Gastronomic Innovation and Food Sustainability Shine at the Raiana Fair in Idanha-a-Nova
From July 26th to August 4th, the Raiana Fair in Idanha-a-Nova showcased various innovative gastronomic experiences, highlighting three significant projects: RNAES, OakFood, and InovFarmer.MED. These initiatives, organized by Food4Sustainability CoLAB in collaboration with the Municipal Center for Culture and Development (CMCD) and GeoCakes, brought to light local and underutilized ingredients, promoting sustainable and diverse food consumption.
With a focus on designing healthy and sustainable recipes, creations that captivated the audience were presented, such as fresh cheese crumble with olive oil foam and cordovil olive emulsion, travia tart with pumpkin jam and extra virgin olive oil (as part of the RNAES project); vegan prickly pear rice pudding with blueberries in syrup, prickly pear rice pudding custard tart with squab base (as part of the InovFarmer. MED project) and acorn crumble (under the OakFood project).
These delicacies not only delighted everyone present, but also served as an example to educate about the versatility and importance of ingredients such as the traditional products of Beira-Baixa, the prickly pear and the acorn, which are currently not valued or integrated into the diet of the population in Portugal.
The joint presence of projects from the Healthy Food pillar of Food4Sustainability reinforced the commitment to food sustainability and the valorisation of local natural resources. The Raiana Fair, with the theme ‘One Health, One Planet’, provided the ideal setting for these demonstrations, in line with Idanha-a-Nova's vision as a territory committed to sustainable and innovative practices. This event not only promoted the participating projects, but also strengthened the region's gastronomic identity, encouraging the use of local and sustainable ingredients in contemporary cuisine. The success of this initiative promises to pave the way for future opportunities to explore and valorise Beira Baixa's food resources.
About RNAES: RNAES aims to create the National Network for Balanced and Sustainable Food. This project applies an integrated approach involving the different players operating in the territorial food systems of 23 regions in Portugal. Aiming for a systemic change in eating behaviour and the enhancement of the Mediterranean diet, the consortium has developed a strategy that provides for the implementation of a set of activities whose main objectives are (1) To promote behavioural change towards healthy and sustainable eating; (2) Study and monitor the different factors that influence and enhance good adherence to the Mediterranean Diet; (3) Create a structure that characterises local food systems to support decision-making and the definition of intervention priorities; (4) Promote networking and cooperation between the projects being implemented under the National Plan for Balanced and Sustainable Food (PNAES). The project also provides for the creation of a Territorial Food Systems Observatory, as well as the development of tools to facilitate the characterisation and enhancement of territorial food systems that promote the Mediterranean diet, through a benchmark for enhancement, a citizen science app, and other communication and training materials.
About OakFood: The main goal of the OakFood project is the integrated valorization of acorns and their by-products as raw materials for the development of new innovative food products. It aims to develop a network of producers, study and optimize processing costs, and create and test innovative composite foods. A marketing and communication strategy will be developed, focused on emerging and international markets, supported by an assessment of the social and economic impact and the carbon footprint of the value chain being built.
About InovFarmer.MED: Aware that environmental and social changes profoundly affect Euro-Mediterranean agri-food systems, exposing the fragility of Mediterranean food systems already strained by climate change, population growth, and resource scarcity, the InovFarmer.MED consortium developed a capacity-building strategy to address the vulnerabilities of producers, especially small-scale farmers, to build resilience to these challenges. InovFarmer.MED examines the value chains of two traditional agri-food products with high economic potential and social significance for small-scale farmers in the Mediterranean basin: figs (Ficus carica) and prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica).
The RNAES and OakFood projects are research and innovation initiatives funded under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) – Investment RE-C05-i03 – Research and Innovation Agenda for the Sustainability of Agriculture, Food, and Agri-Industry, under Notices No. 12/C05-i03/2021 I&D+I Projects – Sustainable Food (PRR-C05-i03-I-000162) and No. 15/C05-i03/2021 I&D+I Projects – Promotion of Portuguese Agri-Food Products (PRR-C05-i03-I-000200), supported by the Portuguese PRR budget and European NextGenerationEU funds. The InovFarmer.MED project is part of the PRIMA MED Program, supported by the European Union, Consortium Agreement No. 1733, FCT/PRIMA/0005/2021.
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