The IES María Ibars cooking students will be able to receive training and internships in five UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy

The declaration of Dénia as the Creative City of Gastronomy benefits every time a more important sector of the population. During the next two years, IES Maria Ibars cooking students will receive training and internships in five UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy thanks to the program Erasmus Youth in Action, Young Chefs for a Sustainable Gastronomy.

The bases of this program were stipulated last January in a meeting that was held in Dénia and now, thanks to a grant from the European Union of 225.000 euros, is a reality.

This week, the five cities that are part of the program - Denia, Bergen (Norway), Östersund (Sweden), Parma (Italy) and Gaziantep (Turkey) - have met in Bergen to organize and coordinate the exchanges.

Dénia traveled with Professor Jaume Ginestar, representing the IES Maria Ibars, as a training center that has been integrated into the project, and the director of the Office of Innovation and Creativity, Floren Terrades.

The experience will be carried out over the next two years and includes transnational technical and thematic meetings, exchanges of teachers and students of cooking, and internships in training centers and restaurants in the five cities that have been involved in this program.

At the meeting in Bergen, the promoters of the program have set themselves the goal of training the leaders of the local gastronomy of the future. For this, seven essential points have been marked under the common heading Youth in action (Youth in action):

• Young people in action to value educational education in the food chain.
• Young people in action to promote young employment in the food chain.
• Young people in action so that there are more young entrepreneurs in the sector.
• Young people in action to spread the concept of sustainable gastronomy.
• Young people in action to train more skilled and motivated professionals.
• Young people in action for creativity and innovation.
• Young people in action to contribute to the preservation of the local gastronomic heritage.

The program has involved up to eighteen public institutions and private entities from the five associated cities: town halls, secondary schools, universities and business associations. In the case of Dénia, the program will be aimed, in particular, at the IES Maria Ibars students, but it is also open to young apprentices and professionals, teachers and entrepreneurs. At the local level, the CdT Dénia Tourism Center and the Association of Hotel and Tourism Businessmen of the Marina Alta (AEHTMA) collaborate on the program.