Can the White Art be the answer to our kids' hyper-digitisation and a return to manual skills and traditions?

That is our goal with “Pane Nostro – Dire, Fare… Gustare”, a project with Pizza School Margherita 2000 in Abano Terme, sponsored by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo as part of the program Attivamente, which will teach primary and secondary students in Padua and Rovigo how to make bread and pizza.

Bread has a great history, a wealth of wisdom, poetry and art behind it, which is the history of mankind.

Mixing water and flour is an ancestral and maternal gesture, it triggers a vital process, ever growing and evolving... But young generations, what with fast food, ready to eat and ready to cook food, may lose touch not only with their own connection to the land and seasonal products, but also with the act of feeding itself, and its health, social and cultural relevance.

We firmly believe that promoting a proper relationship with food to children and youths should drop any moralistic posturing and be a fun and open experience. Our project “Pane nostro – Dire, fare… gustare” has been designed with an interdisciplinary approach, through a workshop learning experience, in order to shift from traditional food education to sensory education.

A mindful approach to food reveals an overall attitude towards life, an openness to its pleasures, a connection to its roots, and the acknowledgement of the relevance of conviviality and food sharing, which is the first step towards solidarity and inclusion.

This 3-hour full immersion workshop will be run by a Pizza Chef, who will show all technical aspects of the White Art, and by an actor, who will take care of storytelling to entertain and instruct at the same time.

With a cooking TV show style, all participants will be led through topics previously agreed upon and among the following: the appropriate food-handling practices, food ethics and sustainability, the value of traditions, the respect of the land and of seasonal products, inclusion and the other people's bread…

  • Students will mix and knead bread and pizza; they will bake and taste it.
  • Each student will get their workstation, an individual kit, ingredients and, while listening to stories, will work on their dough.
  • They will shape and top their own pizza and bake it in the oven.
  • They will take home their doughso that they will be able to bake and share it with the whole family. This will allow time for the proper rising. The dough used for the classes will have been prepared ahead of time in our Pizza School. These way pizzas will have had the correct rising time and will be more digestible.
  • We will make arrangements for food allergies, and provide with pizza or bread for celiacs, so nobody will be excluded.


We ran a test with two classrooms in Abano Terme, 36 participants, and the school experience, plus the subsequent pizza making at home was a success: 20 photos and 54 comments posted on social media! Not bad for a brand new project...

This program is absolutely free to schools and students; please contact Fondazione CARIPARO to coordinate the event.

Pane nostro – Dire, fare… gustare

Experiential Learning about pizza and/or bread for schools

 

This food education project is open to:

Schools: primary, secondary

Grade: all grades

Number of students: one classroom

Length: One 3-hour meet

Technical requirements: availability of an oven; interactive whiteboard or video projector.

Activity run by A.P.S. Art Rock Café

Coordinator: Riccardo Broch

Phone: 3359230453

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.