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Kultura w Kartoflu
Start date: Jul 15, 2014, End date: Nov 14, 2014 PROJECT  FINISHED 

We are a non-formal group of eight friends from Nowa Wieś and its surroundings. The majority of us have been active members of the Ecoeurovillage Association for several years and took part in projects within the framework of the ‘Youth in Action’ programme while others joined recently encouraged by Association’s activities as well as by the results of the recent projects within our local community. The idea to organize the exchange project arose spontaneously among us some time ago as a result of our interest in the Polish cuisine and the art of cooking. Thanks to the previous experiences of some of us we know, that there are more people of our age with similar interests. Contacts and friendships made during the previous projects resulted not only in the willingness to undertake new ones, but also in the concrete vision of our actions. Together with our partners Polonica eV from Germany and Lietuvos lenku sajungos Visagino miesto skyrius from Lithuania we would like to create a space where an exchange of culinary experiences and experiments could take place. The choice of partners for the project was not accidental – we believe that Poland, Lithuania and Germany can build a partnership based on the similarities of our national cuisines. In particular we emphasize the great significance of potato in the culinary traditions of these three countries. This is why our proposal and objective is to bring us – the Polish group – closer with the youth groups of Germany and Lithuania through cuisine. The potato becomes from our perspective an important symbol which, both jokingly and seriously, can break barriers between nations and force one to reflect on the similarities between our cultures. After initial arrangements we decided that in our culinary exchange will be designed for eight participants from each country and tke two leaders, thirty people in total. Our partners are youth groups whose profile is similar to our own, that is they are informal youth groups actively participating within their local organizations. Just like we they are students of various fields who want to go beyond formal education schemes. Therefore together we came up with the conclusion that taking advantage of a wide spectrum of non-formal education tools we can broaden our horizons in the subject of the culinary tradition. We would like to learn as much as we can about the culinary traditions of Poland, Germany and Lithuania during a week-long meeting in Nowa Wieś by undertaking a range of workshops, presentations, non-formal culinary training and debates. During the project preparations we would like to put emphasis on discovering dishes, of which the key ingredient is potato. We know that although we use the same vegetable on the daily basis, we achieve different results. We are intrigued by the Lithuanian cepelinai and the German potato salads and simultaneously we believe, that our partners would be surprised by Polish potato pancakes and other Polish culinary solutions. We want the culinary experiments of our three cultures to become a platform of dialog about what we have in common and what makes us different, and why. To achieve this we plan not only to cook together and teach one another our national dishes, but also and among other things to trace the history of potato in the culinary tradition of Europe. The culmination of our activities could be a big fair organized for the members of the local community during which we could share the fruits of our exchange project and encourage the broader public to reflection. Without doubts the direct effect of our actions would be the enhancement of the sense of European unity in participants as well as the encouragement of feelings of satisfaction, excitement and pride steming from the cultural diversity expressed in the creation of a variety of dishes. This kind of effects are processes that leave a significant trace in the mindset of young people especially in the rural environment where normally there is no chance of encounter with other cultures and customs. Thus in the long run a project like ours is a tangible chance to shape young people who are aware of their place in the European mosaic of cultures, respect other cultures and see benefits in the ongoing Europen integration.
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