Seminars (IO2) and Expert Meetinfs in the Czech Republic
Seminars for managers of public catering establishments - getting acquainted with the ReKuK project.
In the Czech Republic, 4 seminars were organized and offered under the title "regional, seasonal, organic and fresh food in public catering".
The first seminar took place on the 6th of April 2018 at the Secondary Vocational School and in Žatec (Central Bohemia Region). The event was attended by 20 heads of school catering establishments, as well as teachers and students of the final year of the school.
In mid-May (15th and 16th of May) two seminars took place at the Agricultural Faculty of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. The seminars were attended by 30 participants: heads of school catering establishments, chefs and executive chefs from the elementary and nursery schools of the town of České Budějovice..
The fourth seminar was organized in cooperation with the Department of Education of the South Bohemian Region and again took place at the Agricultural Faculty of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. The 25 participants consisted of heads of school catering establishments from the Central Bohemian Schools of the South Bohemian Region.
The seminar program was similar for all four seminars. The introductory lecture "Sustainable Diet - Using Regional, Seasonal, Organic and Fresh Foods in Public Catering" was always presented by Doc. Ing. Jan Moudrý, Ph.D. from the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of South Bohemia and Ing. Jan Gallas - Director of the Department of Environmental and Ecological Agriculture of the Ministry of Agriculture in Prague informed the participants of the seminar on the topic of "Bioproduction in the Czech Republic and Possibilities of its Use in Public Catering". Prof. Ing. Jan Moudrý, CSc. from the Agricultural Faculty of the University of South Bohemia presented one of the modules of the ReKuK project (Waste, Energy, Marketing, Food, Menu) and "School Dining in Europe" at each seminar. Each part of each seminar included a short lecture and a long discussion on the subject: "Current practice in school catering" with experts (Bc. Anna Packová - State Health Institute Brno, Center for Public Health Support, Antonín Vorel - Head of Catering Services, České Budějovice Hospital or Bc. Drahomíra Trnčíková - director of the central school canteen Třebíč).
At the end of each seminar, they were introduced to the offer of an additional course of lifelong learning, received practical information and materials from the ReKuK project and a certificate of the training.
A thematic excursion (colorful spring spreads from local, fresh, seasonal and organic foods) was followed by the lecture and discussion part of the seminar.
Expert meeting
During the implementation of the ReKuK project, four partial expert meetings were held, where the idea of the training materials were reviewed. The final joint meeting of experts (16 participants + meeting organizers) took place on June 5th 2018 at the Ministry of Agriculture in Prague. Introduced by doc. Ing. Jan Moudrý, Ph.D. from the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice with a short lecture entitled "Sustainable diet - use of regional, seasonal, organic and fresh foods in public catering followed by extensive group discussion and joint evaluation.
The afternoon session consisted of a lecture by Mgr. Alena Strosserová, school nutrition officersof the Department of Education and Health of the Municipal Office of Prague entitled "Experience with the use of regional production in public catering". It was followed by a moderated debate.
The seminar was attended by leading experts in the field of agricultural primary production (with a focus on organic farming), representatives of local producers and traders. In addition, experts from the field of education, healthcare and marketing were also present and active in the discussion.
The main topics of the discussion were: assessment of the current situation with focus on school meals (personnel, economic and methodical support), training of managers and kitchen staff (forms, methods, problems related to motivation-link to ReKuK project outcomes, food distribution (suppliers vs. small regional producers), organic food - specific problems of the Czech Republic, education a healthy relationship to food (close cooperation of parents, teachers and kitchen management).