Solaiolo, Italy 26.08.23-01.09.23

The ‚TransFORMATION for a better future‘ training series ended on a high note with the last event dedicated to our way of producing and consuming food, held from the 26th of  August to the 1st of September 2023 in Solaiolo, a small village in the Italian Alps.

A total of 18 youth workers from the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, and Germany took part in the Erasmus+ “TransFORMATIVE education for Ethical Nutrition“ organized by CAMBIO e.V in partnership with Euroteam Czech Republic, Sustainable Vibes, InfoEck, European Center for Innovation, Education, Science and Culture, and ZAVOD NEFIKS.

The structure of the course was similar to previous ones, with at the beginning a day to get to know each other better and connect with the surrounding nature, then a focus on Global Citizenship Education methodologies, and finally moving on to the various thematic workshops, led by the participants themselves with the support of the trainers. The focus was on food and the socio-environmental impact of its production. The workshops developed covered various topics: the history and colonial legacies still present in many of the foods we consume daily, the perverse dynamics of the international food commodities trade, land grabbing in the global South, bio-fuel, fertile soil usage, advertising and its power over consumers, as well as possible solutions to improve our food system: food sovereignty, fair trade, the ‚planetary health diet, and generally eating as locally, seasonally, plant-based, organic and avoiding waste as much as possible.

During the course, there was involvement of many local stakeholders.
On the first seminar day, participants met Roswita, owner of a sustainable mountain farm where she grows ancient varieties of seeds and vegetables for her family’s livelihood and raises animals as much as possible in the wild and in synergy with nature.
Two other guests then visited the seminar. The first was Giorgio Casagranda, president of Trentino Solidale, an organization that works to fight against food waste in the region by collecting from supermarkets and producers food that should be thrown away and distributing it to needy families. For more info: https://www.trentinosolidale.it/.
The second was Angela, manager at the social farm Terre Altre, whose mission is to produce vegetables, jams, and natural cosmetics while promoting biodiversity and implementing projects promoting the inclusion of marginalized or people with disabilities. More info is available at: https://www.terrealtre.org/.
 Participants got very engaged in the discussions with the guests and were inspired by their good practices.
 
As a result of this training, participants created two graphic stop-motion videos to report their experience and share what they learned, especially concerning food waste and the colonial history of food. On the last day of the Training, the youth workers trained their active listening skills and got engaged in a “Socratic walk” discussing how to bring the workshops’ content to their local contexts, in their personal and professional lives as well as with their relatives and friends.

It was a meaningful and enriching experience especially because of the involvement and contributions given by the participants. Hana, a student of agriculture from the Czech Republic, led a workshop about the different types of agriculture and brought us some seeds for everyone to plant and take care of as a metaphor for our growing experience; Alja and Isa, respectively from Slovenia and Germany who are nutrition expert presented the planetary health diet and gave everyone very useful tips on how to reshape our diets so that is more healthy and sustainable; Feli, from Austria, presented us the Global Field concept and helped us visualize the usage we make of the total farmland in the world and the problems linked to it; Kristyna, from Czechia, shot a lot of amazing pictures and videos to immortalize the week we spent together (some of them you can see in the gallery down here). In general, everyone participated actively and passionately and contributed to making this seminar a great occasion to learn from each other and live a valuable intercultural exchange.

Last but not least, many thanks are due to Paola and Lorenzo from the Maso Ranalletti for the great hospitality and the excellent vegan food they cooked for us, and of course to the mascot of the Training, their dog Nemo.