Alex and Martin, two chefs from the restaurant Bien in Bergen, went to Parma to learn more about Italian food tradition and cooking techniques.
A highligt of the trip for the Norwegian chefs was to meet the passionate pizza chefs.
Learning to make pasta at Sorelle Picchi fresh pasta workshop, where they had the chance to learn about local types of stuffed pasta (Tortelli and Cappelletti).
Sorelle Picchi fresh pasta workshop, where you will have a chance to learn about local types of stuffed pasta (Tortelli and Cappelletti)
Parma ham and Parmigiano Reggiano are important parts of the gastronmy in Parma
The trip to Norway consists of 12 days of realization, from August 30 to September 10, from the beginning I wanted to go to Norway and get to know another world, another culture and other people and above all to let me know, this experience has actually helped me much. We had an immense luck of being able to enjoy 12 days of Sun, although the last day it rained a little, but the purpose of the trip did not prevent anything. We visited the city of Bergen and Voss, we spent a total of 8 days in Bergen and 4 days in Voss. In Bergen we went to visit the Institute of Services, there were a lot of wonderful and very kind people, with them we did activities, visits and guides through Bergen. The first 3 days we were teaching the Gastronomy of Denia in the Matfestival, preparing paellas and sweet and salty cocas typical of our area, to let people known our customs and flavors.
With the students of the Sandsli Institute we visited famous streets of the city, hotels with influence in the city and famous restaurants. We also had the opportunity to visit an auditorium in Oss, south of Bergen where we made ourselves known and made a strong relationship between Norway (Bergen) and Spain (Denia). On that trip we visited a farm where a woman worked with natural remedies and handmade products where we were kindly invited to taste their delicious preparations based on cheeses and sausages. We met a Spanish family who invited us to their house to spend the day, located in a fjord not far from there. The city itself lives from the sea and tourism. It is a beautiful city where one is very comfortable and it has a wonder setting and location. It is a completely different place from where we come from. Bergen is a joy no more or less.
The days passed and it was time to visit Voss. Voss is a village north of Bergen you arrive in 1hour and 30 minutes by train, more or less, during the trip you can appreciate the majesty of the fjords since the train constantly passed by the side of the sea and rivers that made a zigzag Middle of the mountains, a show like no other. Voss is a village between mountains and next to a huge lake, in the distance you could see the snow in the mountains and the breath of pure air from the valley. A very quiet and very beautiful place.
There we met the best institute in Norway. We met facilities, students and teachers, beautiful people. In the institute we once again put into practice our elaborations and they did theirs, for 3 days they showed us the town, their dishes and life in Voss. In the institute we made a presentation about the dishes and studies that we carried out in the María Ibars Institute. We worked, we taught, we enjoyed and above all we learned what it is to be part of Europe and to make our food known, because after all there is nothing better than knowing, that sitting around the table and know how to appreciate what is from each country, what belongs to everyone and above all who we are.
The aim of the “Youth4Food” project, in which these four UNESCO Creative Cities participate, is to take advantage of this particularity that makes them unique at European level and that opens an educational potential in those aspects related to healthy habits, healthy nutrition and interdisciplinary work based on local products and their distribution, sale and consumption.
Knowing the city of Ostersund (Creative City), the educational center where the student would make a day of practice and its adjacent sub-centers, as well as all the local and regional organizations that are part of the project. • Knowing local companies and producers involved in the project.
Internship and visit JGY-Jämtland Gymnasium. The responsible teacher Elisabeth Linderoth takes care of us. This school is responsible for the Hotel and Tourism program, where the Restaurant and Food Program are included. We will attend classes and participate in the education at Restaurant Hov. The facilities of the high School surprise us, they have complete kitchens and a pedagogical cafeteria for students with special needs. – They invite us to have lunch at “Heim”. It is a multidisciplinary space where the cook offers only restaurant service on Fridays, they cook an unique menu with local products and elaborated with basic and local culinary techniques. The rest of the week they offer cooking workshops for “families and foodies”. Internship and visit JGY-Jämtland Gymnasium. The responsible teacher Elisabeth Linderoth takes care of us. This school is responsible for the Hotel and Tourism program, where the Restaurant and Food Program are included. We will attend classes and participate in the education at Restaurant Hov. we are invited to hava diner with two of the people in charge of the project at the “Jazzköket” restaurant.
