The stage (field seminar) in France, one of the most celebrated gastronomic areas worldwide, will cover different regions. After starting off in Bordeaux, where an introductory lecture on the farming and food sectors of Aquitaine has been organized at the Association Aquitaine de Promotion Agroalimentaire (AAPRA), and a meeting with Anne Marbot, of the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB), the first student group will move to Blanquefort, St Emilion, and Arcachon, where they will visit an oyster farm.
In the French Pays Basque, a lecture on Gâteau Basque has been scheduled at Bixente Marixular confectioner’s, to be followed by a visit to the Eyhartzea duck farm, to the Delpeyrat canning factory (industrial fois gras), and the Maïsadour cooperative (European leader of seed-corn). An introductory lecture has also been scheduled at the Basque Producers’ Association on the IDOKI project.
On the last two days in France, students will familiarize with the Espelette chili pepper, taste pig trotters at Restaurant Herbin, learn how to tell confit from pâtÈ and fois gras from the Barthouil family, visit the J.H. De Bailliencourt artisanal cannery, and lunch at the Lagadec cider-making production facility in Ascain.
The second group of UNISG students will travel to the South of England, and specifically to London, and the counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset.
The educational tour will first take them to Daylesford Organic in Gloucestershire, where a meeting has been organized to provide an overview of the farm, its origins, phylosophy (sustainability, ecology, and organic farming), products, and marketing strategy. The Chelsea Garden cookery school will be the next stop.
On the next day, students will learn more on food culture while taking a walking gastrotour in London, which will have Selfridges as their final destination, where they will be introduced to the marketing strategies of the department store.
On Sunday, a tour of the 150-acre Brogdale farm in Faversham, home of the National Fruit Collection, one of the largest fruit collections in the world, has been organized.
The students will then visit Hogchester Farm and Oyster Farm in Portland, Somerset Cider Brandy, where they will sit through a lecture on the history of cider in the United Kingdom, and visit some artisanal Cheddar producers (Montgomery, Keens and Westcombe Dairy, the latter being a Slow Food Presidium), including an overview of the product origins and the sensory aspects of milk.