27 refugees learn to adapt their culinary habits to the Mediterranean patron saint in a healthy and economical food workshop

27 refugees from Afghanistan, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Haiti, Georgia, Russia, Tunisia, Mali, Morocco and Honduras have participated in the second workshop of healthy and economical food organized by the School of Pharmacy and Nutrition of the University of Navarra. This is a project born from the partnership between Professor Itziar Zazpe and the Spanish Commission for Refugee financial aid (CEAR). "They told us that people who have been in Spain for a short time do not know the local gastronomic culture and that their knowledge can be a good tool to promote inclusion processes", she explains, pointing out that when teaching these sessions "we take into account the premises and conditioning factors" such as "the limited budget or the lack of knowledge of food and recipes typical of the Mediterranean culture".

The meeting was divided into a first theoretical session at position by Patricia Arellano, 4th year student of Degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, as part of her work End of Degree, carried out at subject service learning. "What is sought with this project subject is to propose solutions based on needs expressed by a social entity, in this case CEAR. I was fortunate that Patricia offered to do this work and we took up the contact again to organize the workshop", explains Professor Zazpe.

"These are people who have just arrived and are unfamiliar with our gastronomic culture," says Patricia. "That is why we try to promote diets based on healthy foods and that they, in turn, share their ideas, doubts and customs with us". However, she explains that there are times when, even if you want to eat healthy, it is difficult because it is more expensive. "That is why we have given advice so that their shopping basket is also more economical".

goal With these premises in mind, chef and University professor Julio Flames then prepared three recipes with the aim of adapting the culinary customs of the participants to the Mediterranean patron saint . In addition, the ingredients of the dishes were carefully chosen to respect the cultures and beliefs of the participants. The workshop ended with a tasting of the dishes.