Our project is called "FOOD IN OUR LIVES", a theme with many facets. The participants come from four schools: in Germany, France, Romania and Spain. In all, approximately 130 students aged 14 - 19, but most of them 16-17, and up to 28 teachers will participate in the activities, so the impact of the project will be enormous if the participants share with peers, family and colleagues what they experienced. In the ideal case, their newly-gained AWARENESS will translate into changed BEHAVIOUR with regard to respect for food and meals and also responsible consumption and buying habits to bring down some of the food-related problems in Europe we address (see below). We will start with a Short-Term-Joint Staff meeting of the teachers in Germany. Besides the "technical" aspects about working out details of the project activities, there will also be meetings with various representatives, e.g. of a FAIR TRADE initiative, and we will visit local food or drink producers that would be unsuitable for visits with students (or simply too small for a large group) to get an idea of different types of food production. The first LTTA in France will deal with the aspect of FOOD AS PART OF OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE. Since 2018 has been announced the year of European cultural heritage, it makes sense to choose this facet as a starting point, and to choose France as host, whose food culture and tradition has been UNESCO world heritage since 2010. Before meeting, all countries will examine and document the eating habits (when, where, how, with whom...) in their area and country as well as traditional festive dishes. In France we will compare the results and start to develop a cookbook with traditional European dishes and maybe have the chance to cook a meal together. This is to enhance the awareness of FOOD AS AN IMPORTANT CULTURAL AND SOCIAL FACTOR. The second "column" of our project is HEALTH. Before meeting in Spain for the second LTTA, students will carry out surveys about the food they prefer - which will probably be fast food in many cases. During the meeting in Spain we want to compare national results and point out similarities and differences, as e.g. the problem of obesity is much more pressing in some EU-countries (e.g.Germany) than in others (e.g.Romania). We will learn about healthy food, prepare healthy dishes and also do something else for our well-being: walk a part of the "Camino" to Santiago de Compostela. The outcome of this LTTA is hopefully that students consider a healthier lifestyle. The third "column" of our project is the aspect of WORK. Students should realize that food is not primarily made in factories, but it takes people and hard work to cultivate (or raise)it.They may also get the chance to do some hands-on activities like planting vegetables or the like. As our schools all have economic orientation, MARKETING food is another obvious element to include in our project. Thus the entrepreneur spirit of students can be stimulated. Before the third LTTA in Romania, students will find out about the scope and types of agricultural production sites in their region and area. Furthermore they make surveys about food marketing and distribution in their surroundings, as well as about preferred places for food shopping (local market, supermarket or even online). In Romania they are going to visit local producers to learn about their work, their range of products, their marketing channels, their problems and try and DEVISE SOLUTIONS for small-scale enterprises to market more successfully. The fourth "column" of our project is ETHICS. This covers a lot of aspects, e.g. the waste of food, the exploitation of workers, the use of too many pesticides and antibiotics, GM food etc.Before the LTTA in Germany all students prepare presentations on initiatives in their countries that are directed against these evils, e.g. "Die TAFELN", FAIR TRADE policies, Bio-products etc. During the meeting they will present and compare the national results and develop further solutions to the above-mentioned problems, inspired by lectures and visits to relevant places. In a last Short-Term Joint Staff meeting in France the teachers will devise lessons about food based on the results of the project work. They will also devise follow-up tasks to make sure the results will be sustainable, e.g. after attending a workshop about planting and/or by making up agreements about distributing food products from the participating countries in their partner schools at certain times. During the project products will be made, e.g. a European Cook Book, a vocabulary booklet about food in five languages, a collection of lessons plans and lectures on food-related topics, video clips about activities and a web documentary. The latter will be an innovative element we have not used so far. All of our results can be used for various classes and subjects and on numerous occasions by the school community and associated (business) partners.
Our project is called “Food in our lives“, a theme with many facets. The participants come from schools in Germany, France, Romania and Spain. In all, at least 130 students aged 14 – 19 years, most of them 16-17, as well as approx. 30 teachers participated in the activities, and as they are all multiplicators in their private and classroom environment, the impact of the project could be enormous. Besides, some 800 students (200 before each mobility) took part in surveys about food.We hope that the newly-gained awareness with respect to food and meals and also responsible consumption and buying habits will bring down some of the problems (waste, obesity, careless buying and eating...) we addressed. The project started with a Short-Term Joint Staff meeting of the teachers in Germany. Besides the “technical” aspects about working out details of the project activities, there were also meetings with various representatives of organizations like the local Fair Trade shop and “Die Tafel”. We also visited local food and drink producers (a cheesemaker, a distillery of spirits) to give the participants an idea of different types of local food production. The first LTTA in France dealt with the aspect of FOOD AS PART OF OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE. Since the food culture and tradition of France have been UNESCO world heritage since 2010, it made sense to choose this country as the starting point. Before the meeting, the participants examined and documented their eating habits under a social point of view (when, how, with whom…). In France these results were compared and presentations about similarities and differences in food traditions were made (e.g. wedding and Easter dishes). We also visited traditional food producers (cheese, candy) and learned about the history of French culinary tradition. There were also activities revealing the mutual prejudices about the food preferred in the partner countries. Furthermore the students had the chance to cook and eat regional dishes together. This was to enhance their awareness of FOOD AS AN IMPORTANT CULTURAL AND SOCIAL FACTOR. The next “pillar” of our project is HEALTH. Before meeting in Spain for the second LTTA, students carried out surveys about the food they prefer. During the meeting, there was a lecture about the latest findings concerning healthy eating and the food pyramid by a nutritionist. We also visited a fishing port where fish auctions take place (Celeiro), and walked a part of the “Camino” to Santiago de Compostela to point out the importance of exercise for well-being. Finally, in groups, the students prepared weekly programmes that combine healthy meals with daily moderate exercise. Hopefully they will follow the good examples seen here. The third “pillar” of our project is the aspect of WORK. Students should realize that food is not primarily made in factories, but it takes people and hard work to cultivate or raise it. As all our schools have an economic orientation, MARKETING FOOD was another obvious element to include. The entrepreneurial spirit of the students may be stimulated through the observation of marketing strategies and a practical assignment at the end. Before the third LTTA in Romania, students took part in surveys about food marketing and distribution and about their preferred places for food shopping. In Romania, we visited those places, like the huge local market and many local producers (a bakery, where the students got to make the local specialty, pretzels ), a sausage maker, a fruit canning firm) who told us about their work, their products and their marketing channels. We also got a tour of a Research Center for (rare) Vegetables. - Finally , in international groups, the students developed a marketing strategy for a traditional product. The fourth “pillar” of our project is ETHICS. This covers a lot of aspects; we focused on food waste, bio-food and animal welfare. Before the LTTA in Germany, all member countries prepared presentations on ethical initiatives in connection with food. This knowledge was enhanced through visit at the Fair Trade shop, “Die Tafel”, a bio-farm and a bio-wholesaler. In the end the students were motivated to plan a project week for each school aiming at promoting ethical aspects of food. In the final Short-Term Joint Staff meeting in France the teachers intended to devise lessons about food based on the results of the project work. Due to the Corona travel ban, this meeting was cancelled. However, the teachers continued to work together virtually to develop lessons based on the project activities. Some PRODUCTS were made in the course of the project: a European cookbook, a vocabulary booklet about food in five languages, a booklet with lesson plans on food-related topics and a video clip about our activities. Especially the vocabulary booklet and the lesson plans can be used in numerous classrooms. The EU-cookbook can inspire schools to try new dishes in a certain context, e.g. on Europe Day.