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In October 2018, a group from Eldrimner in Östersund went to Parma to learn about practices from Italian cuisine.

As you can see further down the page, the visitors witnessed many local practices. They also visited Alma outside of Parma, which is an educational centre where cooking classes in Italian cuisine are offered to students from age 18 to 40. They study for 7-10 months, where half of the time is spent working at a company. The group attended a short cooking course, and gained new insight in Italian cooking.

The group also visited a small creamery in Mulazzano. They got to taste a 22 month and a 36 month Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, which was so good that they all bought some cheese when they left!

Their trip of Parma also took them to Lamoretti in Casatico, which is probably one of the oldest wine producers in the village, operating since 1930. The tour of the vineyard showed them the production of the wine, still and sparkling, and finished with a tasting of the different styles along with local delicacies.

See more pictures from their trip on their Instagram page here!

In November 2018 representatives from Östersund went to both Dénia and Parma to learn and exchange experiences about the educational systems at secondary- and university level in the field of gastronomy.

In Dénia the Swedish visitors participated in a workshop led by the local UNESCO Office, where they got information about the regional strategy for development of the gastronomy sector in Dénia and surrounding areas. This was particularly interesting because the region of Jämtland, where Östersund is located, face many of the same challenges.

After this followed a trip to Prego to witness rice Production there, as well as payng La Freses vineyard a visit. The Swedish representatives report that they left Dénia inspired with a lot of new thoughts about how to use their UNESCO Creative Cities membership as a tool to develop the gastronomy in the region in different ways.

After Dénia the journey went on to Parma in Italy. Here they visited the University of Parma, discussing possibilities for cooperating with Mid Sweden University, as well as learning about the undergraduate and master program in gastronomy in Parma. There was also a visit to the agricultural secondary school in Parma, and to see their project called “Food Farm 4.0”. This project is aimed at preparing students better for working in the food industries in the area.

All in all the representatives from Östersund learned a lot about the Italian secondary and tertiary education system, made a lot of interesting new contacts, and are looking forward to sending students from Torsta upper secondary school to visit Parma in May!

The experience from working in the kitchen at Giorgione’s has made me curious to travel more and learn about different food cultures.

Chef apprentices Christer and Carl Henrik at Bekkjarvik gjestgiveri outside of Bergen got the opportunity to visit the gastronomic city of Parma for three weeks. There they worked in two different restaurants and got to experience Italian food culture up close.

In between working in the kitchen they visited the Parma city centre, where the kitchen chef from Ristorante Giorgione’s shared some facts about the history, architecture, and restaurants of the city. They got to taste raw horse meat, which is characteristic for the Parma region.

Christer and Carl Henrik also visited ALMA, an international school for Italian food and food culture, the ham producer Culatello di Zibello, a vineyard as well as a parmesan producer. They were both impressed by the magnitude of the cheeses that were maturing. The oldest cheese had been maturing for over 108 months!