Bord Bia and The TASTE Council of Ireland have launched "The Future is Food" - an initiative to engage Transition Year students with Ireland’s artisan food industry.
The bodies were joined by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney to launch 'The Future is Food', in which more than 4,000 students from 200 schools across Ireland will participate.
Students will broaden their knowledge and understanding of the local, artisanal and speciality food sectors and will partner with a local food producer to develop a new product or work with them on an existing project.
The programme includes twenty lesson plans focussing on topics such as entrepreneurship, food origin and Bord Bia’s Origin Green sustainability programme as well as research, new product development and marketing. It received recognition by the National Council of Curriculum Assessment (NCCA) following a pilot in eight schools in the 2013/2014 school year.
“There are now more than 750 artisan and speciality food producers across the country who are contributing to the unprecedented local, national and international success of Ireland’s food sector,” said Minister Coveney, speaking at the launch.
“I would like to congratulate Bord Bia and The TASTE Council for developing The Future is Food as a means of providing Transition Year students with an opportunity to gain real-life insight into the array of opportunities that the Irish food sector presents for young people with an entrepreneurial flair."
Teresa Brophy, Consumer and Trade Marketing Manager at Bord Bia is encouraged by the number of schools that have signed-up to The Future is Food. “This is a hugely important initiative for Bord Bia and The TASTE Council and the number of schools taking part this year has exceeded all our expectations,” she said.
“The Future is Food will take students on a creative journey from farm to fork, giving them a unique insight into what it is to be an artisan producer or food professional running a real-life commercial enterprise with all the opportunities and challenges that presents.”
Established in 2003, The TASTE Council of Ireland is a voluntary representative group of the smaller food business sector made up largely of local, artisan and speciality food producers.
