More than 8,000 students aged between 6 and 10 took part in Talent Kitchen – stories of no-waste cooking – the educational competition of Moments not to be Wasted, promoted by Whirlpool for the second year running in Italian primary schools and for the first time in Slovakia, and in Poland.
The project involved almost 1,000 schools with the aim of increasing awareness among young children and their families about sustainable and fair-trade food purchase, preservation and consumption, and offered the chance for all participants to converse freely about a key and current issue such as food waste.
The response was incredible: young students shared many “not-to-be wasted moments” at school with teachers and at home with families. Through the album entitled My no-waste cooking children had the chance to take on board the all-important message of the social and environmental value of food and share it with family members. There are many works showing the active involvement of parents, siblings and grandparents in the project, handling ingredients, recipe books, photos, albums to be read, written and colored and to to bring back to schools.
The classes involved in the project have been supported by the coordination center for the whole project’s course and were assisted with production of the most creative possible individual and group work. In this way, teachers let the imagination of their students free, and subsequently gave the examining commissions a hard time. A real desire to express their ideas allowed the children to become writers, artisans, advertising or technology experts, producing posters, eBooks and advertising campaigns which represent Whirlpool’s message in the best way possible. After a long assessment, the various commissions announced the nine winners of the Moments not to be wasted competition). The three examining commissions selected the projects which stood out from the others for their completeness and cross-disciplinary. The commissions examined various types of works, from printed documents such as recipe books, advertising posters, plastic models, and board games to digital versions such as eBooks, videogames and adverts.
As regards Italy, Class 3 A of Molinello Primary School in Eboli (SA) won first place for their innovative format. Joint second place went to Classes 2 A and 4 B of Marco Mancini Primary School in Fabriano (AN), and Class 4 B of Via Milano Primary School in Rozzano (MI).
As regards Poland, first place went to Szkoła Podstawowa nr 152 of Łódź while joint second place went to Szkoła Podstawowa nr 166 of Warszawa and to Integracyjna Szkoła Podstawowa ALTO of Wrocław.
As regards Slovakia, first place went to ZŠ Komenského of Poprad while joint second place went to ZŠ Liptovský Mikuláš and to ZŠ Hranovnica.
In Slovakia the project has been awarded as Best CSR Practices for the year 2018, that is one of the most important national recognition about CSR.
A special mention also went to the children of San Giuseppe dei PII Padri Scolopi Comprehensive School in Empoli.
Stay tuned for the third edition to come!