Palm oil and fair trade. Two important topics that were discussed in Gorje primary school. Children learned a lot about food through various school activities and they also organized a public Seeds Market.
You could ask why children of Gorje Primary school make their own nutella and bake their own biscuits. It is because they discovered a bad impact of palm oil – impact on our environment, on animals and our health. Palm oil is most widely used vegetable oil on planet and you can find it in various products. When you enter the school, you can see posters in the corridors made by students themselves, which intend to inform about the issue of palm oil. Children were discussing this topic not only with their schoolmates and teachers but also with their parents. It made them buy products without palm oil and protect the environment. Even the school canteen does not use palm oil anymore. They simply prefer other fats – like butter, olive oil or sunflower oil – because they make less harm to nature.
Exotic fruit vs. Slovenian fruit
Fair trade was another topic they were discussing. During the talks, students found out how big the distance between food producers and consumers is. Bananas, avocadoes, pineapples or mangoes, students realized that they like to eat many exotic fruits. But after watching a film about the origin of bananas they all agreed that exotic fruit and other imported foods have a horrible impact on natural environment and on the lives of people in developing countries. Thanks to that they discussed these facts in their school parliament and agreed on preferring local food before the imported one. They also managed to write a seasonal food calendar showing which Slovenian fruits or vegetables are available in which season. But the seasonal food calendar was not enough to satisfy them so they collected local recipes using seasonal ingredients and created their own seasonal cookbook that they proudly exhibited.
Seeds market and gardening grannies
At the beginning of the project, teachers, students and other school staff and partners established a project group. They analysed questionnaires answered by students of Gorje Primary school and their parents. Then they chose the main topics, palm oil and fair trade, on which they were focusing during the whole period. After the success of We Eat Responsibly project at school they wanted to inform also local inhabitants and encourage them to grow their own fruits and vegetables. To do so, they prepared a public Seeds Market, where the visitors could exchange precious seeds of authentic Slovenian plants. The guests of honour at the market were the “Gardening grannies”. They were happy to share their precious knowledge and wisdom with others. Children and locals then created a school garden which they still take care of.
