Food was placed in the center of our youth exchange because we wanted to address the needs of our young people, who see it as a vital component of feeling a part of their own community or nation and as a source of connection with others. The anonymous survey results prompted us to plan and carry out a project that would allow young people from various backgrounds to connect over food, share their values, and learn about themselves and other peers and their realities, as stated in the project application. We sought to provide a forum for in-depth conversation, genuine connection, and real cohabitation amongst individuals of many ethnic and cultural origins. This fought against very unfavorable trends that show prejudice and intolerance among people, especially against young people. Though many young people live in circumstances that make it difficult for them to learn about others directly due to geographical and/or economic barriers, the Caribbean region is so strongly characterized by the diversity and richness of cultural expression. By putting this project into action, we were able to close those gaps and provide them with real-life experience of meeting peers from different backgrounds. Our goal with the "Good food - happy neighborhood" project was to promote cultural exchange among young people whose circumstances (typically) do not permit it by teaching and sharing what is essential to all of us and what is present in every community: food. Immersion in the culinary and food-related processes throughout the project was typified by practicality and experiential learning. Together, we established a secure environment and made it possible to express important community issues and empower oneself. While learning about others and engaging in cross-cultural conversation were made possible by supportive surroundings, one's own cultural traditions and sense of belonging were also strengthened. Project activities sparked connection, creativity, and experimentation—vital emotional and cognitive processes for young people's healthy development, particularly for their self-defining and understanding. One of the main ideas of the project was sustainability, in which we studied about our immediate environment as an asset and how to use it in a way that promotes sustainability, as well as how to act and learn according to the needs of the planet Earth. Through the project, we were answering to the need of young people to function sustainably in their daily lives because it is precisely these skills that are essential nowadays. Partners and we prepared the participants, including pre-meetings, so that every young person could be inspired and enabled to participate actively outside of their own community or nation. The participants' involvement in the project was very active right from the start since preparation activities including tasks they completed themselves preceded the exchange itself. This comprised preparing ingredients and other tasks that young people used as community building exercises. All project activities promoted this, emphasizing the need of forging new international relationships that these young people were unable to establish on their own. Objectives were: Promoting cultural exchange: By sharing and discovering each other's culinary customs, one of the primary goals of our project was to promote understanding and cultural exchange between participants from various countries. Working together in the kitchen, participants honed their language and communication abilities, picked up tips for navigating cultural differences, and gained a deeper respect for different perspectives. Creative and innovative cooking is a dynamic and creative process, and a project that used cooking to promote intercultural communication encouraged participants to try out new flavors, ingredients, and methods to create their own distinctive culinary creations. Encouraging healthy and sustainable food practices: Our project sought to encourage, in addition to intercultural communication, healthy and sustainable food practices including using locally sourced ingredients, minimizing food waste, choosing environmentally friendly foods, and recycling food. Building community and social ties: As was expected, cooking and dining together was a very effective method of fostering these ties and enabling the participants to create close relationships with both the Curacao locals and one other.