocktails were created by pulse lovers and shared on social media!

INDIA
11 events in 5 states took place in India with participation of Universities, schools but also organizations such as IDRC and ICRISAT. IRELAND The Cool Beans company created pulse dishes to be shared with everyone in their Dublin office.

ITALY
A group of volunteers “We Care Cooks” cooked a Pulse meal for the large group of migrants who are living at the Tiburtina Station in Rome. Several UN agencies had pulse-based meals.

KAZAKSTAN Global Pulse Day was celebrated in Almaty with a “pilaf with chickpeas” for a mother/son gathering.

KENYA
Eastern Africa Grain Council invited the public to the Inaugural Pulses Fair and Exhibition that was held at the Machakos ATC. Rural Women in Agriculture held a company lunch and Nairobi-based iCon be One Ltd hosted a large pulse party!

MOROCCO
INRA, ICARDA and National Federation of millers (FNM) organised an event attended by 200 people. Another event targeting primary school children invited the kids to taste various recipes featuring pulses to inform them of their health benefits. MYANMAR Myanmar Pulses Beans and Sesame Seeds Merchants Association celebrated Global Pulse Day with an event attended by Chief Minister of Yangon.

NEPAL
Rural Women’s Network Nepal (Ruwon) in Kathmandu hosted a national workshop about the importance of IYP2016 to implement the SDGs.

NORWAY
A soup kitchen was organised in Oslo. The organisers noted that pulses are perfect for soup kitchens. It will be held once a month, with home cooked pulse-based nutritious soups!

PHILIPPINES
Philippine Pulse Association’s members held their first meeting for 2017 followed by a tasting of new sweet and savory recipes developed by a Chef for the US Dry Bean Council and USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council. The Philippine’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) cooked lentil soup for lunch, baked beans were also served to the surgical staff at Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital.

SOUTH AFRICA
AGT Foods Africa joined the celebrations by hosting an event in Johannesburg with clients and media, AGT Foods Africa reported a 335% increase in media exposure during 2016 and a significant increase in consumption of pulses for the year! They were also interviewed by a local TV station.

SINGAPORE
Singapore Pulses Federation Limited (SPFL) and Agrocorp hosted a celebration. SPFL board members Puneet Jain and Ritesh Bansal donated 60 kgs of pulses to Food bank.

SWAZILAND
Phindile Jane Tsela, one of the winners of the #LovePulses Product Showcase, organised an afternoon tea with bean cakes decorated with the colours of Global Pulse Day!

TANZANIA
An MoU was signed between Mahindra and Tanzanian farmer organisations outlining a plan to purchase pulses at a preagreed upon and fair price (production costs + fair profit) before planting. This commitment is the first of its kind and was coordinated by the International Trade Center (ITC).

TURKEY
360 guests participated in the “Pulses Lunch Organisation” event held by Mersin Commodity Exchange. It was attended by the Ambassador of Canada H.E Chris Cooter, Mersin Governor Özdemir Çakacak, high-ranking and related bureaucrats, representatives of non-governmental organizations, movers and shakers of pulses and employees, food science and engineering and agriculture academicians, local and national media members.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
GPC hosted an open buffet at the Tesoro Restaurant in The Taj Hotel in Dubai. A great variety of pulse dishes were served to 100 guests!

UNITED KINGDOM
UK Pulse Promotion Group held a lunch time event in an award-winning London restaurant for 100 journalists, parliamentarians, food manufacturers, campaign groups and pulse industry participants to celebrate Global Pulse Day!

UNITED STATES
24 events in 11 states took place around the United States. In New York alone, the American Pulse Association organised a culinary pulse immersion attended by media and influencers and the Government of Canada co-hosted an event with the Global Pulse Confederation at the UN Headquarters. Pulse leaders gathered at the Ali Baba restaurant to celebrate the success of the International Year of Pulses.

GLOBAL TRENDS JANUARY 18, 2017

#GlobalPulseDay was trending number 8 on the Canada Twitter, it was also a trending topic in Italy! Top performing posts came from these countries:
1 Canada
2 USA
3 United Kingdom
4 France
5 Spain
6 Italy
7 India
8 Australia

SOCIAL MEDIA

On social media, the Global Pulse Day campaign recieved over 62 million impressions world-wide. 57 million impressions were from Twitter and Instagram alone. To date the global campaign has received over 700 million impressions on social media all totalled.

The LovePulses Facebook page received over 5.2 million impressions during Global Pulse Day, increasing the LovePulses Facebook campaign total to over 393.4 million impressions.

Our top performing hashtag was #GlobalPulseDay which received almost 40 million impressions alone. It is noteworthy that the other language hashtags generated a further 11.2 million impressions, including great performance by the Spanish hashtag. As some tweets used multiple hashtags, the total impressions on Twitter and Instagram is a total of 57 million. (below adds to over 72 million)