Ark of Taste is coming to schools!

Another activity is realized within the “Food is Culture” project – creative and educational workshops “Ark of Taste is Coming to Schools!”, aimed at children ages 7 to 10.

During October and November, Nova Iskra realized a series of activities in elementary schools in partnership with Kid Hub, named “Ark of Taste is Coming to Schools!”, within the Food is Culture project, funded by the Creative Europe program. 

The workshops were realized in 10 elementary schools in Serbia and, in interactive and creative ways, brought to the pupils methods for interpretation of local identity, a unique capability to observe and experience the community they are a part of, no matter if it is in an urban or rural context. The pupils learnt about how everyday life and our capability to understand our local region could be an efficient solution for a number of food quality problems and those affecting agricultural biodiversity. 

Utilizing the methodology developed by the Slow Food organization, the leading partner of the project, across 4 classes the pupils had the opportunity to find out what biodiversity is, how it is maintained, but also what clean food and taste are and how culture affects its formation. The final part of the workshop was a “competition” within which pupils were encouraged to collect old recipes or traditional methods of food preparation from their parents and/or grandparents. Furthermore, these recipes enter the competition on the European level, representing our country. Selected recipes will also become a part of the exhibition created during the project, and will be presented in several European cities. 

Elementary schools that took part in the projects were:

Montesori, Belgrade

Branko Radičević, Belgrade

Isidora Sekulić, Belgrade

Vlada Obradović Kameni, Belgrade

Boško Palkovljević Pinki, Belgrade

Dimitrije Todorović Kaplar, Knjaževac

Knez Sima Marković, Barajevo

Sveti Sava, Bare

Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, Svilajnac

Filip Filipović, Belgrade

More about the project:

With “Food is Culture” project, Slow Food organization and its partners intend to revitalize groceries and dishes that are forgotten or near to disappearance, enabling the public to discover them and to virtually visit places that those groceries come from, and to listen to stories about them. “Food is Culture” has the goal to bring awareness to the citizens of Europe about how gastronomical heritage is a remedy to express their common European belonging, and a better understanding of wealth and uniqueness of European cultural diversity. We need to pay more attention to the preservation and promotion of our common food heritage!  

“Food is Culture” is a project funded by the EU program Creative Europe, with contribution of the Fondazione CRC di Cuneo, and led by the Slow Food organization in partnership with Kinookus, Europa Nostra, Nova Iskra Creative Hub and Transpod AB. https://novaiskra.com/en/food-is-culture-f-uture-2/

More about the Ark of Taste Library:

“Ark of Taste” is an online catalogue that is growing every day through suggestions and nominations by the people who are witnesses to the disappearance of the food products and tastes of their childhood. Everyone can contribute to the fight against oblivion by nominating a product or donating to the library. More information is available at the official “Ark of Taste” website: https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/what-we-do/the-ark-of-taste/about-the-project/.