“A Scuola di Cotto”
It’s easier to learn while having fun.

The educational project sponsored by Parmacotto is offered to children attending the 3rd and 4th year of the primary schools and it starts over with a second edition, with new activities and contents, even more up to date and entertaining. The latest news is the addition of the schools from Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna.

Opening the doors of the Company to students with the goal to convey to them the fundamental importance of good nutrition through entertainment has been a trump card for PARMACOTTO. Focusing on our region’s excellence in the food sector – where food preparation, processing and preservation techniques are an outstanding cultural heritage – the company’s Educational Division, with the Provincial government’s sponsorship, has planned from scratch, developed and managed this educational project. Last year’s edition was an instant success from the beginning and it ended on a high note: it involved about 350 pupils from the primary schools of Parma and neighbouring municipalities.

Many activities and different games for a single goal: getting to know and be aware of consumption choices in order to promote healthy and correct lifestyles.

This is the concept of “A SCUOLA DI COTTO”: through playing and having fun, the children actively live an informative and learning experience inside the Company, learning about food and its culture, aimed at turning the children into true ambassadors of healthy eating in everyday life.

PARMACOTTO and its staff dedicate an entire morning to “learning by playing”, this is their commitment. Guided by the project’s mascot Betta la Vaschetta, a fantasy figure and the animated video narrator, the classes “travel” through all the processing phases of cooked ham production then, assisted by an expert, the students are presented with the key elements of a correct diet. After the lecture, the little guests have a first-hand experience of production. During a guided visit to the plant they see the slicing and packaging of the product. In brief, an educational journey in stages at the same time involving, creative and entertaining, to teach through play that food is culture, that food brings people together and it not just something to learn in school, but it is reinforced in life every day.

Because PARMACOTTO strongly believes in the educational value of this project, it decided to extend the second edition beyond the area of Parma, offering it also to schools in the cities of Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna and the corresponding provincial municipalities.
The most relevant and especially innovative aspect of the new version of “A SCUOLA DI COTTO” certainly is the sensory analysis, made possible in collaboration with the Centro Studi Assaggiatori (Tasters Centre) from Brescia, Italy’s avant-guard unit in this field. The basic elements of sensory analysis, the method based on the use of the senses to scientifically evaluate the organoleptic features of food products is the main innovation of this programme.
To contribute to their growth, these young consumers have access a real sensory lab: a series of interactive games specifically designed for them and intended to enhance a more aware use of their own sensory skills, thus allowing responsible approach to food.
The PARMACOTTO project is therefore expanding with the aim to “stimulate the growth” of the children attending the programme: to help them become more assured, independent, capable of making choices and proposals starting from a new shared experience emerged from knowing what perception is all about.

But that’s not all for “A SCUOLA DI COTTO”. It will also share its commitment with GIOCAMPUS, a natural extension, whose main objective is to achieve the wellbeing of future generations with training, good practices and coordinated actions from everyone involved, from family, to school, institutions and businesses that, like PARMACOTTO, chose to believe in welfare through education.
All the project details are available on the educational.parmacotto.com website and the teachers interested in participating with their classes can contact the Company directly. As for the first edition, also for the 2018-19 year, signing up is free of charge.