Scents wafting across the entire floor, the noise of pots and pans and voices in the background of young people spending a dinner in company: this is what has been happening since last December in the forty kitchens of the San Bartolameo and Mayer residences. The opportunity is a sustainable cooking course organized by University Opera with the collaboration of Samuele Cooperative and aimed at guests of university students.
“The initiative was born from the desire to encourage virtuous behavior within our structures in a simple, concrete and innovative way. Evening after evening, in fact, what began as a simple cooking class was transformed into an opportunity to build community and experience the common space as if it were the kitchen of one’s own home”, explained the president of the Opera Universitaria Maria Laura Frigotto.
Two chefs indicated by the Cooperativa Samuele, Antonio Lombardo and Paulo Vasconcelosenter the kitchens of the student residences bringing seasonal foods that they cook together with the guests, teaching them how to avoid waste, reuse ingredients and differentiate correctly.
As the president of Cooperativa Samuele explains Luca Pedrotti: “The theme of environmental sustainability has always been a central value in all the social activities of the Samuele Cooperative, both in the production chain of the laboratories and in the promotion of various projects and actions on the topic. Precisely by using the skills acquired by the cooperative in the field of training and critical consumption, this active citizenship project was conceived together with Opera Universitaria with the aim of spreading the culture of sustainable food and responsible management of the good among students. common. A crucial theme in a community place like a student residence, experienced by people with different origins and sensitivities.”
Javiera, an international student who lives at Mayer, says that: “This course was an opportunity to learn how to cook simple and healthy dishes, but also to meet many young people who, like me, are far from their own country.” And again Aleksander, a student who lives in the San Bartolameo residence and is passionate about cooking: “It was nice to be able to propose to the chef the dishes we wanted to learn, but above all to be able to then eat them in company. A way to feel more at home, while at the same time giving a helping hand to the environment.”
