Food – connecting people Erasmus Project

Project Title

Food – connecting people

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

Food – a topic relevant since the beginnings of humankind that over the years has unfolded its power to connect people, whether that be at the family dinner table or a business lunch of international colleagues: it can bridge cultural differences in a second. Food in general is part of the cultural heritage and each country participating in our Erasmus+ project makes an individual contribution to it, offering a multitude of culinary specialties related to national traditions. In 2007, the “region of delight” Upper Franconia (location of coordinating school) was awarded the UNESCO label “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. Our partner schools in Portugal, Italy and Spain are situated in Mediterranean areas whose nutritious diet was also given this title in 2013. This fact shows the attention paid to the cultural importance of food.
Also, healthy eating habits and environmental issues remain relevant in times of increasing sedentary activities in our students’ freetime as well as at workplaces, so students ought to be sensitised for healthy food choices and should internalise a sustainable lifestyle. Working on the broad topic food enables us to combine the contexts of health, sustainability, culture and personal identity.

We strive to raise our students’ awareness of sustainable and healthy food consumption and production. Essential educational goals concerning sustainability are learning about the origin of food with special focus on international trade relationships between our partner countries and understanding the importance of buying/eating local and fair trade products. In order to help our students maintain a healthy lifestyle, they discover delicious meals made of local products, but also beyond the domestic cuisine. In terms of language, our students foster their communication skills while encountering foreign partners face-to-face as well as online (media competence). They will experience the need of talking English and automatically train their fluency in authentic speaking situations. Social skills and key competences of interpersonal communication will be promoted in group work in personal or virtual encounters.
As a side effect, the students will gain an advantage on the job market by adding international experience to their CV and might even be encouraged to find employment in European countries.

Participating schools are FOSBOS Bayreuth, IES JM Barandiaran BHI Leioa, IES Institut Olivar Gran Figueres, IIS Isa Conti Eller Vainicher Lipari, IEDP Lisbon. Students involved in the project are aged between 17 and 23. We include physically and economically disadvantaged pupils. Equally, several students with migrant background will join the team.

Teaching/classroom activities on-site involve research on health issues, culinary heritage and sustainability. Forthcoming student mobilities are prepared in weekly lessons. The preparation of those activities can be focused on in classes of biology, chemistry, social studies, economics and foreign languages. Students will get into first contact with each other via eTwinning so that matching student pairs can be found. Furthermore, the platform will facilitate online correspondence, sharing material and findings. In student mobilities foreign students meet personally and work on given topics. As a start, presentations inform about the host cities and their cultural heritage. To really grasp the topic practically, excursions to local food events or fairs are organized and practical lessons (cooking courses, video tutorials) are given. External expertise is provided when attending university lectures, e.g. on sustainability.

Via CLIL (content & language integrated language learning) the participating students broaden their knowledge about healthy nutrition, sustainability, cultural heritage. Furthermore, our students train key competences like interpersonal communication and foreign language skills in direct encounters. Media competence is fostered through practical work with the internet, eTwinning and Skype. In partner/group work, relevant topics are investigated and presentations are given.

We create a website including links to self-made cooking tutorials about typical food traditions as well as links to healthy recipes. On this page, a link to an e-book titled “Relish Without Regrets” can be found. It includes a theoretical introduction on the importance of food in today’s society in the private as well as professional context, useful communication phrases at the dinner table and traditions related to food.
These results will be disseminated throughout the school family, but also beyond with the help of eTwinning, newspapers and social media. Therewith, we hope to lead students to discover and appreciate the commonalities of all participating countries since the project topic food offers exactly this potential needed to connect students across European nations and to value the cultural heritage of both their home and partner countries.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 150260 Eur

Project Coordinator

Staatliche Fachoberschule und Berufsoberschule Bayreuth & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Institut Olivar Gran
• IES JM BARANDIARAN BHI
• Tecliform Consultoria e Formação,Lda
• Istituto Istruzione Superiore “Isa Conti-Eller Vainicher”