Youth Exchange: "Taste Without Frontiers"

The Youth Exchange "Taste without frontiers" will gather 35 participants from 7 European countries (4 participants age 18-30 years old and 1 team leader without age limit per organisation): Greece, Italy, Germany, Cyprus, Croatia, Latvia and Estonia. It will take place in Athens, Greece between 1 and 10 October, 2017 (8 days, plus 2 travel days). Participants will explore the European culinary diversity as it has evolved by the flow of migrants during the last decades -national tastes combining ethnic cuisines and a fusion of new flavors- by active participation in interviews, presentations, games and outdoor activities. They will have the chance to taste different migrant food every night, interview the local migrant community and be actively involved with them. They will also have the chance to interview, discuss and listen to the stories of youth workers from local NGOs that deal with refugees in Greece, as a result of the recent European migration crisis. 

During the 8 days of the project the issue of migrant integration will be addressed by stimulating a greater conversation about how migrants have molded and contributed to our societies. Migrant kitchen will be used as an instrument to create cross-cultural understanding and promote cooperation, tolerance and solidarity. In each activity related with food, participants will have the opportunity to listen to the stories of the migrant community, find more about their national food preparation, taste recipes from non-European countries and explore how food can connect us. 

In the end of the exchange participants are expected to be aware of different migration schemes in Europe and know how to use opportunities created by migration in their work with young people. They will be more ready to develop projects connected to migration and mobility, engage migrants in their activities and foster mobility among youth. They are also expected to help change the general image of migration in society, promote tolerance and positive attitude towards immigration today and contribute to the social inclusion of marginal communities, migrants and refugees.

The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of European Union.