The Mediterranean Food Educational Project (2006-2007)
MEdIES Secretariat was successful in its submission to the Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) of a proposal to its First Call under the Thematic Priority: “EuroMed Schools Programme” to develop a new educational material on the interdisciplinary topic of “Mediterranean Food”. The theme of the Project was based on feedback coming from by educators in the various MEdIES meetings for an ESD material using the Mediterranean food as a vehicle for stimulation of intercultural dialogue among Mediterranean peoples by strengthening their mutual comprehension on “immaterial” cultural goods, which have many common roots. The project lasted from May 2006 to December 2007 and supported by the ALF, and the MIO-ECSDE Core funding.
“The theories about eventual cultural ‘clashes’ and ‘gaps’ particularly around the Mediterranean which is an active North-South, East-West interface, have been considered with great caution and skepticism in the Mediterranean countries, which despite their current cultural and socioeconomic differences, cooperate in a number of fields and strive to secure a peaceful coexistence and progress leading to the sustainable development of the entire region. Mediterranean food was selected as it is of direct interest and close to people, a living issue with old roots, admitted influences, loans and backloans and with minimum ideological and religious “charges” (Scoullos, 2007). This particular characteristic of food in the Mediterranean has been promoted through the educational material: “Mediterranean food: Historical, Environmental, Health and Cultural dimensions” that was developed in the frame work of the project. The material uses Mediterranean food and related topics (cooking, diet, basic products, traditions, arts) as vehicles for stimulating Intercultural Dialogue, exploring linkages between cultural and biological diversity in the Mediterranean, the interrelationships between human productive activities, cultures, environment and natural resources, while promoting sustainable consumption and production and strengthening ESD.
Seven partners took part in the project: the Arab Office for Youth and Environment -AOYE (Egypt); the Association for the Protection of Nature and Environment Kairouan -APNEK (Tunisia); Club Marocain d' Education en Matière de Population et d' Environnement-CMEPE (Morocco); Land and Human to Advocate Progress -LHAP (Jordan); Circolo Festambiente - Legambiente (Italy); Associacao Cultural ETNIA (Portugal) and, MIO-ECSDE (project coordinator).
Main activities of the project were:
(A)The development and publication of the material Mediterranean Food: historical, environmental, health & cultural dimensions
( English and Arabic in hardcopy version, and in Greek, Italian and Portuguese language in e-version (CD-Roms).
(B)The presentation, pilot implementation & evaluation of the material by educators during six seminars in the partner countries. The seminars included workshops on the material’s activities, ESD methods and on the material’s use for stimulation of intercultural dialogue
Regarding the project’s impact, some 260 formal and non-formal educators were trained in the seminars which took place within the project in Rabat, Grosseto, Kairouan, Rio de Mayor, Cairo and Amman. This target group developed competences related to the implementation of ESD materials. The material was further pilot-tested within the 1001 Action “Discovering & Discussing about our Mediterranean food culture” in schools in Greece, Egypt, Jordan and Italy with the coordination of MIO-ECSDE during the first semester of 2008.