The initiative El Olivar – Educating in the food of the future provides educational resources and organizes workshops and events with the aim of promoting the consumption of olive oil as the main basis of the Mediterranean diet and publicizing the social and environmental wealth of the olive environment among schoolchildren from 377 municipalities in Andalusia.
Acesur and EIT Food have recently launched the project El Olivar – Educating in the food of the future. This educational initiative was born with the aim of bringing the culture of olive oil closer to Primary Education students from 653 educational centers in 377 Andalusian municipalities. As one of the determining elements of the Spanish and Andalusian identity, it develops its skills in relation to the process and the environment, as well as the properties of olive oil as the basis of the Mediterranean diet.
El Olivar – Educating in the food of the future is an innovative project in the olive oil sector that makes educational resources available to the teaching community in digital format to address content related to the olive environment. Using a didactic guide as a base, the project facilitates the approach to the subject with detailed explanations, dynamics and games, as well as holding educational events and workshops. With this program, Andalusian minors study the olive grove as an ecosystem and a strategic productive sector in the Andalusian economy and culture, as well as the importance of consuming oil as part of a healthy diet.
Once the initiative has been made known to Andalusian educational centers, they can participate in a contest to prepare cooking recipes with olive oil; you can see the video by clicking here: https://bit.ly/RecetaDiaOlivo. This contest has been convened to commemorate World Olive Day, which is celebrated on November 26. The prize for the winning video will be participation in the first gymkhana of the El Olivar- Educating in the food of the future program at the Hacienda Guzmán, headquarters of the Juan Ramón Guillén Foundation. During the day, students must pass a series of tests that certify the acquisition of knowledge and the fulfillment of the objectives of the program. For the videos selected in second and third place, the prize consists of workshops on the process of making and tasting olive oil.
The olive tree and its precious olive oil have an undeniable cultural significance from various fields, with 80% of Spanish oil being of Andalusian origin. In this sense, Acesur considers it essential to bring Andalusian Primary School students closer to one of the determining elements of Andalusia’s socio-cultural identity. Thus, the project, co-financed by Acesur and EIT Food, is committed to bringing the culture of olive oil to the classroom as a valuable gastronomic, economic, cultural and social legacy to pass on to new generations. The proposed methodology combines the theory of learning with the guidelines of visual thought to offer impressive and close content, capable of awakening consciences. For this reason, a didactic itinerary is proposed where the desire to learn is born from attractive content and curiosity about the experiences and mysteries revealed.
This initiative is developed within the framework of the ‘Call for RIS Future Citizens Labs 2022‘ call.
