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For more information on this years´ Youth Academies please download the brochure: EUSTORY Youthe Academies in 2010!
EUSTORY Academies in 2010
27 September - 03 October in Scuol (Engadine) / Switzerland
“Food – more than a way to fight hunger? The culture of alimentation”
Financed by: Mercator Foundation Switzerland
In cooperation with: HISTORIA and Swiss Youth in Science
In cooperation with EUSTORY – and with the support of the Mercator Foundation Switzerland – HISTORIA, the Swiss history competition, accomplished a European Youth Academy from the 9th of September to the 3rd of October 2010. The topic of the week was «Food – more than a way to fight hunger?». With that the young researchers got involved in the cultural history of food. The 18 young people from eleven countries found an excellent working basis in Scoul (GR). In the mornings they were usually working in the cultural space of the Bogn Engiadina (the spa house of Scuol), afterwards they were travelling in four different groups to visit experts who showed them partial aspects of a certain topic connected with food. These experts presented for example the mill of Ftan, farms with different philosophies in Ftan, Tschlin and Vnà, the former spa hotel Nair in Tarasp, or the oldest written sources of Ftan.
The mineral water sources in Scuol were shown to the young researchers,
as were the production of electricity, or they experienced a tour with
the master of wells in Ftan. Further visits to cheese factories (in
Tschlin and Lavin) and to the dairy in Bever followed and the visit to
the kitchen of the Hotel Belvédère rounded off this part.
A cooking
class in Sent made the traditions of the cuisine of the Grisons
accessible to the young Europeans. And then, one day was dedicated to
the discussion of the international nature of food, the integration of
North and South, and the contemporary food industry. Here too, the
participants of the academy showed great commitment and intertwined
elegantly and with conviction learned topics into a fictional panel
discussion.
The visits to the experts and the daily presentations were always
thoroughly prepared. For the latter the participants of the academy
chose different forms or were working under the guidelines of the
management team. Tina Gotthardt – a freelance seminar leader and
affiliated with EUSTORY – brought up various opportunities of
collaboration and presentations, with this the work was made even more
enjoyable.
The participants were writing a blog as well, but
they did not just put up text and photos but also films –all this can be
checked out here.
The
goal of the management team to bring a piece of Swiss history,
concerning the subject of food and its importance to culture, closer to
the winners of the history competitions from all over Europe, has been
achieved. Because of thee composition of the group, the enthusiastic,
hard-working, most of the time energetic and absolutely independent
young researchers, it was easy to achieve this goal. The atmosphere was
always companionable, interested and happy. In addition to these human
factors also the country, the people and the weather showed their best
side and contributed to the excellent result of a successful academy in
their own way.
The team of HISTORIA: Christiane Derrer, Andrea Buchschacher and Nicole
Billeter have carefully prepared the academy so that one could always
rely on the organisational work, and a week of rich variety was
achieved. Those involved on site: Tina Gotthardt, Christiane Derrer and
Nicole Billeter were working smoothly together, complemented each other
in their respective focal points and were able to provide a secure
accomplishement.
Dr. Nicole Billeter, 7th of October, 2010
