The Barcelona School of Hotel Management and Tourism promotes respect for food diversity
During the third quarter of the year, a group of students from the specific training itinerary at Barcelona School of Hotel Management and Tourism completed the learning and community service project (ApS/Sc) created by the Office of Religious Affairs dubbed “Food and beliefs: a journey towards respect and diversity”.
In many religious and spiritual traditions, dietary prescriptions are a multidimensional phenomenon with a deep religious, symbolic, social, cultural and identity dimension. The community learning and service project “Food and Beliefs: A Journey towards Respect and Diversity” aims to promote knowledge, awareness and respect for the different food practices associated with religious and spiritual beliefs. At the same time, it aims to contribute to the implementation of inclusive and respectful culinary offers with this plurality in different areas.
With this in mind, the students on the specific training itinerary (IFE) at the Barcelona School of Hotel Management and Tourism have reviewed the menu served at the centre’s cafeteria, managed by the students themselves, and have adapted it to include the dietary prescriptions to suit different traditions. They have done this through research as well as interviewing religious and spiritual leaders in Barcelona, in this case, the Israeli Community of Barcelona (Judaism), the Catalan Islamic Cultural Centre (Islam), the Casa del Tibet Barcelona (Buddhism) and ISKCON Barcelona (Hinduism). They have proposed a range of hot and cold sandwiches, sweets and drinks adapted to include halal and kosher options and the prescriptions of Buddhism and Hinduism. On 5 June, they held a small closing ceremony in which they presented these menus. Representatives from the Department of Interculturality and Religious Pluralism and the Nou Barris district attended.
As part of the project, students obtained greater knowledge of the different religious traditions present in the city, the neighbourhood and the territory, with support from the Office of Religious Affairs (OAR). They have also worked on key skills, such as oral and written communication, social relationships and intercultural awareness.
Plurality of beliefs and convictions can be found in every area of our society, including our educational community, which is becoming a reflection of the city’s diversity. The OAR offers a series of educational activities where this internal diversity is not only respected but also turned into a tool for effective learning. With this in mind, in 2022, the Office of Religious Affairs created the community learning and service project “Discover the diversity of beliefs in your area.” Applying the service-learning methodology, this new project was created under the slogan “Food and beliefs: a journey towards respect and diversity”, specifically designed for students on training courses in the professional family of hospitality and tourism.