What can we learn from each others educational systems? In November 2018 5 representatives from Mid Sweden University and Torsta upper secondary School traveld to Dénia in Spain and to Parma in Italy to learn more.
The aim of the visit was to learn and exchange experiences about the educational systems in secondary- and university level in the field of gastronomy in a broad perspective. Also education of grown ups in the same field is of interest. They also wanted to investigate the possibilities to cooperate more closely at the university Level.
The visit started in Denia, in the Tourist Development Centre where we met teachers and students of IES Maria Ibars school. We got a guided tour of the buildning by four of the students från their tourism program.
The students had prepared and served us a small meal as a part of their training. The education in the area of gastronomy at IES Maria Ibars is focused on tourism and hostelry. We met with different people from the municipality of Denia and the University of Alicante in a workshop led by the UNESCO office. We got information about the regional strategy for developing the gastronomy sector in Denia and the surroundings. Very interesting since we are doing a similar work inthe region of Jämtland just now. We obvisiouly share a number of challenges for production of food; small farms, low income and lack of attraction for young people to take over the farms.the We also got some information about the different possibilities of education in agriculture.
Then we met with Angeles Ruiz and Josep Bernabeu- Mestre from the University of Alicante. They told us about the university and their undergraduate program in Gastronomy and about the brand new masters degree in the same topic. This led to a discussion about the possibilitie for cooperation between the universities with an interantional masters degree in gastronomy. The students had prepared and served us a small meal as a part of their training. The education in the area of gastronomy at IES Maria Ibars is focused on tourism and hostelry. We met with different people from the municipality of Denia and the University of Alicante in a workshop led by the UNESCO office. We got information about the regional strategy for developing the gastronomy sector in Denia and the surroundings. Very interesting since we are doing a similar work inthe region of Jämtland just now. We obvisiouly share a number of challenges for the
We met a farmer in the cooperative that told us about the production and how they worked together to be able to bemore effecient both in production and sales. We also went to see the cooperative COOPEGO where they sorted, packed and distributed the oranges from the area to all Europe. They did some very interesting tests to decrease the use of chemicals involved in the process and we had a long discussion about brands and consumers lack of knowledge about the origin of the food they are buying every day.
Parma
The first day in Parma we met with the UNESCO office and other people from the municipality office. Then we went to the university to meet representatives of their international department and to discuss possibilities for cooperation inthe future between Mid Sweden University and the university of Parma. After lunch we met with proffessor Andrea Fabbri and got information about the undergarduate and master program in gastronomy. We also here had a discussion about the possibilities to cooperate in a international master in gastronomy in which the university of Parma also is interested. Next day we made a visit to the Bochiallini Agrarian Institute, a secondary school in Parma where they have an education in agriculture. The visit was not to the school itself but to a brand new pilot production plant that had been financed by the state and the foodindustry together. The project is called Food Farm 4.0. The students in upper secondary level in Italy have very little practical education and working at this plant will prepare the students much better for working in the food industries in the area. There are a lot of food industries around Parma, from very big ones like Barilla to very many small producers of ham and cheese. It was interesting to learn about the difference between upper secondary schools in Italy and Sweden. In Italy all students will have all theory needed to go on to university and as a conseqvens of this they will not do much practical training. The principal Anna Rita Sicuri told us about the plans for the practical training. We also visited the small area of farmland that belonged to the school.
We visited Antica Corte PallavicinaRelais and learned about the very special product Il Culatello and farming of the pigs.
In the afternoon we had a short meeting with the Mayor of Parma and a very interesting information about the coming hub for gastronomy that will be housed in an old monastery.We had a very interesting visit to Parma and were impressed with the university, its international work and the programs in the field of gastronomy. We understand that there is quite a difference in the education system on secondary level between Italy and Sweden. We are very impressed by the amount of food industries in the area.
The next step will be a meeting between representatives from the universities in Alicante in the spring to see if it would be possible to form an international master degree in Gastronomy.
