Sardinia: Educational Innovation is on the Menu

Improving students' practical skills while promoting the integration of food education and local traditions. These are the core elements of the project “Il Sapore dei Saperi” (The Flavor of Knowledge), funded by the Ministry of Education and Merit through the 2014-2020 Cohesion Fund, with a budget of 100,000 euros.

Despite its small scale, this initiative has enabled one of the most intriguing experiments of its kind in Sardinia, showcasing how important cohesion policies can be for driving innovation in teaching within vocational hospitality schools.

Thanks to “Il Sapore dei Saperi,” the “G.A. Pischedda” Institute of Higher Education in Bosa (Oristano) has equipped itself with a training bar and restaurant, both furnished with modern equipment to create a professional environment similar to a real bar and restaurant. This setting allows students to gain hands-on experience in the hospitality and catering industries, applying the theoretical knowledge they acquire in class.

In fact, students not only practice preparing food, beverages, and complete menus, from the reception of raw materials to the presentation of dishes – all strictly in respect of local culinary traditions – but they also take direct responsibility for managing certain activities, such as the budget of CaffèTemo, whose profits are reinvested to further enhance educational activities and school lab equipment, all under the supervision of their teachers.

The project also enables students to interact directly with the public, improving their professional skills and ultimately preparing them to enter the job market as qualified professionals in hospitality and catering.

The bar, named “CaffèTemo” after the river that runs through the town and alongside which the school is located, offers a setting where students practice behind a counter equipped with modern coffee machines, a mirrored bottle display, a wide range of glasses for different types of drinks, and small tools for cocktail and long drink preparation. In a separate room, serving as a small storage area, there is also an ice maker and a dishwasher for cleaning and sanitizing glasses and cups.

The restaurant, “Saperi e Sapori della Valle del Temo”, opened in November 2021 and is located on the ground floor of the school. It operates every Wednesday at lunchtime, with menus available on the school’s website, where reservations can also be made. In the restaurant, students from the "tourism reception" department welcome guests into a spacious dining area with round tables, cotton tablecloths, and large windows overlooking the characteristic castle of Bosa. Here, too, the equipment is state-of-the-art: an induction cooktop, a combi oven that uses convection heat, a Roner for low-temperature cooking, kettles and fryers, blast chillers, and cold storage rooms, alongside various smaller tools for all kinds of culinary preparations. In an adjacent but interconnected space, there is also a pastry lab, equipped with a section for pizza and bread making.

Currently, both facilities serve only teaching and administrative staff, with the prospect of eventually extending the service to external guests and increasing opening hours.

In essence, these training bar and restaurant facilities bring a slice of the real restaurant world into the school environment, not only enhancing students' skills significantly but also celebrating local resources, promoting typical Sardinian products, and integrating the cultural and environmental heritage of the region into the educational curriculum.

An example of how cohesion funds invest in practical training as a means to develop professional skills while simultaneously promoting the integration of the region’s cultural and gastronomic heritage into school education.