BACKGROUND Food is one of the key element of culture and economy, as well as one of the most important social aggregator. Despite lots of scientific researches have been conducted on such a topic from different point of view, a didactical support for high school addressing not only the theme of education to eat well in nutritional terms but the discovery of the profound cultural value of food is still missing in all the countries involved in the project. From such a lack comes the project. GOALS - Promoting and spreading the culture and communication of taste in secondary schools specialised in enogastronomy through writing a handbook and a glossary, creating an interactive website (a collective experiment of storytelling in which, through the help of the involved students, multimedia itineraries in the gastronomies of the countries involved in the project will be presented) and realizing an international symposium; - Fostering the passage to superior educational degree and to business; - Promoting research in an innovative field such as that of semiotics of food; - Encouraging international cooperation between the countries involved by putting in contact their educational systems; - Improving internalization of the involved institutions. PARTICIPANTS The partners of the project are 3 universities (University of Palermo, New Bulgarian University, Kaunas University of Technology), 3 high (secondary) schools specialised in enogastronomy (IPSSEOA Vincenzo Florio, Sofia Secondary School of bread making and confectionery, Kaunas Food Industry and Trade Training Centre) and the GAL Elimos. All the partners have in common a consistent know how in managing project like this, as well as an interest for innovation in didactics and research in the field of food. ACTIVITIES 1. PLANNING. Definition of staff, planning of the research, design of the structure of the interactive website. 2. TRAINING. School teachers will be trained on how to test the partial result of the project with their students (in this step there will be some short-term joint staff training events). 3. RESEARCH. The partners will share their competencies, compiling a common bibliography, indicating the entries of the glossary, and defining the graphical project for the interactive website. School teachers will submit a preliminary questionnaire and preparatory readings to their students. 4. ANALYSIS. All the university partners will analyse cultural phenomena concerning food (TV programmes, blogs, recipe books, guidebooks, spaces of food consumption, culinary utensils etc.). They’ll also write the glossary’s entries and set up the website’s contents. 5. TESTING. Teachers will present to the students the results of the analysis, getting them involved in work groups and evaluating their work. 6. MULTIPLIER EVENTS. Two international symposium will be organized to inform researchers and entrepreneurs about the results of the project as well as to share suggestions and topics for in-depth studies. A campaign for promoting the contents of the website will be also realized in this phase. 7. PUBLICATION. Review of the final output of the project, on line publication (in Italian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian and English) and paper publication of the Handbook and Glossary of Culture and Communication of Taste. Launch of the interactive website with the request to the students to keep on updating and integrating contents. A final questionnaire will be submitted to the involved students in order evaluate the impact of project actions. 8. DISSEMINATION. Realization of flyers and other promotional materials, organization of small events, planning of web and social media promotion. METHODOLOGY 6 international meetings and periodic internal review for each unit will allow the staff to coordinate and share the results. Partners will be able to share their perspectives through the chat of the website, students and teachers of the involved schools will be able to experiment a web-based collaborative learning methodology. The most recent analysis tools of semiotic and socio-semiotic theory are the methodological bases for the realization of the Handbook and Glossary of Culture and Communication of Taste. The creation of the CUCOTA interactive website includes the planning of multimedial contents and the geolocalization of the itineraries. OUTPUTS AND IMPACT The proposal will have effects beyond the time limits of the planned actions of the project. Expected results: - diffusion of the culture and communication of taste in secondary schools specialised in enogastronomy; - education of core teachers and students; - improvement of the dialogue among different countries and different levels of education; - facilitation of the passage from high school to university and to labour market; - enrichment of the studies in the field of enogastronomy thanks to a innovative analysis methodology.
BACKGROUND: The main theme of the project is Food and Culture. Food must be seen and considered in all its aspects as a form of cultural heritage, a living and dynamic product typical of the contemporary world. Food is one of the key element of culture and economy, a driving factor of the international economy. Although there are multiple scientific and educational supports on nutrition, few are the contributions addressed to secondary schools aimed at spreading the culture and communication of taste, not simply understood as education to eat well, but as awareness of the linguistic value of nutrition, mirror and at the same time a reflection of society. From the detection of this shortage, transversal to the countries involved, this project idea was born. PARTNERSHIP COMPOSITION: 3 Universities: - Italy (University of Palermo) - Bulgaria (New Bulgarian University - Sofia) - Lithuania (Kaunas University) 3 Secondary schools of food and wine sector: - Italy (Ipseoa "I. e V. Florio" Erice) - project coordinator - Bulgaria (Secondary School of Bread Making and Confectionery - Sofia) - Lithuania (Food Industry and Trade Training Center - Kaunas) Gal Elimos: (Calatafimi Segesta - Trapani) - a local action group committed to the promotion, organization and dissemination of the project’s results. All the partners had in common a consistent know how in managing project like this, as well as an interest for innovation in didactics and research in the field of food. GOALS: - Promoting and spreading the culture and communication of taste in secondary schools specialised in enogastronomy; - Fostering transnational cooperation between different levels of education and different countries; - Promoting research in an innovative field such as that of semiotics of food; - Encouraging international cooperation between the countries involved by putting in contact their educational systems; - Improving internalization of the involved institutions. ACTIVITIES: Several activities were carried out during the project: - 6 TRANSATIONAL MEETINGS) during which university teachers and schools met each other to plan the project works, researches and analysis, to review and share the project results. Kick-off meeting in Italy - Erice - (TRAPANI) Review meeting in Lithuania (KAUNAS) Analysis Monitoring Meeting in Lithuania (KAUNAS) Feedback meeting in Bulgaria (SOFIA) Monitoring meeting in Bulgaria (SOZOPOL) Research meeting in Italy (PALERMO) - 3 LTTA (Palermo - Kaunas - Sofia) in which school teachers were instructed on how to test partial results on students. - 2 MULTIPLIER EVENTS (Sozopol and Erice) during which other schools, experts, academics and entrepreneurs were informed about the results of the project and received ideas for further information. RESULTS AND IMPACT: The project had a strong impact and it will have further effects beyond its time limits of the planned actions. The activities carried out made it possible to achieve the expected results, contributing to the achievement of the main priorities of the project and the achievement of further goals not previously planned. Thanks to the Cucota project, the good practices tested and the deepening of the link between semiotic studies and enogastronomy have made it possible to achieve an objective that has added value and quality to the curricula of the coordinator school - IPSEOA of Erice: the birth of a new high school, the Liceo della Comunicazione e della Cultura Enogastronomica, with new innovative curricula, able to train new "practitioners of taste" capable of dissaminate Sicilian food and wine culture around the world. 2021/2022 will be the first school year of the new high school which will help students to develop skills and knowledge to better manage the world of food and wine journalism, food and beverage management and hotel hospitality. The birth of this new high school will also have important results on the town of Erice that coould be considered as a real area of excellence in the field of culture of taste education system. Moreover, there will be a new degree courses on Culture and Communication of Taste at the University of Palermo which could start as early as next year. The other foreign universities involved in the project are already moving in the same direction. DISSEMINATION: A detailed dissemination campaign has been activated to increase the public visibility of the project and its results throughout the project lifetime. Press releases and media coverage in Newspapers, TV, radio, social media and specialized magazines have been used to inform on the project activities, milestones and results in order to get the attention at national, regional and local level.