Summary

The project “Let ́s eat culture” is a multicultural, inclusive gastronomic project with students from 3 secondary schools located in 3 countries with different gastronomic traditions and history. The fourth partner (Portugal) withdraw from the project due to the pandemic The partner schools are all located in rural areas in Iceland, Italy, and Spain. The partners countries have various things in common such as some being volcanic, some coastal areas or in the countryside, others having had colonies in America, being wine producers, growing cattle, sheep and goats but with very different climate and living conditions that influences and conditions the gastronomic traditions.

The participants were pupils, 11 from each country in each activity , and 6 teachers in total plus parents. The students and teachers were the ambassadors of the project but a wider number of locals participated such as local food producers,( farmers, fishermen f.ex. ), shop owners or managers, the parents of the participants, local authorities and other local stakeholders of interest. The students were at the age of 15-19 years old. They studied at the higher secondary level, but preferably not in their last school year. The teachers involved in the mobilities were 2 in each country leading the project but other teachers of the school also participated throughout the project. Together the teachers involved organized the main lines of the activities during online meetings held due to the pandemic during the first year of the project. The first transnational meeting was changed into a training activity of ICT for teachers involved and interested in the project. The coordinators in each country organized the logistics, found out suitable solutions for communication during the project and facilitated the necessary contacts to the participants.

The teachers and coordinators saw to set up the frame of the project, worked together with the students on the focus points off the activities. The project focused mainly on local, homey and slow food in a practical and active way by engaging the participants, letting them practice and learn from

each other about local food, about the process of growing, cultivating and producing local products, the origins of products, and about seasonal gastronomic traditions. The participants learned to tolerate and appreciate food from various regions, learned to cook and to talk about food and specific ingredients. The activities were divided into various themes strongly related to food such as history, environment, food production, health, food traditions, sustainability and nutrition amongst others. Students also had the chance through various activities to evaluate why they eat what they eat, relate it to the climate, geographical conditions, the products we are able to grow, and the animals we can raise and therefore closely linked to what we eat.

During the activities the participants explored and discovered different tastes, smells and textures new to them.Tasting regional food, understood as homey and made from scratch, is one of the more unusual experiences and can be quite a challenge.The participants recognised the differences and similarities and reflected upon their experiences gaining confidence and tolerance towards other cultures and gastronomic traditions. Through the practical and active character of the activities during the mobilities the participants also came to understand the value of their own cultural heritage as of the others.

Through the projects activities the participants also focused on sustainability, on how to reduce plastic packaging while shopping and food waste. An important red line through the whole project was the focus on the 12th goal of UN which is “Responsible consumption and production” in order to raise the students awareness about sustainability, reduction of food waste and plastic pollution on European and local level. A shopping bag was made for the group for the mobility in Iceland.

A final product was an the online book with videos, recipes and reflections upon the mobility to Iceland that makes a good impression of the influence and importance of Erasmus projects. We also made a website in order to disseminate the projects and its results. Despite the pandemic that made some of the goals and activities difficult to fulfill, the project turned out to be a success for the participants. They gained understanding, tolerance and openness towards each other, more self confidence and made very strong connections through the activities as well as through the experiences of staying with families.