Five hotels and the Cuneo prison are involved in the project "Recipes of Dialogue" promoted in Piedmont by LVIA, Slow Food, Social Cooperative Colibrì, Associazione Renken, associations of the African diaspora Panafricando and Asbarl, Piedmont Region and City of Turin, thanks to the contribution of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and the CRC Foundation for some activities in the province of Cuneo.
"You don't really know anyone until you eat together": This Arab saying inspired the project "The Recipes of Dialogue" for to educate, especially the new generations, to interculture by using an element that unites us all: food. "This project, thanks to the many partners - explains the project coordinator, Maurizia Sandrini of the international cooperation association LVIA - gives us the opportunity to connect schools, youth groups and migrants in Piedmont, mixing many ingredients that characterize it: cultures, religions and culinary traditions for a real journey around the world where we discover that wealth, innovation and social beauty is born of interaction, dialogue and inclusion ".
A trip around the world that takes place all over here, in Piedmont, where 172 resides different nationalities from the five continents of the world (the resident foreign population is equal to the 9,7% ISAT 2018 data), a context that deserves to be deepened, understood, enhanced.
Among the actions envisaged by the project "Recipes of Dialogue", a strand is dedicated to hotels thanks to the experience of the Colibrì social cooperative which for five years has brought awareness-raising courses to these schools in the Cuneo area to raise awareness of the fair trade, its supply chains and the stories of producers in Italy and in the south of the world.
In the Cuneo area, the classes of the Hotel Institutes of Dronero, Mondovì, Barge, Bra and Alba, with the collaboration of the mediators of the Spazio Mediazione Intercultura Association e of the Tatawelo Association.
In addition, the Colibrì Social Cooperative also involved students in the cooking and dining courses within the project Cuneo prison with a view to contributing to professional, intercultural and social inclusion of these people
In hotel schools students are first involved in a theoretical lesson to talk about interculture, international cooperation, fair trade and the impact of ethical and sustainable chains on the environment, on the health of those who consume it and on the communities of producers.
“To stimulate young people to have a direct, peaceful and empathic confrontation with those who have a migration path behind them - Explains Anna Cattaneo of the Colibrì Cooperative - it means knowing directly the history of these people and that of foods like coffee, tea or cocoa from the colonial past and often the result of chains that exploit the environment and labor ”.
Later we move into the kitchen where, thanks to the involvement of intercultural mediators, students learn sweet and savory recipes typical of different areas of the world: from Argentina to Burkina Faso, from Mexico to Latvia, the dishes are also made with fair trade organic ingredients that come directly from these countries. Above all, for the students it is a journey to discover different flavors and cuisines, through these, it allows you to taste and appreciate a different culture by enhancing the connection between food, culture and history of a country.
The course will end in each school with an event open to the public to raise awareness of the importance of citizenship build opportunities for mutual discussion, enhancing the presence of people from all over the world, with a cultural baggage also made of aromas and flavors.
