Culinary students from Zim varsities learn gastronomy tourism in Spain

. . . move courtesy of First Lady

Tendai Rupapa in SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain

THERE are vast prospects for exchanges and collaborations between the advanced Basque Culinary Centre in Spain and Zimbabwean universities, a development expected to boost gastronomy tourism and foster skills transfer.

This came out during a tour of the culinary centre by students from various universities in Zimbabwe on the sidelines of the eighth United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)’s World Food Forum on Gastronomy Tourism, courtesy of First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, who roped them into her delegation.

This also comes as the Angel of Hope Foundation is collaborating with Zimbabwean universities in the areas of culinary arts, gastronomy, cultural tourism and research on traditional grains and foods.

Therefore, the leading European gastronomic university, Basque Culinary Centre — which focuses on training both theory and practical, research and innovation, among other fields — was the place to be.

Covid-19 resulted in many experienced chefs taking up jobs elsewhere, leaving the country with limited capacity to learn gastronomy tourism.

Therefore, the students’ participation bodes well for skills development, knowledge sharing in best tourism practices and growth. Amai Mnangagwa, who was invited by UNWTO to address the forum, brought along the students from various universities across the country in a first-of-its-kind move to enhance their knowledge in the field of food science and gastronomy.

The students had an opportunity to gain hands-on experience, learning different cooking techniques, food preparation and serving skills, among others.

The Basque Culinary Centre — which offers bachelor’s, masters and PhD degree programmes in gastronomic sciences — is also a research and innovation centre for new products and services, sensory health sustainability and digital transformation.

Areas visited during the tour included the bread workshop, the pastry kitchen, food kitchens, restaurants, food and wine-testing centre, the boiled food workshop and the prepared food workshop.

The students were accompanied by Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Barbara Rwodzi and University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo, who was representing tertiary institutions.

Basque Culinary Centre general manager Mr Joxe Mari Aizega commended the First Lady for her hard work and bringing the students. He said the institution was created 14 years ago to promote the social and economic development of gastronomy.

“At the moment, it’s a very wide ecosystem with the university faculties. We have bachelor’s degrees, 10 master programmes, PhD programmes in gastronomic sciences with students from all over the world. They are from 35 countries and are coming here to study and to specialise in gastronomy. We do research about sensory health sustainability, digital transformation, new products and services. We offer different programmes, for example, we have high school students coming here to study for the bachelor’s degree,” he said.

“We are pleased to have a delegation from Zimbabwe led by the First Lady at the forum, and it has been a pleasant experience to be welcoming the students from universities in Zimbabwe to show them and share with them how we do it here — the education, the cooking training, as well as the management. I see they are very committed and have a lot of energy about the future. They are going to be big professionals. We hope to have exchanges and collaboration with Zimbabwean universities.”

Minister Rwodzi said it was an honour to have the First Lady as a patron in her ministry due to the success of her programmes.

“Her cookout competitions that started in 2021 have now landed us here in Spain and today, through her initiative of inviting the universities on board for the growth of gastronomy tourism, we are here together with the Vice Chancellor, Professor Paul Mapfumo, with students from various universities in the country, learning, experiencing and having exposure about what exactly gastronomy tourism is about, which is what the First Lady has a vision about and where she wants to take gastronomy tourism for the country, Zimbabwe,” she said.

“Now, she has been honoured and she has been recognised. She has been respected by the UNWTO for the work that she started. For us, it is a privilege and we are very happy and we are looking forward to growing gastronomy tourism in our country further and bigger through her guidance.”

Prof Mapfumo described the First Lady as an icon, who has helped shape the tourism education framework from theory to practical learning.

He is optimistic the partnership between the Angel of Hope Foundation and local universities will boost gastronomy tourism and traditional food innovation in Zimbabwe.

“I am here representing all the other universities and leading students who are focusing on the nexus of agriculture, food technology, gastronomy, environment and culinary arts. Speaking from a scientific perspective, the nexus of environment and natural resources, agriculture and food systems brings culinary and gastronomy at the centre because then we are talking about food. And this is where we would then see innovation beginning to come out, and this innovation speaks now to our Education 5.0, where we see the development of our innovation hubs that has been ushered in by the Government of Zimbabwe through the visionary leadership of His Excellency President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa. The First Lady has become an icon of traditional cookout competitions, has become an icon on promotion of traditional values, including gastronomy tourism, and this, to us, as universities, changes the whole outlook of our education,” he said.

