Cooking@Sea Erasmus Project

Project Title

Cooking@Sea

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 : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Regional dimension and cooperation; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The European coastal regions are characterized by a strong tourism industry, based on coastal tourism, beaches, leisure and nature. These tourist economies are based on a high level of gastronomy; guests receive excellent food quality in restaurants, where the local (Maritime) food finds its way to the kitchens. To maintain this high quality of gastronomy and secure it for the future, quality chefs are need, able to process local food-products in an innovative and sustainable way in the kitchens. In doing so they to promote the region as a tourist and gastronomic region. However, the coastal regions have a shortage of chefs who are able to make the necessary innovation. The labour market is in need of new skills, because the job is changing.

Each Cooking@Sea partner has or has developed their network with gastronomical companies and restaurants in their region. With the representatives of these networks they identified future proof skills of the gastronomical industry, tested them and secured them in collaboration with the network of restaurants and partner organisations in their region. New skills that are highly important for the Cook of the Future are: the pursuit of excellence, creativity, sustainability and the ability to process the regional product in (new) dishes. The Cooking@Sea VET module and teacher training materials have been built on the identified new skills. During 2 pilots each region has tested them with at least a total amount of 120 students throughout Europe. The partners of Cooking@Sea have jointly delivered a module and teacher training material that renews the existing gastronomical curriculum with the new skills. In addition the partners have made their national qualification cross border transparent based on EQF and adopted principles of work-based learning during the Cooking@Sea pilots. Teachers working in the Cooking@Sea project have been trained during a training program offered by each Cooking@Sea partner. After successfully following the training they should have received a teacher training certificate.

Fish quality, from buying fresh fish to preparing and cooking it, is an important part of the project and the developed module. An e-book with recipes of the partners and their region is developed and a deliverable of the project.

We expect that the students who follow the Cooking@Sea module with new skills will find a job easily. The impact should be big on each region as schools use the module in their education. The touristic economy is supported and local food products have been promoted. Most important, VET education can be innovated using the Cooking@Sea module offering a method and a blueprint to extract new skills for new jobs and connect them to VET education.

To disseminate the Cooking@Sea project results, promote the job of cooks and promote the regions as gastronomical and touristic regions, two Cooking@Sea festivals have been organised. These festivals became international gastronomical feasts, attracting partners, students, authorities, public and PR. A third festival was planned in June 2020 finalising the project. The final festival could not take place and this had an effect on the completion of the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 250960,8 Eur

Project Coordinator

Scalda Stichting voor middelbaar beroepsonderwijs en educatie & Country: NL

Project Partners

• Lycée du Détroit
• Minster Development Centre Ltd
• Hiiumaa Ametikool
• S.E.F.O. – Sociedade de Educação e Formação do Oeste, Lda.
• Agrupamento de Escolas Henriques Nogueira
• AWC Training Ltd
• VALENCIA CULINARY CENTER S.L.