On Saturday 6 August we held a Showcook Discosoup* (DiscoCook) for the walkers of ACANAC 2022, an action within the Escutismo.Come project.
A DiscoCook brings together the best of the worlds of music and cooking. Music is good company for those who cook, and as the Chef on duty, Rossano Fillipini, tells us, "we cook to make others happy". Music has the ability to inspire towards healthier behaviours, as chef Jamie Oliver shows us in the Food Revolution campaign, and in the song that Ed Sheeran wrote to drive the petition. Through music we can also attract young people to positive actions, as did Vice-Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo at the time of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, where through a DJ in a pavilion, he managed to mobilise young people to get vaccinated.
The objective of this DiscoCook was to provide the young scouts with a learning moment on healthy and sustainable diets, watered with good sound, in the manner of a summer festival, as the month of August invites. This season we want to make the most of the good weather, the long days, and the holidays. If we can add learning to a moment of relaxation, success is guaranteed.
In a perfect outdoor setting, in the middle of the enclosure, between trees and tents, in 107 improvised kitchens, the young scouts were the most receptive and participative audience we could have had. It was our first time activating an action for such a large audience - over 2,000! Despite the heat, they didn't give up preparing the meal.
The recipe, Pasta with Vegetables from the Garden, respected 5 assumptions: adaptation to the conditions of the place (cooking in a camp, outdoors, two burners available, and limited utensils); cost of the meal, which had to respect a budget established by the organisation; balanced nutritional value (with the seal of approval from nutritionists Catarina Vasconcelos and Cecília Franco); sustainability (vegetarian meal and with fresh vegetables produced locally); and flavour, guaranteed by Chef Rossano's advice.
Putting these ingredients together, stirring well to involve the flavours, in the end the youngsters served a delicious, healthy and sustainable meal to their teams.
The balance of the action was very positive and we hope to put food and music together again so that, in the next DiscoCook session, we can teach young people the arts of healthy and sustainable cooking, with a dance rhythm.
If you would like to register your school or group, please contact us: cecilia.franco@food4sustainability.org
*The event was promoted as part of the #OurFood.OurFuture campaign, co-funded by the European Union