Presentation of the first university degree in Sciences of Cooking and Gastronomy
On the presentation of the first inter-university degree in Sciences of Cooking and Gastronomy in Spain, Joan Roca, chef at El Celler de Can Roca, explained that “the main goal of the project, in which many organizations and companies collaborate, is to train better cooks than us who will continue our work thanks to the knowledge they will acquire”. As organiser and gastronomy adviser, Roca considers that “this new degree constitutes an achievement of the sector”.
On the presentation of the first inter-university degree in Sciences of Cooking and Gastronomy in Spain, Joan Roca, chef at El Celler de Can Roca, explained that “the main goal of the project, in which many organizations and companies collaborate, is to train better cooks than us who will continue our work thanks to the knowledge they will acquire”. As organiser and gastronomy adviser, Roca considers that “this new degree constitutes an achievement of the sector”.
The honoured Catalan chef pronounced these statements in front of thirty-five cooks who attended the presentation at the University School of Hotel Management and Tourism (CETT-UB) in order to know the characteristics of the new degree and contribute to the improvement of its curriculum.
Nan Ferreres, general coordinator of the degree and director of CETT-UB, presented the content and academic structure of the new degree. Then, Màrius Rubiralta, director of the Food and Nutrition Torribera Campus of UB, stressed: “We were in debt to a sector that has created richness and made our country more visible at an international level”. Rubiralta explained that “besides science and innovation, the added value of the degree is its concern about health and disease prevention”. “The degree —he pointed out—concludes the large project that the University of Barcelona has devoted to food and nutrition which is divided into three main blocs: health, restaurant industry and gastronomy”.
The first inter-university degree in Sciences of Cooking and Gastronomy is set up next September. It is an initiative led by the University of Barcelona and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), two public prestigious institutions, by means of the University School of Hotel Management and Tourism, affiliated centre with UB, the Food and Nutrition Torribera Campus (in Santa Coloma de Gramenet), the Barcelona School of Agricultural Engineering (UPC) and Alícia Foundation.
Roser Romero del Castillo, UPCʼs coordinator of the degree, described the importance of knowing better cooking raw materials, in other words, the product. If innovative cooks have this knowledge, “they will be able to propose productsʼ changes and improvements to the industry, depending on cooking needs and dish design, so they will contribute to make true the famous sentence ʻfrom the field to the tableʼ”, she explained.
Elena Roura, the person in charge of the Department of Health and Eating Habits of Alícia Foundation, affirmed that the Foundation is pleased to participate in the project. Its research will contribute to improve peopleʼs eating habits, to make them healthier.
Experience and expert knowledge
The degree joins academic experience and knowledge of several university centres on their different areas of expertise: food, nutrition and dietetics, agro-food science, science of cooking and gastronomy.
Besides its inter-university condition, the new degree is pioneering in the model of public-private collaboration and the participation of cooks and professionals from the agro-food industry in its design.
The new degree will be taught at CETT-UB facilities, but it will also include other activities that will take place on the Food and Nutrition Campus of UB, where other degrees affiliated with the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Barcelona School of Agricultural Engineering (UPC) and the Alícia Foundation are taught.
Relationship with UB-Bullipedia
Moreover, the new degree includes the knowledge developed by the Bullipedia, a project led by Ferran Adrià within El Bulli Foundation, and the interdisciplinary groups of UB-Bullipedia Unit, fostered by UB in 2012.
CETT has the room UB-Bullipedia that will provides students, teaching staff and the team of El Bulli with an environment to reflect, create and promote research on products, techniques and cooking preparations that will be part of the Bullipedia.
New professionals
The training programme meets the new view of the sciences of cooking and gastronomy in order to provide new professional profiles that satisfy the new demands of society, the food industry and the restaurant sector.
The degree will train highly-skilled professionals to meet the transformation that the activities related to cooking and gastronomy have experienced for the last decades. Some of these changes are for instance a more global conception of nutrition and health, avant-garde restaurants with chefs devoted to creativity and, finally, the increase of touristic activities related to gastronomy.
The new inter-university degree aims at providing future graduates with a suitable training in those areas related to applied sciences and technology, processes and economic management of cooking practices, etc. It also includes other recent subject areas such as consultancy, gastronomic heritage promotion, communication and research.
EHEA pathways
The degree is officially recognised and adapted to the requirements of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Due to its interdisciplinary and the professional development possibilities it offers, these studies facilitate different levels of specialization. Its curriculum does not repeat aspects included in other degrees; it is based on diverse scientific areas analysed from the perspective of cooking and gastronomy.
Therefore, the degree enables students to choose between two specialization pathways: Direction of Haute Cuisine and Gastronomic Innovation and Direction of Cooking and Innovation in the Food Industry.
Research and innovation
Universities and those centres responsible for bringing cooking and gastronomy studies to the university by means of this new inter-university degree develop successful activities and R+D projects in the fields of agro-food, food industry, tourism, hotel management and gastronomy.
They also promote research collaboration with the private sector and administrations, as well as research agreements with international universities.