One of the main goals of the European project EATWISE – Empowering All Together With Inclusive Sustainable Eating is to create concrete tools to promote education for sustainability and social inclusion through food.
Among the project’s key outputs – alongside the publication of the Cookbook and the Guidebook – one in particular has taken on a special significance for the whole partnership: the creation of the EATWISE Training Manual, a training resource designed for educators, youth workers, and local communities.
The Manual was not created behind a desk, but in the field, through months of exchange, listening, and experimentation. It is the result of a journey that involved six organizations from Italy, Portugal, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Türkiye, and Romania, united by the belief that food can be an extraordinary meeting point between cultures, generations, and worldviews.
The Bucharest training
The most important moment of this journey was the international training held in Bucharest in April 2025. There, for the first time, 30 youth workers and trainers from the partner countries came together to take part in the joint EATWISE training: three intense days of workshops, discussions, and shared learning.
Each participant brought ideas, experiences, and activity proposals developed within their own local context, inspired by the research and interviews conducted with young migrants and host communities. In Bucharest, these ideas came to life — they were tested, observed, challenged, and then collectively reimagined.
The training days became a true intercultural laboratory. We shared family recipes, and discussed sustainability and traditions. But above all, we reflected on how to turn all these experiences into concrete, accessible educational tools. It was a moment of great energy and participation, where each activity was analyzed and refined based on group feedback.
From discussion to the creation of the manual
The Bucharest training gave birth to the final version of the EATWISE Training Manual, which collects and organizes the best practices that emerged during the process. Every workshop included in the manual was tested and validated in that context, making the document not only theoretical but deeply experiential.
The methodology we adopted is based on non-formal education, placing participants at the center of the learning process: learning by doing, sharing, and reflecting together. Through practical food-related activities, the manual encourages exploration of topics such as sustainability, cultural identity, interculturality, and waste reduction.
A manual for building bridges
The aim of the Training Manual is to provide concrete and flexible tools for those working with young people: educators, youth workers, schools, NGOs, and community groups. Beyond that, it serves as an invitation to use food as a common language, a way to create connections and reflect on everyday choices.
Looking back at Bucharest, we realize that the training was not just a step in the project, but the birth of a way of working together: inclusive, participatory, and intercultural.
Today, the EATWISE Training Manual carries that same energy and makes it available to everyone, because sustainability – just like a good recipe – is built together, step by step, around a shared table.