Local universities, Prof Mapfumo said, were changing from being theorists to being practically oriented for the benefit of learners and the nation.

“We have seen here at the Basque Culinary Centre that 70 percent of their time is spent on the practical aspect of their learning, with 30 percent being the theory. This is moving away from what we used to have; that it was more theory than practice. And with our transformation, we are getting insights about how we can also become more practical with an orientation on production of goods and services. The First Lady has given us a rare opportunity to see this practically, and also this dovetails with the programming that she has also introduced in the country, which has attracted many diverse people — women, the old and the young — to focus on traditional foods. The universities are beginning to embark on value addition of traditional foods, and this wouldn’t be any better time to get insights on how this can be actualised at the practical level. As universities in Zimbabwe, we are honoured to be partnering the Angel of Hope Foundation, under the visionary leadership of the First Lady, in trying to explore the traditional foods and values that go with gastronomy tourism, food systems and also the cultural context,” he said.

The students expressed delight in having been part of the tour.

Tafadzwa Dhliwayo, a Master of Philosophy in Food Science student under the Future Grains Programme, paid glowing tribute to the First Lady for affording them a rare opportunity.

“I would like to thank the First Lady for giving us this opportunity to come to Spain to learn different cultures, how they do their things and gastronomy tourism. Here, they have different kitchen setups. Some have fire, some have gas and some are electric, and we have been practically learning how they make certain foods,” she said.

“As part of their practical lessons, students are the ones who prepare dishes in restaurants. They are the ones who serve the food in their restaurants. The students are being taught in their classes by top chefs known worldwide and they said 70 percent of what they do is practical, while 30 is theory. In Zimbabwe, we have also been adopting that through our Education 5.0, as well as Vision 2030, and also the cookout competition that Amai has been spearheading. It is my wish to have our own culinary centres in Zimbabwe. We also learnt how they prepare their food, infusing their food culture from their heritage-based studies. They also have different sensory evaluation labs that test their wines and foods. Every student has a module on wine and food testing, so they have a modernised sensory laboratory, where they will be testing their food.”

The same sentiments were echoed by Leroy Zondo, a Food Science and Technology student.

“I would like to express my appreciation of the First Lady for this once-in-a-lifetime experience to see this beautiful city and experience its culture and appreciate the science and technology that is offered here,” he said.

“What I have learnt here is they converge the science and practice, which means the science they learn in the classroom is able to have real-life application, such as product development. They have a sensory facility that allows the students to do wine testing and various other beverages, which could enable them to test their products and then have them used by customers.

“This centre has great traditional advancement, which even the food products they are studying in class they can actually improve them on their own and have them tested for the nutritional benefits and possibly the medicinal benefits that the food products may offer. As a Zimbabwean student, I have benefitted from the experience to appreciate the process first-hand because this is science-based, which means it guarantees food safety and, at the same time, it gives students the opportunity to have a real-life experience of knowing how it is to serve a real-time customer, and that gives experience to go into the real world. And taking this home, this is going to improve our traditional recipes so that they can not only just be served as a luxury dish but they can also be convenient and they can also be preserved and have flavour to be convenient for people to eat at any time. I am going to share what I learnt here with other students back home,” he said.

Vimbainashe Dembedza, a Master of Philosophy Science in Nutrition student, said: “I would like to thank Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, our mother, for her vision and the opportunity to be selected as one of the students to come and explore gastronomy tourism in San Sebastian, Spain. This has been an exciting exploration. I have learnt that we can actually implement this at our schools back in Zimbabwe, where we can use these techniques to prepare our traditional foods in the universities. We have seen that here, they have restaurants at the centre where students prepare food as part of practical lessons and serve it in their school restaurants. I think we can also adopt this in Zimbabwe, where students can also prepare our traditional foods as part of their practical lessons, then people from the community can come and buy this.”