Our eating habits have a major environmental impact. Meat production consumes a huge amount of energy and accounts for almost 15 % of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, as the world’s population continues to grow, experts say our present appetite for meat is not sustainable. On the other hand, the growing population with an aim of better life needs to be fed. Meat is an excellent source of protein, but it is not the only one. The solutions for this challenge have business dimensions. Several startups are looking for solutions and business opportunities. Also many consumers are ready to adjust or radically change their eating habits. Their aims could be related to animal rights or personal health but quite a few are also motivated by the environmental concern. In the change of our eating habits the business ecosystem need trained people and front runners to all levels of the value chain. The 'Sustainable cooking for planet' project involves the vocational training. “Updating skills of culinary trainers on alternative proteins for tasty and sustainable future” is the main goal, it targets restaurant teachers and students with an aim to fill the knowledge gap within restaurant business and restaurant training. The project aims to train teachers (directly) and students (directly, indirectly) in the field of restaurant- and catering in the use of alternative protein sources. Also the aim is to inform the teachers and students about the ethical, ecological, and nutritional aspects of other than meat, seafood and dairy products as a source of protein. The ultimate aim of the Sustainable cooking for Planet project is to increase the use of alternative protein sources as a foodsource not only in restaurants but at households as well. At metalevel the project aims to increase the vocational training participation in start-up scene dominated by university incubators. The project will test and develop new restaurant products and recipes. It will develope a new educational item and training materials related. It will make an effort to face the cultural attitudes and dislikes and give advises to relevant parties with influence. The project also contributes to the need of giving clear and honest information. In this digital era where a lot of nonsense is said about food, we want to give the chefs and consumers clear and true information. They have to be able to make a difference between relevant and false information related to the nutrition, proteins and climate change.
The Suscop project has been a very interesting project for the partners. We have been working on a topic that is extremely important for the future, we are benefitting of the results, for students, teachers and on the long run for society to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. Now we, especially the Western world, are consuming a lot of meat which has a high impact on the environment. As the prediction is that the world’s population is growing until 10 billion people in 2050, we are heading toward a food crisis. If we want to be able to feed the people living on this planet in a proper way, we have to change our eating habits. Part of the solution is using different proteins, both from vegetal as animal based sources. This has to become mainstream to be part of the solution. The growing of crickets, for example, has a low impact on the environment and can be monitored very well. It needs only a small percentage of the resources that are needed to produce meat. There are different ways to grow alternative proteins, with very high quality and with a low impact on the environment, that can play an important role in the food chain of the future. The objective was to make a teaching and training module for students in different EQF levels, from level 3 – 6. Next to that we wanted to train teachers so a larger group of teachers will be able to use the materials in the education of their students. On the website we have created, https://suscop.com/ we make the results available in different levels and languages. The most important product we delivered is a ten week teaching and training module with a workload of appr. 80 hours. There are three different aspects: theory about working with alternative proteins, different types of proteins, what are the rules and regulations, storage, etc. The second topic is sustainability, why is this new way of cooking needed, what is the connection with the SDG’s and the third topic is the actual cooking itself, working in the kitchen with the proteins. The teachers manual contains all the instructions any teacher might need to start doing classes like this themselves, a list with the proteins with all the specifications and also extra materials to present to the students, like videos, PowerPoints, quizzes. There is an E-book with recipes from all partners in six different categories, from street food to a 5 course dinner. Students can use this E-book in the practical lessons and in the assignment that they have to do at the end of the training module. During the life span of the project we organised five TPM and two LTTA’s. In the TPM’s we discussed the progress of the project, because of the Covid-19 pandemic we had to extend the project, and it was at time complicated to find the time to work on the project. So we also have met online on a regular basis to keep the work going. The LTTA’s were used to train the project group at two levels, the first one was focusing on the theoretical foundation of working with alternative proteins. A Spanish researcher was invited to give the most recent state of the art (legislation in Europe, what is already done etc.) and our HVET partner trained the group. Also a Finnish company EntoCube, a producer of animal based alternative proteins, updated the knowledge of the project team. In the second LTTA there were chef-teachers and students involved, they were working in the kitchen with the recipes, trying out and giving feedback on the results. Another output was the train the trainer short course, the partners have trained their colleagues so a larger group of teachers is capable to work with the materials. Also for teachers this is a new way of looking at eating habits in the future, so this gave very interesting discussions. The ‘cascaded’ training was executed organisations and it helped to change the attitude of the participants. We have done a lot of activities to disseminate the results. The Multiplier Events were unfortunately not easy to organise, but still we managed to talk about the results with a large group of network partners. There was publicity in newspapers, presentations in primary schools, on the EfVET conference and many other articles in newsletters nationally and internationally. One of the side effects of this project is that the restaurant in Da Vinci College has added some of the recipes to their menu! The partner colleges will use the materials in their regular education as this is part of innovation of the profession. For students the market of the alternative proteins can open up a lot of new possibilities, thy can open their own business, cooking or selling alternative proteins. In the LTTA with students in Harderwijk we offered a workshop with an entrepreneur who makes a living of growing and selling crickets and writer on the topic. The pandemic caused serious difficulties in reaching the goals, we had to extend the project with 9 months.