(9) Stories from the lab: LL#2 - FOOD ACTION: Sustainable Ethnic Dinners

Living Lab 2 - Food Action developed by the Cities2030 Vicenza Food Lab focuses on developing initiatives and actions of awareness/knowledge, exchange and collaboration aimed at citizens to create an inclusive food community and rework traditional recipes in a sustainable and healthier way.

One of the most successfull initiatives is the sustainable ethnic food campaign “Let's meet for dinner!” which involves a group of women, of different nationalities, who cook their typical and sustainable dishes in local restaurants, for the citizens.

They are the ones to tell their stories and above all to present the proposed recipes, illustrating how to make them and suggesting possible solutions to also use local products so to be more sustainable.

This experiment demonstrates that ethnic and sustainable dinners could represent a way to increase awareness about how food is an important tool for social aggregation and inclusion, capable of generating opportunities for well-being, including economic well-being. This initiative originates from the collaboration between two different Services of the Municipality of Vicenza (Environment, Energy and Territory and Social Services), the International Library "La Vigna", Association Via Firenze21 and the project Emporio Solidale. The group of women were selected among those already involved in specific training courses for assistant chefs and kitchens, with the intent to support them in developing their own professional career in the food sector.

The Lab has already organised 4 dinners involving typical food from Peru, Morocco, Lebanon, Iran and Nigeria, in 4 different locations, involving about 300 people (...with a long reserve list for each dinner!).