Food for integration: a great intercultural festival in Volos, Greece!

More than 400 people visited the Ethnic Food Festival that was organised by the Second Chance School of Volos, Thessaly, Greece. The Ethnic Food Festival was an intercultural initiative in the framework of the “Seeds for Integration” programme and was financed by OBESSU.

It brought together people from 17 different countries: Albania, Afghanistan, Armenia, Bulgaria, Germany, Georgia, Dominican Republic, Greece, China, Morocco, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ukraine, Pakistan, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Russia and Syria. It was organised by the Second Chance Schools of Volos, Karditsa and Larisa of the region of Thessaly in cooperation with the NGO ARSIS – Association for the Social Support of Youth, the Public Institute of Vocational Training of Volos, the Institute of Vocational Training of the Municipality of Volos and the Parents’ Union of the Municipality of Volos.

All the delicacies were prepared by students of the Second Chance Schools of Volos, Karditsa and Larisa who did their best to present traditional and delicious dishes from their countries. Also, there were three special participations: a group of roma women, students from the Chefs’ specialty of the Institute of Vocational Training of the Municipality of Volos and students from the bakery and confectionery specialty of the Public Institute of Vocational Training of Volos. A compilation of ethnic music was made up from songs from all the participating countries and photocopies of the recipes were on every table.

As Mr Vigklas Linos, the director of the Second Chance School of Volos stated, the Ethnic Food Festival was a celebration of tastes and cultures that gave the opportunity to the students, migrants and locals and to the wider community to work together, discuss all the themes and problems, find alternatives, disseminate the event and most importantly get to know each other.

The event received a lot of publicity from local and even national media and it will certainly serve as a good practice for the educational inclusion of migrant and refugee students.

Written by enthusiastic Volos project team