BEES MEET GASTRONOMY AT ANIXI HIGH SCHOOL

Driven by sustainability, the Beelosophy team was at Anixi High School on March 20th 2024 to offer an environmental education and cultural gastronomy event.

Under the guidance of distinguished Chefs Konstantinos Mouzakis, President of the Acropolis Chef's Club of Attica/ Vice President of the European Council of Gastronomy and Oenology (CEUCO) and Panagiotis Tzimas, member of the Club and Top Baker of Europe (2021), we prepared, together with the students and teachers of the school, the traditional sweet-superfood Melekouni of Rhodes, experiencing, at the same time, its heritage as a recipe for life, a recipe for union, a recipe for love and joy. We learned about the importance of our intangible cultural heritage and agri-food treasures and promoted the Mediterranean diet and especially a healthy sugar-free diet. Then, utilising the expertise of Bee people - Agronomist Dr. Andreas Bekas (Region of Attica), Agronomist Frideriki Gouliaditi (Apiculture Center of Attica), and Beelosophy Ambassador Dr. Angelos Karagiannis, we discussed with the students about the collective wisdom of Bees, their society and their importance to life, raising awareness for their protection and motivated them to take active action and adopt sustainable behaviours.

Through the activities, we revealed the culture of everyday life, as our link with the past that is brought to life in the present, reinvented and passed down to the next generations, and we realised the connection of Bees with sustainable development. We were all provided with plenty of food for thought: How can we highlight the elements of our heritage and prevent them from being lost? What are the challenges of linking (agri-food) heritage with sustainable development and how are they being addressed? How could the cooperation of Communities of heritage elements be achieved in order to register new elements in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Index? What would be an effective strategy to support pollinators and biodiversity? How could we harness the knowledge of Bees to make our world a better place?

The cultural gastronomy initiative is part of Beelosophy's SWEETEN YOUR HERITAGE action, which aims to highlight and safeguard Melekouni of Rhodes and is under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

More

We sincerely thank Anixi High School / Deputy Director Ilias Kyriazis for the invitation and hospitality, the teachers Krystalenia Chrysanthou (biologist), Eleni Mavromatidou (philology) and Christina Pouliou (mathematics) and the students for the opportunity of cooperation and their participation. Special thanks to the contributors - the Acropolis Chef's Club of Attica/ Konstantinos Mouzakis and Panagiotis Tzimas, the Attica Beekeeping Center / Frideriki Gouliaditi, the Attica Region / Andreas Bekas, Beelosophy / Angelos Karagiannis and the rest of the team - for their courtesy, thanks to which the implementation of the action became possible.

*The activity at the Ministry of Culture and the Acropolis Chef's Club of Attica.