Education

Develop School Gardens

For more than 30 years Slow Food has been seeding school gardens around the world as an excellent learning tool. They engage students by providing experiential learning and allow to tackle food and environmental education, biodiversity loss and climate crisis as well as most of the subject of the curriculum. They enable students to connect with nature, raise awareness about food production systems, and discover local food products and culinary traditions.

Slow Food’s most structured school garden networks are in Italy , USA and many of the gardens in Africa has an educational component too.  Also, the network is developing activities spontaneously around the world.

Organise Exchanges & Training for Food Professionals & Educators

Slow Food organizes a wide range of exchanges and training programs, online seminars and practical workshops.

Develop Educational Materials

Over the years, Slow Food has developed a range of communication and educational resources for Slow Food activists. These tools can be used in activities for children and adults, in refresher courses for educators who form part of the Slow Food network and in training activities for food professionals designed to increase knowledge about food, change people’s behaviors and improve professional practices.

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Learn More as a Consumer

Our choices determine how food is cultivated and produced and directly impact communities around the world. Slow Food encourages everyone to reflect more on how our food choices shape the world around us and provides tools to help choose food that is good for those who eat it, good for those who grow it and good for the planet. There are plenty of easy steps you can take to become a more responsible consumer and benefit the world around you.

Stay Informed as an Educator

Are you interested in introducing Slow Food activities in your school or institution? Sign up to the global community of Slow Food educators to receive relevant materials and updates on Slow Food projects.

Join our Global Community of Slow Food Cooks and Educators

As activists at the intersection of food, culture and climate, cooks have the power to drive change in our food systems. Join the movement of food professionals who are embracing their roles as cooks and educators to advocate for good, clean and fair food and learn how to design and implement educational activities to deliver to fellow food professionals, youth, consumers and other Slow Food activists in your community.

Slow Food Apprenticeships in Carinthia, Austria

The Slow Food Travel apprenticeship in the climate-neutral Der Daberer Biohotel in Carinthia, Austria, partners local producers with the Slow Food Travel network and infuses Slow Food values into the practices of its apprentices—raising awareness surrounding local food products, and teaching invaluable insights into food production, processing and trade. The chefs of Slow Food Carinthia have also introduced Slow Food Corners in many local schools, involving thousands of students in full-day activities that feed their curiosity about food both inside and outside the classroom.

Bedding School Gardens into the National Curriculum, Macedonia

Our Macedonian chapter, Slow Food Bitola, has designed the exciting new course “Gardens as an Educational Tool” which is pending approval from The Bureau of Educational Development. Once approved, every school in Macedonia will be free to incorporate this course into the curriculum, educating fourth- and fifth-grade students about biodiversity, plant growth and development, tillage, sowing, fertilization and photosynthesis.

Planting Community Forest Centers in Romania

The Slow Food Târgu Mureș Community in Romania has transformed an abandoned space into PermaFLORA: a community forest center designed to promote the Slow Food philosophy through a range of educational, recreational and regenerational activities. This multi-purpose space accommodates a perennial edible forest garden and vegetable garden, a seed library, hives and an ornithological observatory, and serves as the setting for Slow Food summer camps and other local school projects.

Slow Food School Activities in Spain

The Slow Food del Garraf i Penedès Convivium is leading a multifaceted educational project to encourage food and environmental learning and promote positive lifestyle change. The project brings together many members of the community, including local producers, families and canteen cooks, to educate schoolchildren through sensory and taste education. These children also learn about Slow Food themes of sustainability, biodiversity, the safeguarding of local cuisine and culture and the fight against food waste. A teaching kit called La Escarola Perruqueta va a la Escuela was created alongside the project, allowing it to be replicated elsewhere.

Slow Food School Activities in Switzerland

The Slow Mobil is a construction trailer converted into a fitted kitchen which travels around the country engaging children in an experiential form of learning. This initiative teaches children about ecological and food–related topics through fun, hands-on cooking classes using healthy, sustainable food. When the school day ends, the Slow Mobil transforms into a mobile venue for sustainable food-related events, bringing adults onboard with the Slow Food message.

Modernizing Menus in Czech School Canteens

“It’s on Our Plate and We Care” is an ongoing project organized by Slow Food Prague that addresses the urgent need to promote sustainable nutrition for children and young people. Nearly 80% of Czech schoolchildren eat lunch in their school canteens every day, making canteens the perfect settings for food and nutrition education. But modernization in school menus has not kept up with our nutritional knowledge. This project seeks to redress this through delicious healthy food, protecting childrens’ health and nourishing them with knowledge.

Equilibrium Educational Community in Havana, Cuba

Equilibrium is a community of experienced multisectoral professionals that focuses on counseling and training in food and nutrition. Its program, Con las manos en la masa, uses Slow Food methodology to teach children about food and nutrition, immersing them in the world of cooking and letting them indulge their senses. Each day, the students prepare a healthy recipe and experience the pleasure in eating it while learning about the path one ingredient has taken from farm to fork. Equilibrium also works with senior citizens, hosting talks on the benefits of healthy eating and facilitating the exchange of knowledge, advice, skills and recipes.